Ubuntu-powered smartphone due out late May

With Mozilla preparing to build Firefox OS smartphones with its partners, another company that started making waves with desktop machines is also venturing into the mobile world.

 

Rick Spencer, Canonical's vice president for Ubuntu engineering, said they are aiming to bring an Ubuntu Touch smartphone to the market by late May.

 

"So we committed our teams to making it so that by end of May, the phone images will be usable as our daily phones," Spencer said in a blog post.

 

He said their definition of a "usable" phone should include the following properties:

 

* Able to make and receive phone calls and able to make and receive SMS messages

 

* Ability to browse the Web on 3G data and browse the Web on WiFi

 

* You can switch between WiFi and 3G data

 

* The proximity sensor dims the screen when you lift the phone to talk on it

 

* You can import, add and edit contacts

 

* When you update your phone, your user data is retained, even if you're updating with phablet-flash

 

A separate report on PC World said Canonical plans to equip its employees with early versions of the “Ubuntu phone” for testing and refinement by late May. 

 

Canonical in February had released a developer's preview image of Ubuntu Touch and encouraged development of apps on tablets and phones. – KDM, GMA News