Canonical recently posted a microsite and several teaser videos featuring the popular Linux distro Ubuntu, demonstrating it on a Galaxy nexus and promising native Ubuntu phones in the future. The question I am asking you is whether the phone is a viable alternative for Android, and whether you would consider using Ubuntu on your mobile device.

First, let's look at the minimum specs for any handset to run Ubuntu:

• Processor: 1 GHz ARM Cortex A9
  
• RAM: 512 MB to 1 GB
  
• Storage 4-8GB eMMC + SD

If you want the high-end Ubuntu experience, you'll need the following:

• Processor: quad-core ARM Cortex A9 (such as the Tegra 3 or Exynos 4412; although the Snapdragon S4 Pro runs on the Krait architecture rather than ARM Cortex A9, it easily outperforms most other quad-core chipsets, so it should be capable of running Ubuntu)
  
• RAM: at least 1 GB
  
• Storage: 32GB eMMC + SD

I will be doing a full review of the Ubuntu phone experience soon, but now I will say it's a very unique mobile OS, and is very similar to the popular PC version with the native Unity shell. Swipes from the 4 edges control various aspects of the OS, including notifications from the top, a favorite apps ribbon from the left, switch to most recent app from the right, and app controls from the bottom. Also, a full left-to-right swipe brings up all of your running apps, and while your first right-to-left swipe brings up your most recent app, another swipe brings up the app you were running before that.

Whereas Android runs on a combination of Java apps and the Dalvik Virtual Machine, Ubuntu runs mostly on C, which means that Ubuntu should have better performance than Android. Ubuntu runs either HTML5 apps or native apps built on Java, C or C++ with native OpenGL graphics support. Ubuntu also provides APIs to allow developers to build cloud services that "sync any kind of data to the cloud."

Other notes: don't expect much carrier support aside from (perhaps) T-Mobile, don't expect a native Ubuntu phone until 2014, but do expect a flashable image for the Galaxy Nexus in a few weeks. Also, popular apps like Spotify, Twitter, Facebook, Gmail and YouTube are already supported on Ubuntu for phones, and big-name developers such as Electronic Arts are currently developing apps for the new OS. Native lockscreen shortcuts to your favorite apps are also available, via the aforementioned partial swipe from the left edge.

Further information can be found on the Ubuntu microsite dedicated to phones, and I recommend viewing at least part of the video below before you make your decision. For my part, I basically scrubbed to the parts where the phone is being displayed, skipping most of the monologue

So do you think you'll be testing Ubuntu for phones on your Galaxy Nexus when it's (presumably) available later this month? Do you think you'll get a native Ubuntu device next year?