Andy Holmes is working on a pretty interesting Gnome Extension. It’s called GSConnect and it’s a complete KDE Connect implementation for Gnome Shell. As any major Desktop OS (Windows, macOS) has such features implemented, it would be a good move for the average user if Ubuntu implements this in future releases as well.
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Here’s an idea regarding a new, and very simple, Ubuntu Phone:
With laptop devices being so small these days (the GPD Pocket 2 for example), it would be very easy to have an Ubuntu internet (wifi) phone on the market in short order. And unlike phones, it would be a real Ubuntu system, not a phone system, thereby allowing a human being to actually perform normal functions on it, like using Libre Office; because it would actually be a computer that has a phone, instead of phone that’s kind-of, sort-of a computer.
Please follow along: I have Ubuntu 18.04 on a flash drive… the whole system. It is not just a “boot” drive, but an entire working system… user files, trash function, etc. And, because the 2006 Dell Inspiron B120 laptop that it boots from has no hard drive, Software Updater works too, including for updates that require restarts (which did not work when the computer had a hard drive). So, the entire “system” is on a flash drive… portable, bootable, updateable from anywhere; and all that it requires is a hard-driveless, OS-less device to run on.
Also: I happen to have an Android phone. It’s a cheap Moto E unlocked (as purchased) phone, and there is no cell plan. It merely connects to the outside world by wifi. And the reason I have it is because a well-known internet phone company called MagicJack has an app (MagicApp) for Android that allows its customers (who pay ~$89 USD for 3 years of service) to make wifi calls from their smart phones. So, I have a smart phone that can connect to the internet, and which allows me to make wifi phone calls for cheap.
Being a minimalist, though, I hate being forced to have both a “home computer” and a phone. And since “home computer” devices (like the GPD Pocket 2) are so extremely portable and yet still usuable as “real computers”, all that would need to be done by Ubuntu to achieve a truly great type of phone is:
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Document for Ubuntu users how to get their full-working, preferred-set-up, Ubuntu system onto a portable storage device (i.e. flash drive). (I used Systemback for this.)
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Contact device manufacturers to make small, storage-less, OS-less devices, for which a portable Ubuntu system can merely be “plugged in” and booted from. Desire for profits, and the fact that this device should be less expensive than phones, should help Ubuntu’s sales pitch to go well.
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Contact MagicJack to get their great internet phone app to work with Linux, so their many new Ubuntu customers can have both a real computer AND an internet (wifi) phone that they can take with them. Because let’s face it: no one can “Libre Office” on a phone ! Truly, it should be no great feat for Ubuntu to help M-Jack get their Linux-based-Android app to also work on Ubuntu.
The conclusion: A GPD Pocket 2-like device with no storage and no OS. And a portable Ubuntu system for it which contains a great wifi phone app.
Such a thing would replace the need for many laptops and cell phones for many people. Not all, but many.
Thanks for the hearing.