Ubuntu Touch Cost Benefit Analysis After being tasked with finding the best phone to meet Eduboost’s various needs, it is my pleasure to present you with my findings. But before I get into this discussion on the particular phone that I have chosen, I would like to give some background on the criteria that was used to come to this decision. I considered the various needs of Eduboost, the 170 Eduboost members, the cell phone corporation I chose, as well as Eduboost’s donors, shareholders as well as the general public. I also took into consideration the savings, the future proofing, as well as the maintenance that the device would offer when we begin promoting literacy throughout the country of Melandria. With that being said, I have chosen the Ubuntu Touch as the official phone for Eduboost’s future projects.
One of the factors I focused on in the beginning is how much each phone would cost. Due to the fact that our shareholders and donors have given us a set budget, I wanted to be certain that the phone we use was as practical and cost efficient as possible. According to the CNET, the Firefox OS is offered for $25 with a compatible smartphone. That is a huge difference in price when it is compared to the Ubuntu Touch, which is priced at $170 with a compatible smartphone. When factoring in the 170 Eduboost members, the total cost of Firefox OS phones would be $4,250 for the Eduboost; whereas, the total cost for Ubuntu Touch would be $11,900. Now while Firefox OS is offering their device for an extremely low price point for a smartphone, the people we are catering to would be able to increase the functionality and gain features and support in regards on promoting literacy.
With the Ubuntu Touch OS compatible phones, we would be able to focus our time on more crucial matters, such as exploring and implementing education material to more young minds. By utilizing better educational materials and resources, we will increase productivity and save more time when our Eduboost members begin promoting literacy. Increased productivity will ensure that we save more time and produce high quality education courses and retention rates, which will provide the citizens of Melandria with a tremendous source of empowerment, knowledge and transferable skills.
The Ubuntu Touch’s specifications and system requirements were formed with remarkable ability considering the price as well as comparing Firefox OS’s cheap build. Without getting too technical too soon, I would like to mention that the Ubuntu Touch has an Intel Atom processing chip, at the minimum 1 GB or more internal memory and is capable of holding 32 GB of flash storage. That amount of storage allows for a decent processing speed, a responsive phone experience, and enough storage to hold educational material; which is exactly what our 170 members will need during their missions. One thing that Linux offers that is an underrated feature is constant OS support and updates. The Ubuntu Touch development team has recently patched an update that has significantly improved the battery life of the phone up to 50 percent. With the recent updates, Ubuntu Touch will provide our members with at least one day’s worth of battery life with normal usage. The phone also receives ‘over the air’ updates, which will help to keep the Operating System stable, remove bugs and make improvements with each update.
With the Ubuntu Touch, our employees will also be able to maximize and utilize their time by using exclusive features. All applications for Ubuntu’s current and older versions will be compatible with Ubuntu Touch. In addition, you can connect your Ubuntu phone with an external monitor and the device will transform itself to a fully-fledged Ubuntu Linux PC with some additional features to manage your communication stuff like calls, messages, etc. Using this awesome feature, you can convert your smartphone to a PC in necessary situations, where you do not get one PC to do works. Of course, the high-end hardware capabilities of upcoming devices will boost the speed of your partial PC. Side Stage is the main principle of multitasking in Ubuntu phone-based devices which will allow users to utilize the whole screen size of your tablet PC to increase productivity. Using the Ubuntu Touch for most part is user-friendly, and with PowerPoint presentations on utilizing basic functions, we will provide members with the tools and the knowledge to increase literacy in Melandria.
Now while the Ubuntu Touch doesn’t offer warranty coverage, there are some alternates to making this phone capable of having repair and support if the situation arises. Square Trade offers a two-year full coverage warranty for $175, which will total $29,750 for all of our members. To add onto layers of protection, we can create heavy duty cell phone case produced by the Solidoodle 3D printer to offer the Ubuntu Touch with strong protection from screen damage and water damage for $800 while including all of our Eduboost members. This will reassure our members that they can do their job without worrying about their phones, because the Ubuntu Touch will be able to withstand the tough nature & conditions this upcoming project entails. Between the two year repair/support warranty and the heavy duty cases for the Ubuntu Touch, the phones will be able to last for a minimum of five years or more, contingent on how well the user cares for their phone.
So after reviewing the facts, the Ubuntu Touch is the more practical and logical choice for our project. It offers more features and supports which opens more opportunities for refining the educational experience. The better specifications and hardware will increase productivity which will ensure saving more time and produce high quality education and retention rates. Higher quality education and retention rates will provide the citizens of Melandria with a tremendous source of empowerment, knowledge and transferable skills. Hopefully, this will generate positive public relations for the Linux Corporation as well as Eduboost’s organization. That will create more notoriety and consumer confidence with the general public, donors, and shareholders so in the future, will be provided with a bigger budget to help more people.

References http://www.cnet.com/news/mozillas-25-firefox-os-its-real-and-it-works/ http://www.techlila.com/ubuntu-phone-vs-firefox-os/
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Latest-Ubuntu-Touch-Update-Improves-Battery-Life-Up-to-50-Users-Report-478812.shtml