Wow, I guess you better not have a negative opinion about linux on these forums! Everyone who said something negative has gotten a thumb down. That's a bit sad.
Lets be honest here. If Ubuntu wants an Ubuntu Phone to take off, they can't have much user interaction pressing "install" when they need something to work. Granted, I doubt this will be a problem, considering they'll be working on a small selection of hardware, so I doubt they'll have compatibility issues that require you to open a terminal.
Realistically, you can expect an Android that allows you to customize it to the n'th degree with free (open) software that doesn't require you to "jailbreak" the phone to obtain.
It could be great, or it can suck. We won't know until we see it.