Turn Your Android Device Into a Full Fledged Ubuntu Experience

[cereal killer]

Canonical may have just eliminated the need for a laptop/desktop with their Ubuntu for Android. The idea is simple. When using the phone for typical handset functions, it works like any other Android phone, but place the phone in a dock that’s connected to a monitor and keyboard, and the phone powers an Ubuntu PC. The interface and features would be identical to a full desktop computer that has the Ubuntu operating system installed on it. What we particularly like is the data access between the two platforms:

All data and services are shared between the Ubuntu and Android environments, which run simultaneously on the device. So Android applications such as contacts, telephony and SMS/MMS messaging are accessible from the Ubuntu interface. Indeed, all data on the smartphone can be accessed at any time, docked or not.

Granted Motorola already has introduced this via their WebTop application but it was very limited because only web applications could be installed in Motorola’s customized version of Linux. Canonical has arguably the most experience with Linux, so any "issues" that Motorola faced should be easily thwarted. Quad Cores just may have found themselves being put to good use in the very near future.

Via: Transformer Forums
Source: GigaOm

image courtesy of GigaOm

[guidot]

Now this worth talking about. Something as exciting as the Droid was to Verizon a little over 2 years ago.

[johnomaz]

Though cool, not sure how often I'd use it. I bet the dock will be expensive. though it is probably cheaper than buying a new PC.

[Droid-Xer]

I like the sound if this. Would be a nice add on.

[AuxiliaryPie]

If there is a laptop version of this, consider me sold. My phone is already my phone, camera, mp3 player, gps..and potentially a full fledged laptop?? take my money now, please!

[gflam]

Probably wouldn't be nearly powerful enough for me but i'd still take one to play with ha

[TheJester34]

I'd use it

[MissionImprobable]

Definitely would work well for quickly checking something from your texts and what not. If it's not too expensive I might give it a go.

[metalspring]

make it available for openSuse Linux distro and im sold (openSuse seems much more compatible with laptops and has tons of tons of options )

[kodiak799]

This is a huge development. For starters, no need to dual boot. Although there are a few problems that probably get addressed in the next-gen:
1) Phones aren't powerful enough, yet. But a quad-core 1.5ghz with 2 gigs of ram would seem to fit the bill, on par with current low up to even a mid-tier laptop. Problem is you're going to need 1gig ram for Android in the near future, and probably should have 2gigs for Linux, so potential ram constraints running both concurrently.

2) Don't really need a dock, just plug-in a USB for the monitor and connect a BT keyboard w/ mouse. But I'm not sold until you can plug it into a tablet for the display. ASUS really got it right with the padfone, but might take them a gen or two to perfect.

It will be good for 90% of use and handle all the light-weight stuff soon enough. But more cpu/memory intensive apps we're a ways off on, hardware much more so than software (no way phones can dissipate the heat generated by the power I'm talking about - will need further advances in chip architecture).

In 2-3 years I think something like the Padfone is going to dominate the scene. Ideal for the traveler, especially the business traveler. And how nice would it be at work to just unplug your phone and take your desktop home with you in your pocket (I know, that sounds really awful and pathetic)?