14 DAY TRIAL // Canonical has just released the fourth major update for Ubuntu Touch, which marks the switch to a new Ubuntu 15.04 base, not to mention the fact that it comes with new features and improvements.
The new OTA update has been in the works for quite some time, and it's actually an important milestone in the development cycle. This is the first major upgrade for Ubuntu Touch that's using a new base and does not require users to reflash their phone. And if we take into consideration the rest of the changes that have been implemented, we're left with a must-have upgrade.
We can consider Ubuntu Touch a stable release, but it's not a complete OS. New stuff is being added all the time, and the developers are building an OS that will easily stand toe to toe against its biggest competitors out there, like Android or iOS. For now, it's still a young project with potential and a lot of heart.
Ubuntu Touch OTA-4 is a huge update
The fact that Ubuntu 15.04 is now used as a base means that the update itself is very big, in this case, a little over 400MB. This also means that it will take a long while to download, to install, and to boot for the first time. The download itself can't be helped, but the rest are sure to improve with next iterations.
"We have just released a big Ubuntu Touch update to the stable channel marked as OTA-4. The image numbers for selected devices are krillin #23, vegetahd #3, mako #20 and generic #15. It's a much bigger release than the previous updates because it's the first official vivid-based image in the stable channel. Because of this it's also really hard to create a proper changelog for all the changes introduced by this update. The whole system underneath the images changed, so there's no common baseline for bugs as well," reads the announcement made by Łukasz "sil2100" Zemczak.
What's new in Ubuntu Touch OTA-4
According to the changelog, which can be found at the end of this article, the location accuracy has been improved, MMS group-chat support has been added, a different tutorial is now offered in the first-time wizard, the Ubuntu UI Toolkit has been upgraded to version 1.2, Qt 5.4 has been added by default, the design of the indicator is now monochromatic, and scope tagging has been implemented.
Moreover, many of the core apps, such as the Dialer, Webbrowser, Messaging, and Address Book, have been updated.
A more detailed changelog will surely be made available by Canonical in the coming days. Also, keep in mind that the update will be rolled out in 24 hours and not all at once, so if you don't see it now on your phone, it will surely pop up sometime in the next few days.