14 DAY TRIAL // Today, July 27, 2016, Canonical will unveil the 12th Over-the-Air (OTA) software update for its Ubuntu mobile operating system that runs on supported Ubuntu Phone and Ubuntu Tablet devices.
Yes, the moment you've all been waiting for its almost here, as Canonical is about to unleash the long-anticipated Ubuntu Touch OTA-12 update, which should start appearing as a phased update during the next 24 hours, at 12 pm UTC/GMT, on Wednesday, July 27, according to Łukasz Zemczak's latest landing email announcement.
"Good news! OTA-12 passed final testing and will be released tomorrow around UTC morning. We will, of course, proceed with phased updates as always, with the update appearing on all user devices in ~20 hours since the release," says Łukasz Zemczak, Canonical Foundations. "Big thanks to everyone working on this milestone!"
Here's what's new in Ubuntu Touch OTA-12
According to the release notes, Ubuntu Touch OTA-12 brings quite some goodies, despite the fact that Canonical initially stated that it would be more about bug fixes than new features. Release highlights include fingerprint reader (biometric authentication) support for the Meizu PRO 5 Ubuntu Edition smartphone, which we reviewed earlier this month, as well as complete MPRIS support for playlists.
There are also lots of convergence improvements, such a new Libertine Scope for devices that support Ubuntu convergence, displaying the X apps that are installed, animated mouse cursors, on-screen-keyboard support for X apps, and support for maximizing windows both horizontally and vertically. On the other hand, the Messaging app has received support for forwarding messages.
Ubuntu Touch OTA-12 also updates many core applications, such as the Oxide video player, which is now at version 1.15, and the Web Browser, which has gained touch-selection improvements, zoom support, consistent page headers across its user interface, better loading time for the new tab view, the ability to load only the current tab when restoring a session, and support for displaying a hovered hyperlink URL in an overlay.
Last but not least, the keyboard now supports colored emoji, some new handy toggles have been added to various indicators, and it looks like users will be promoted for location permission when launching Scopes that need location services for the first time. Of course, numerous bugs have been squashed in the OTA-12 update, so check out the official release notes for more details.