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The GNOME devs gave ideas about porting GNOME Shell entirely to a mobile phone in a recent
blog post.
Here are some insights about the project.
GNOME Shell for Mobile Phones GNOME as a desktop environment evolved over
the last decade to become GNOME 40.
The GNOME 40 was a significant release that changed the complete user interface design
with a modern approach.
Looking at how GNOME 40 is designed, you may feel that the Shell and its underlying tech
are ready for smaller screens.
Because the gesture-driven workspaces, icons grid, and dock – somehow feel closer to
a mobile operating system such as Android than a desktop environment.
Moreover, the system tray, calendar, notifications and the native apps – can efficiently work
well in smaller form factor devices.
Thanks to GTK4 and libadwaita, the design is responsive, and the looks of apps and controls
match a mobile platform well.
After GNOME 40, the GNOME developers worked on several concepts of GNOME Shell for smaller
form factor devices such as tablets and mobile phones.
Why Now?
The development and research efforts cost time and money for any project.
Although there are donations to GNOME from major tech companies, this time a “Prototype
Fund” helped the team to carry on with this effort.
The Prototype Fund is a grant program supporting public interest software by the German Ministry
of Education (BMBF).
What is in scope?
Designing a complete mobile user interface and integrating it with a mobile operating
system is a very complex project.
It requires a well-designed vision to support thousands of mobile hardware and user support.
Not to mention, the privacy and security of users on a mobile device.
Hence, with this fund, the team concentrates on a proof of concept that caters to some
essential user interactions in GNOME Shell.
Launcher Application Grids
Swipe, gestures and navigations Search with mobile keyboard
Detect screen size and screen rotation support Workspaces and multitasking
Settings on-screen keyboard
It is always important to remember that a mobile experience is much more than just the
user interface.
Also, GNOME itself is not an operating system.
It consists of the underlying stable operating system, which gives much-needed privacy and
security.
Plus, the “App Store” like the concept.
The phone manufacturers need to work with GNOME devs for their products to adopt this
concept.
The complex task is to recognize various gestures in a touchscreen mobile.
For example, you may use long touch, a short touch, a two-finger swipe and drag, and many
possibilities that are only feasible in a small form factor device.
It requires an absolute rework in the respective GNOME shell components.
And developing them entirely on the existing GNOME Shell base is challenging work.
Furthermore, the team uses the famous Pinephone Pro for development and testing.
The Pinephone is already a commercial product featuring the “friendly neighbour” KDE
Plasma mobile and other Linux OSes.
Conclusion And if all goes according to plan, we all
may get a native GNOME experience in a complete open-source mobile phone.
And you can have your privacy back!
On a side note, I am not sure what will happen to Phosh (which is also based on GNOME).
Although Phosh is developed and managed by Purism, it will be interesting to see what
direction both GNOME Shell for mobile initiative and PHosh takes in the coming days.
So, what do you think about the prospects of this project?
Let me know in the comment box below.
:: More ::
GNOME developer Jonas Dreßler shared recently some of the work that was put into advancing
the mobile port of the GNOME desktop environment, specifically the GNOME Shell UI, as well as
upcoming plans to make it on par with current offerings.
GNOME on phone/tablet form factors is not a new thing, it’s called Phosh and you can
test drive it on your Linux phone or tablet via the postmarketOS distribution.
Even if it’s actively maintained, Phosh is developed by Purism for their Librem 5
Linux smartphone and it’s currently based on an older version of the GNOME desktop environment.
Now, GNOME devs are currently working on bringing their current GNOME Shell to mobile devices.
Work started during the development of the GNOME 40 desktop environment and GNOME Shell
for mobile already has a fully customizable app grid with pagination, folders, and drag-and-drop
re-ordering, “stick-to-finger” horizontal workspace gestures, as well as swipe up gestures
for navigating the Activities Overview and app grid.
But there’s a lot of work ahead to bring GNOME Shell on par with current offerings,
such as KDE’s Plasma Mobile, for mobile devices.
Among some of the things that are in the works for GNOME Shell on mobile, developer Jonas
Dreßler notes redesigned Quick Settings and notifications, and an improved on-screen keyboard.
“We’re not expecting to complete every aspect of making GNOME Shell a daily driveable
phone shell as part of this grant project.
That would be a much larger effort because it would mean tackling things like calls on
the lock screen, PIN code unlock, emergency calls, a flashlight quick toggle, and other
small quality-of-life features,” said Jonas Dreßler in a blog post.
What currently works on the GNOME Shell UI for mobile devices is shell navigation, launching
of apps, searching, and using the on-screen keyboard.
But you should expect more features in the coming months as the developers are working
on a new gestures API that paves the way to two-dimensional navigation gestures, automatic
screen size detection, as well as a dedicated mobile panel layout with top and bottom panels
for gestures.
GNOME Shell on mobile also promises multitasking and the ability to make every app a full-screen,
adaptable app grid for portrait screen size on phones, a narrow on-screen keyboard mode
for mobile portrait mode, and, as mentioned before, a brand-new Quick Settings design.
In conclusion, GNOME Shell for mobile devices looks promising, and you should be able to
enjoy it on your Linux phone or tablet by the end of year.
Jonas Dreßler did not share an exact timeline, but taking into consideration the fact that
GNOME 43 will be out this fall, you should expect a more feature-full GNOME Shell on
mobile.
Until then, here’s a sneak peak of the GNOME desktop on an actual Linux phone!
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