14 DAY TRIAL // Canonical is preparing to launch a new major update for Ubuntu phones and we now have a few more details about the new features, improvements, and fixes that are going to land very soon.
The new OTA-5 update was supposed to land today, but there are a few small problems, so the soonest it's going to happen now is July 20. That is just a few days away, so it's not really an issue. Also, because the update is so close to the release date, we now have more details about the upcoming changes and there are a lot of them.
We have to keep in mind that Ubuntu Touch is a young OS, and it still needs a lot of functions. Stuff that we take for granted on other phones are just landing for Ubuntu, but we are slowly witnessing how an operating system for mobile phones is built from the ground up. It's an impressive feat, especially since there aren't many companies out there capable of doing this.
Full shell rotation, input devices for Unity, and much more
The focus of the new update will probably be full shell rotation that is about to land with OTA-5. This is a huge step forward for the OS, and a lot of third-party developers will be happy to see this implemented.
"Shell rotation, without a doubt, has been the biggest thing we landed into Unity during this cycle. Obviously, apart from that there was the usual amount of fixes and smaller updates behind the scenes. I’ll leave it to you to go hunting them, except for one, which I personally have been waiting on for quite a while and now it’s there. You can now edit reviews in the app store! So if you’ve left a review for an app that used to be bad but now it’s good, this is the time to go and update your review!" said Michael Zanetti on the official Unity blog.
It's also worth pointing out that the SMS function will be enhanced, the browser will finally get bookmark folders, call forwarding will be supported, WPA Enterprise support will be implemented, an improved Dialer app, the app icons are going to be updated, and many more fixes and changes will land. This is just the tip of the iceberg, and more details will surface once we get closer to the actual release.