When Motorola announced its first Webtop phone last year (that was the Atrix 4G, for those of you with short memories), the concept of using a smartphone to power a laptop or desktop computing experience took a big step from hypothetical to actual consumer product. The execution of Webtop, unfortunately, didn’t live up to the promise, and lapdock accessories were generally panned for their price and limited utility.
That doesn’t mean the idea is bad though, and we recently showed you how Android 4.0’s improved support of peripherals allows stock Ice Cream Sandwich to provide a surprisingly good desktop computing experience. Canonical is now targeting the dual-computing market head on, and their Ubuntu for Android appears to take phone-driven desktop computing to a whole new level.
Canonical has adopted Ubuntu to run on the same Linux Kernel as Android, meaning that the integration is seamless, and Ubuntu can boot in parallel with Android. So when you dock an Android phone Ubuntu fires right up. And it offers the full range of apps that run on Ubuntu’s desktop install, while also allowing you full access to your Android apps and data from within the Ubuntu desktop. No need for separate networking settings, contacts lists, or another copy of Angry Birds.
While not everyone wants to be able to drive a desktop or laptop computing experience from their smartphone, it seems like there should be a large number of road warriors and other professionals that travel frequently who would be very keen on just such a solution. You could edit Google Docs on your phone while traveling, and when you get to your hotel room, or field site, you dock your phone and complete your report with a mouse and keyboard.
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Canonical will be showing off their platform in depth at MWC, but a great many details are already available at their website (check the source link below). Canonical believes that the Ubuntu for Android experience may be one of the key features on high end handsets in the second half of 2012, and they specially refer to it as the “justification” for ever more powerful multi-core handsets.
What do you guys think? Anyone interest in an Android handset that also powers Ubuntu when you dock it? Sound off in the comments below.
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