Why should you care about Ubuntu for smartphones?

Ubuntu, for those who are not nerds, is a free computer operating system based on Linux, the operating system for tiresome people who want to be smug about the software they run.

Canonical

Sound like something you don’t want on your phone? What if I told you it could replace your laptop?

Let’s be honest, Ubuntu’s audience is largely limited to either tiresome nerds or people who don’t want to pay for software but also don’t want to steal it. I happen to be both, so I use Ubuntu on a daily basis.

And if you own an Android phone, so do you. Android is built around Linux, so while they’re not entirely the same, Ubuntu and Android share a lot of the same features.

The key thing is really that Ubuntu for smartphones can, with a cutting edge phone, essentially be a computer. As in, socket your phone in a dock attached to a monitor, and you’re all set. The idea is ultimately to keep your computer in your pocket, and it’s not a bad idea: Most people don’t need a powerful desktop, just a word processor, websurfer, and video streaming. The ultimate goal is to make an operating system that runs on anything with a processor, so you can smoothly transition between devices to do what you want.

And it’s not a bad smartphone OS, either, from the looks of Canonical’s preview: Well-designed interface, simple use, highly customizable. We’ll know more about it after the Consumer Electronics Show opens.

Ubuntu for Smartphones [Canonical]