智能手機的未來

Google Android and Apple iOS fighting
移動過, Android和iOS. 你有公司.

現在, 如果你想要買一個智能手機,您有兩個主要選項: iPhone和Android. 如果你感覺勇敢, 的Windows Phone. 品種不多.

所有這一切都即將改變.

來年要釋放 新, 免費智能手機操作系統 似乎將改變世界的智能手機 – 為更有效地. 讓我們來看看.

Ubuntu的

Ubuntu的, 廣流行 開放原始碼作業系統的計算機 has been spreading rumors that they’re going to release a version of the operating system for smartphones. The phones aren’t out yet but folks around the internet say they’re definitely in the works.

I think this rather clever video does a pretty good job summing it up:

It’s an interesting idea no one’s tried before: making your phone into a computer so that your data is truly always with you. You’ve also got the best of both worlds: ridiculously powerful and diverse computer programs available on a phone, and all the stuff you do on the go available on a computer.

Ubuntu android phone and desktop image
What may happen if you plug in an Ubuntu phone to a computer. Note that you can use computer apps on the phone, and phone apps on the computer.

Here’s a scenario I see happening one of these days: a library or school removes traditional operating systems from its computers. 代替, it fits docks on the computers. A patron walks up to the computer, slots her Ubuntu phone into the dock, and sees all of her files and programsexactly customized to herappear on the computer. The computer becomes the ultimate workstation where she can literally do anything she’s used to, including using her apps and files. Then she undocks her phone, the computer goes blank (her data isn’t stored on the computer), and she picks up exactly where she left off.

Some folks are concerned that you can’t put such a huge operating system on such a tiny device. The thing is, most people do little more than text and play Angry Birds on their mobile phones (admit ityou do too); phones are more powerful than we give them credit for. Add the fact that they’re getting stronger by the day and this issue becomes moot.

順便說, Ubuntu is also considering releasing versions of the operating system for tablets and TVs. No word yet on their plans for toasters.

Firefox OS

You may not have guessed based on the name, but the great guys who make the open-source web browser 火狐 are developing a Firefox-based operating system for mobile phones. It’s currently available for testing but no actual phones will be released till next year.

Sample home screen of Firefox mobile OS
Firefox OS is built entirely on web technologies.

The goal? To create a free, open-source, mobile operating system based on standard web technologies (HTML5, CSS, JavaScript的) – the same stuff that makes up websites like the one you’re currently looking at.

Because it’s open-source, anyone around the world can work on Firefox OSfrom the camera app to the most fundamental code behind the scenes. What’s nice about this arrangement is that a community of volunteers decides what the operating system will be like, not a few corporate overlords.

In addition, standard web apps are first-class apps on Firefox OS. An online dictionary, 例如, can become a Firefox OS app without any modification. 通常, you’d have to rewrite a program from scratch for each operating system (的iOS, Android的, Windows Phone – 有 3 rewrites right there!)

Because of this, almost anything on the web can be easily harnessed for use on Firefox OS. Firefox OS, then, organizes the internet, supercharges it, and delivers it to you on a smartphone. 5 years ago the internet was just a bunch of websitesno apps. Nowadays, 雖然, you have things from office suitesphoto editors憤怒的小鳥 available on the internet. And yes, you could take all of these things – 和更多 – and use them in Firefox OS.

Firefox OS is already generating excitement around the globe, and phones running it will be coming soon. Mozilla, the guys who make Firefox OS, are partnering with mobile phone makers in places like Brazil; basic phones running Firefox OS will come out there in 2013.

For those of us not in Brazil, it’s not too difficult to put Firefox OS on your Android phone (they use the same core) and you can even test it out on your computer.

所以,現在什麼?

For now, iOS and Android reign supreme, and Windows Phone is that other thing people talk about for some variety. But come 2013 I expect some shakeups in the smartphone market in the form of Ubuntu and Firefox OS.

The only question now is which new operating system I’ll put on my phone.

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尼爾·梅塔

哈佛學院. Web開發人員. 有時哲學家. 棒球迷.

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