Arstechnica is allowed to see but not touch an Ubuntu phone
We got to see a smartphone running Ubuntu up close for the first time today. It looks like it works and all, but this article will most definitely not be a "hands-on" report—we weren't allowed to put our hands on it.
Canonical demonstrated a Galaxy Nexus running Ubuntu's phone interface at the Consumer Electronics Show, but product manager Richard Collins explained that the company isn't quite ready to let us use it. "We're just doing all of the driving for the demos for now simply because we understand how the experience works," Collins told me when I asked if I could test it out. In other words: No touching!
I'm confident I could have figured out how to use this contraption—when it comes down to it, most smartphones aren't that different from each other, and this one behaves a lot like Android and the iPhone. But I like the Canonical guys, and I decided it would be impolite to grab the phone and run for the hills.
