New Details Emerge on Ubuntu Mobile

The upcoming open-source mobile OS will offer gesture-based touch commands along with Web 2.0 support and the opportunity for customization.

Cult followers of the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution already know that their favorite operating system will make the jump from computers to mobile devices, but new details have begun to emerge recently. Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, formally added Ubuntu Mobile to its product page and more fully described its capabilities.

To accommodate for touch screens, Canonical retooled the Ubuntu interface to work with taps and gestures. One press on a button launches an application or menu, while swiping a finger on a Web page pans it, and swiping a video, photo, song or thumbnail page acts as “forward” button.

To give device manufacturers and application developers more control, Ubuntu Mobile allows custom users interfaces to be developed in HTML, Flash, Clutter, Python, GTK, C/C++, GTK and Java. It also offers full AJAX fidelity for Web 2.0 applications.

System requirements for Ubuntu mobile include an Intel Silverthorne processor, 256MB of RAM,and 2GB or more of flash or hard drive space. Although it will eventually see a public release in 2008, right now Canonical is courting manufacturers with pre-release versions of the system for upcoming mobile devices.