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Handset cohabitation: Ubuntu for AndroidHandset cohabitation: Ubuntu for AndroidPosted Feb 22, 2012 0:42 UTC (Wed) by aryonoco (subscriber, #55563)In reply to: Handset cohabitation: Ubuntu for Android by jmorris42 Parent article: Handset cohabitation: Ubuntu for Android
Have a look at this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&...
The ability to run Android apps in Ubuntu mode is well supported. Also sharing of data (pictures, movies, contacts) seems very seamless as well. It even integrates with the telephony stack of the phone, allowing the user to use SMS, make calls, or use the phones' data connection in Ubuntu mode.
I would actually say that for an alpha product that has been just announced, it seems very well done.
By the end of the year, we will have dual core ARM Cortex-A15 processors in high-end phones, far more powerful than the current generation of Cortex-A9s. Such a massive jump in performance will unlock many new usage scenarios and running a full desktop environment on a phone a might become a reasonable possibility. Motorola's Webtop has shown that there is great interest in such a concept, but Moto's implementation suffers greatly from limited functionality and lacklustre performance. A full Ubuntu desktop running on a high end Cortex A-15 smartphone might indeed prove an interesting concept, and provide a useful differentiating factor for an OEM.
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Handset cohabitation: Ubuntu for Android Posted Feb 22, 2012 1:50 UTC (Wed) by karim (subscriber, #114) [Link]
Wait, pause that, yeah right there. That part of running Android apps in Ubuntu ... how the heck are they pulling that off? Any dox anywhere on that?
Handset cohabitation: Ubuntu for Android Posted Feb 22, 2012 3:31 UTC (Wed) by felixfix (subscriber, #242) [Link]
Android apps are just java. There should be no problem running them outside of Android, given the right libraries. I believe the Android SDK includes all that.
Handset cohabitation: Ubuntu for Android Posted Feb 22, 2012 4:13 UTC (Wed) by ThinkRob (subscriber, #64513) [Link]
> Android apps are just java.
Not quite. They're written (mostly) in Java, but they're not Java apps per se, as they compile to different bytecode and run on a different VM (Dalvik, not a JVM.)
Handset cohabitation: Ubuntu for Android Posted Feb 22, 2012 6:28 UTC (Wed) by Cyberax (✭ supporter ✭, #52523) [Link]
Probably they run them on the Android side and just use rendered surfaces.
Handset cohabitation: Ubuntu for Android Posted Feb 22, 2012 15:14 UTC (Wed) by karim (subscriber, #114) [Link]
I'd love to see the code for that.
Handset cohabitation: Ubuntu for Android Posted Feb 22, 2012 22:07 UTC (Wed) by rvfh (subscriber, #31018) [Link]
Well you have only one graphics driver, and it's on Android's side, so that implies SurfaceFlinger is the ultimate compositor and Ubuntu is just one object (albeit using the full second screen), correct? Having the Android app display on top of the Ubuntu desktop is then just a compositing issue: "blit that window on top of that framebuffer at that position".
Please let me know if I'm talking BS :-)
Handset cohabitation: Ubuntu for Android Posted Feb 22, 2012 22:14 UTC (Wed) by karim (subscriber, #114) [Link]
Your guess is as probably better than mine. I'd just like to see how that code does it.
Handset cohabitation: Ubuntu for Android Posted Feb 22, 2012 11:10 UTC (Wed) by mgedmin (subscriber, #34497) [Link]
I assumed it was a VNC-like solution of some kind when I looked at that video earlier today.
Now all I can see is "This video has been removed by the user. Sorry about that."
Handset cohabitation: Ubuntu for Android Posted Feb 22, 2012 15:15 UTC (Wed) by karim (subscriber, #114) [Link]
Hmm. Yeah, VNC might be it. But it's hard to tell.
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