ubuntu-phone team mailing list archive

[Petko <pditchev@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hello to everyone . I've subscribed to the list with much excitement to 
get involved with the Ubuntu Phone OS (UP OS). The preview of the OS 
seemed liked a lot of the stuff that I've wished for in a phone as a 
user and a developer . I can go on ,but lets keep it productive :) :
The XDA community - I think everyone on the list should be familiar with 
it , and if you are - you know of the great potential there . I myself 
cannot say I'm a part of it , I'm more of a spectator . But I decided to 
be the messenger to post about the ongoing petition to have the XDA 
developers take part in the Ubuntu Phone effort [1] . The OS will be 
open source and so forth ,and they may do as they like , but the idea is 
that if Cannonical recognises the XDA community and cooperates the work 
more or less with them - it will be a big gain for both sides (IMHO).
Now  , for what I have to say :
From all the reviews that I went through the productive part of it was 
: the gesture system will be hard to learn . So by my opinion it should 
be a priority to make a "Quick learning game"-type of thing . It's not 
something to throw in the marketing side of things , but it is something 
that every non-geek ,so to say, user should go through (more arguments : 
[2] ) . I see it as an app that the user is exposed to on the first use 
(I can't think of the best solution for xposure right now) , which goes 
like this :
1. Text "Take  one min. to learn the main features and gestures for your 
phone " and a Start button
2.  (maybe with voice instructions over it) A colored circle 
representing the finger of the user shows the gestures ( and the actions 
happen , but it's only plain video)
3. The app prompts for a few simple tasks (swipes) ,indicates the 
results and gives corrections for the common mistakes (or just 
productivity tips . An example is how for a few days when I got my first 
Android phone I struggled to pull down the notification area , because I 
thought I should put my finger on the actual notification bar instead of 
making a swipe from outside the display borders ) .
The whole thing should be over in 1.5-2 mins .

And something else ,that I'll start as a general topic some day : I 
think that in order to get people to understand the system and take part 
in developing it ( and not just using it as app developers or users) 
there should be an introduction to the core packages/components (and to 
the system as a whole) , consisting of :
1. The steps needed to build the package/component (and the recommended 
tools for it)  .
2. A brief description of the main parts/functions (really brief , like 
,just to give a direction for the people interested where to start) .
Those two simple steps integrated in a tab of Launchpad ("Get started" 
or whatever) will take away a looot of the resistance that potential 
contributors have to overcome .
I'll post a separate thread about the community workflow (on the Unity 
list), because I realize it's too big of a thread to put it here too .
All of this is because I really want the Ubuntu project to go forth as 
an open source endeavour . And the timing is crucial - the few months 
after announcing the final and key component of the project (the Phone 
OS) have the chance of being most productive . I have high hopes for 
Ubuntu striking contracts with carriers or device manufacturers , but 
lesser expectations . My expectations are high with the community , and 
that's why I really want to see more involvement , and a better 
ecosystem - because if there is a healthy community behind the project , 
it will have a lot more time and chance to get the commercial/mass 
realization (and => get more development and quality in) .
One more thought : the best chance for the Phone OS is by the Ubuntu 
users , not many other people will be tempted by a new OS , most of them 
are generally scared by it . I think the most tempting thing for a 
non-ubuntu user would be the ability to plug in the tv and have an 
instant media center (a preview where the tv remote is used will be 
killer , the XBMC on Raspberry Pi has such previews) + the ability to 
plug in a monitor/mouse keyboard and get a real desktop . (I dream of an 
FM transmitter too for the car but that's a whole different story :D )
Sorry for writing such a long email ,I really hope that it'll be in some 
use to the project .
Best regards,
Petko

[1] 
https://www.change.org/petitions/canonical-use-users-of-xda-developers-com-as-testers-for-ubuntu-for-phone
[2] Learning the swipe and whatever other gestures most efficiently 
perceived by watching and trying , i.e. the motoric (muscle) memory is 
the thing to use here .