Can I claim bragging rights for having the first ever news item posted from a device running Ubuntu Mobile please? Thanks! Now lets move on to something a bit more interesting…Ubuntu Mobile itself.
As we learned last month, Ubuntu Mobile is delayed and the final release is now planned for Q1 2008 and unless you’re interested in retro-fitting your Q1 Ultra with it (I dont really see why you might want to do that unless you have an urge to run it on a small flash disk.) your first chance to come in contact with it will, possibly, be on MID devices in the second half of 2008. Thats if anyone takes it on. There are certainly other options including RedFlag and Pepper software who i’m sure would oblige by adapting their UI for a different core Linux build. [continued...]Personally I see Ubuntu Mobile as a way to grow Moblin into a full Intel value-add offering and only after the first release has been completed can Canonical start to focus on bringing in support for other processors and hardware although to be honest, with the many many types of Bluetooth, Wifi, camera, input buttons, mice, sd adaptors, 3G cards and even processors, co-processors and GPUs, its certainly not going to happen for all devices. What is likely, and quite undesireable, is that youll see seperate, behind closed doors, OEM-led projects that will build on Moblin, the Intel core distribution, and adapt the hardware support. Its makes Menlow and Moorestown quite an attractive propossition for an OEM to see both the hardware and software platform as working, supported elements. VIA, on the other hand, have no such software element in their ecosystem. Even though their Mobile-ITX platform will be cheaper (one assumes based on previous Intel / VIA comparisons) the software development cost for a Linux-based MID could be significant. Maybe they would do well to partner or even buy Pepper software, Epios or someone else that has experience with small systems Linux.
As for the current Alpha build, there’s a lot of work to be done. The browser core (Firefox) is running well along with the IM application, media application, Wifi support and touchscreen but theres a lot more apps that need to be finished and a lot of UI and screen candy elements that need to be worked on. I won’t be posting images in this post as its just not worth it at this stage.
So, MIDs in mid-2008 it is then. Thats a long way away and Nokia are pushing hard into the consumer market now. The N810 represents the first attempt by anyone to get MID’s into the hands of consumers and if they start to make good progress in the coming months the Intel camp might have to wait until Moorestown until they can offer something really special and significantly different. As for Mobile-ITX, well we’ve seen the first ‘IMP’ (VIA calls the Mtube an Internet media player.) and in terms of size, it looks like it might be possible to offer a Nokia N810-style device based on x86 with that. It will be larger and heavier due to the battery requirements but if it can offer things that Nokia can’t then it might stand a good chance. High-end media streaming and fast, full-fat Internet experience is the key here.
So that’s it for the first post from Ubuntu Mobile. I’ll be feeding back to the team and looking forward to wiping Vista off my Q1 Ultra again in the future!
[Posted from a Samsung Q1 Ultra, Samsung USB keyboard and Ubuntu Mobile full Samsung build...without a spell checker!]
