Joining the band wagon of innovators to the “post-PC era”, Canonical has come up with its mobile version OS “Ubuntu Phone OS” which is specifically designed for smartphones.

Alex Williams of TechCrunch stressed on the downside of entering late to the market:

“Even if the new Ubuntu Phone OS that Canonical launched today looks pretty, it still is late and oddly tied to the desktop“

However, as Mr Shuttleworth, founder of Canonical (parent company of Ubuntu), believes:

“…we have the great fortune to be coming to market late, in the sense that Moore’s Law has given us at least seven or eight generations of performance improvements since Android came to market and we’ve been able to take advantage of that“

What is “Ubuntu Phone OS” anyway?

The mobile version of Ubuntu OS, a Linux-based open source software, is currently built on the existing Android kernel and drivers that supports both ARM and x86 processors. This Phone OS promises to use “the full power of the phone” providing rich and innovative features which “I believe” are by far the most user-friendly features provided by any other Operating Systems for smart phones.

With little adaptation, Ubuntu Phone OS can be compatible enough to run on Android phones.

Features designed to beat the competition and why you should take Ubuntu Phone OS seriously:

1. Kernel level security promised along with all the security features of Unix making it best suitable for enterprise audience.
2. Easy to use and instant access to important windows without having to return to home makes it user-friendly for potential common man wanting to get hands-on smooth smart phone interface.
3. The whole world is brought at your finger tips by providing information and content not just on your phone but also from the web when you search for music or other such stuff. When searched for people, it brings up all the emails and contact information that matches with the query.
4. Automatically load your photos as you click to your personal cloud account which you can sink to your various other devices including iOS, Windows or Android.
5. If you are an artistic person or somebody who feel the need for personalized information on your phone screen then Ubuntu has it for you. The welcome screen keeps you updated with a lot of your personal information such as tweets, messages, etc.
6. I instantly fell in love with this feature of being able to reply to all my emails, messages, social media conversations and more all in one place as when they drop in without having to switch from mails to my Twitter account to my Facebook app and even get your call information in the same place. That’s incredible.
7. Thumb gestures enabled from all four edges of the screen allow users to find content and switch between apps faster as compared to other phones.
8. The great new left edge swipe (short) gives you instant access to your favorite apps that are used routinely.
9. Full screen swipe from left-to-right reveals your open apps in the form of tabs and a full screen right-to-left swipe will open up the last app you were using. Yet another swipe will take you to the app opened before that. Switching between open apps too easy to believe, isn’t it? You bet! Perfectly designed for multitasking freaks, right?
10. One bottom swipe will get you all the app controls which unlike other Operating Systems do not eat up your screen all the time.

Is it a threat to the existing iOS, Android or Windows 8?

Well, the only constraint I believe is getting people to shift from their current smart phones especially the iPhone users since they would have already invested a huge amount to buy the device. It surely is the first OS after iOS to bring in great new features without being just another Operating System (read as “copied cheap OS version!”). Surely the time set to release the range of devices is end of Dec 2013 or early 2014 and this could be one the draw backs making people wait a little too long.

As quoted by , Jane Silber, CEO Canonical said:

“We expect Ubuntu to be popular in the enterprise market, enabling customers to provision a single secure device for all PC, thin client and phone functions. Ubuntu is already the most widely used Linux enterprise desktop, with customers in a wide range of sectors focused on security, cost and manageability.”

Now that is indeed some power which enables work to flow seamlessly with a hand-held device.

Seriously, after browsing through some of these signature features added in Ubuntu Phone OS, no kidding! It ought to bag its place in the market. Agreed, it would definitely be a struggle to get people shifting from their iOS or Android phones mostly because of the purchased apps stocked from Apple’s app store or Google Play. But then it’s just another face of the game and there are people who love to try new features.

Do really think the Ubuntu team should bite their nails for coming up with this awesome Phone OS?