Canonical Clarifies Ubuntu Phone State: Nothing Really Until Snap-Based Image Ready

[Pajn]

This sounds like great news for us desktop users. While Ubuntu phone were an interesting project it has become quite clear that Canonical simply does not have the manpower to push it as well as the desktop.

I can't speak for the other Ubuntu phone owner but personally I'm a little disappointed rather than devastated. Might go back to Android if I can find a decent vendor that *doesn't* leave me stuck with a 3 year old version of Android like the last one I had (they didn't want to spend time adding their crapware for a phone they no longer wanted to support).

Buy a Nexus or a Pixel

I wonder if they'd have been any faster if they weren't so busy reinventing the wheel with Mir

If they went with Wayland instead of Mir they would need basically the same work to create a Wayland compositor as a display server.
Sure, they could reduce some design and architecture work as you doesn't need the re-usability, but a decent software would have that anyway.
The total rewrite of Unity in QT would also be needed anyway. The old Unity built as a Compiz plugin is not sustainable and should have died a long time ago.

[starshipeleven]

I can't speak for the other Ubuntu phone owner but personally I'm a little disappointed rather than devastated. Might go back to Android if I can find a decent vendor that *doesn't* leave me stuck with a 3 year old version of Android like the last one I had (they didn't want to spend time adding their crapware for a phone they no longer wanted to support).

You won't find any of such vendor. It's already RARE to get updates for one year on flagships (excluding Google devices that get 2 years).
You either look for Android One phones (also called "poor men's Nexus" as they get their firmware from google with 2 years of support), or for devices supported by Cyanogenmod/Lineage.

[sarmad]

If Canonical managed to deliver on their promise of having one distro across all form factors with Unity 8/Mir/all-snaps I think they will get popular again.
It's still annoying me that they developed Mir instead of using Wayland, but if they deliver I'll be happy.

[sverris]

You won't find any of such vendor. It's already RARE to get updates for one year on flagships (excluding Google devices that get 2 years).
You either look for Android One phones (also called "poor men's Nexus" as they get their firmware from google with 2 years of support), or for devices supported by Cyanogenmod/Lineage.

Which is why we should call this whole industry a pile of sh**. No wonder that Ubuntu touch and f.i. Jolla are having a hard time. I can run on quite old desktops a very new Linux, but in the phone world, older devices are very soon left behind.

[Cerberus]

If Canonical managed to deliver on their promise of having one distro across all form factors with Unity 8/Mir/all-snaps I think they will get popular again.
It's still annoying me that they developed Mir instead of using Wayland, but if they deliver I'll be happy.

Converged code on all form factors is a massive undertaking, and if Canonical manages to do it everyone needs to congratulate them, even those that dont like them, Canonical is a small company compared to giants out there, and achieving one OS to rule them all is a BIG achievement.

I was one of the first buyers of E4.5 and I dont feel disappointed, it has been a fun ride, I fully knew that buying a phone with OS in heavy development is a risk on many levels, but I went for it and I dont regret it. E4.5, E5 and MX4 are unlikely to be rebased to snaps as they lack kernel that supports some functionality or so they said, those that bought Pro 5 will probably get the snap based OS. I am expecting a lot from snaps, they will make installing and updating desktop applications easier and might even help with popular messenger applications like Viber and Skype, you snap them and they can work on the phone, how much they can integrate with the phone UI is another story.

I no longer use E4.5 actively, used it as my daily phone for 1.5 years, but I want convergence and I am willing to buy a high end phone with converged snap based OS. I want that desktop in my pocket, also persuade or pay Viber to make a native application, I need nothing else when it comes to proprietary software, I am guessing that it isnt too difficult to adapt existing Viber code to fit into converged Unity 8 UI.

[starshipeleven]

Which is why we should call this whole industry a pile of sh**. No wonder that Ubuntu touch and f.i. Jolla are having a hard time. I can run on quite old desktops a very new Linux, but in the phone world, older devices are very soon left behind.

Heh, that's the standard situation for everything that isn't a PC, not just mobile.
One of the things MS was useful for, was this. All the bullshit that locks hardware to a specific firmware in embedded devices was shoveled in a startup-only board firmware that had to conform to relatively strict standards so that even if the manufacturer stopped caring the second it left the assembly line the OS running on it wasn't fucked (customers also, but that's secondary).

Linux allow too much freedom for that to happen in the areas it dominates (embedded/mobile), same for Unix.

[starshipeleven]

If Canonical managed to deliver on their promise of having one distro across all form factors with Unity 8/Mir/all-snaps I think they will get popular again.

Unlikely. Remember that...

[Cerberus]

Which is why we should call this whole industry a pile of sh**. No wonder that Ubuntu touch and f.i. Jolla are having a hard time. I can run on quite old desktops a very new Linux, but in the phone world, older devices are very soon left behind.

Manufacturers of chipsets tend to abandon older chipsets quickly and no new drivers means no new Android versions, and Ubuntu is dependent on Android drivers, they do it so they can sell new chipsets and phone manufacturers support that because it enables them to sell new phones because many people want the latest software.

[bug77]

You won't find any of such vendor. It's already RARE to get updates for one year on flagships (excluding Google devices that get 2 years).
You either look for Android One phones (also called "poor men's Nexus" as they get their firmware from google with 2 years of support), or for devices supported by Cyanogenmod/Lineage.

Fwiw, Moto phones are pretty good (not nearly perfect, tho) at getting updates. Nougat just started seeding for G4 and that's definitely not high end.

[ResponseWriter]

i'm another one this a little frustating but I change last week to proposedRC channel and I have small upgrades of system every day and now I will wait unitll they rebase the system to snaps. the phone is faster than the android version, battery is better and I have what I need in the ota14

Actually, that's true; I hardly have to charge mine, sometimes for almost a week, and ota-14 does what I need from a phone. It's more the lack of software that's the problem (is KDE Connect on Ubuntu Touch yet?), and the browser killing my phoronix tab sometimes even with nothing else running. I like the interface more than Android, too. Guess I've been used to semi-regular updates for too long.

Edit: Should clarify, Google released a major update that my Android phone at the time supported, then the phone maker added their changes but the network provider never added their branding or shipped the update. I was left with a phone with various known bugs and security vulnerabilities that were fixed in the update, which was a major part of why I got a Ubuntu phone in the first place.