14 DAY TRIAL // A new Ubuntu Touch OTA update is on its way, and it looks like the developers are trying to wrap up the work for it and just focus on testing what's already been implemented. If everything goes according to plan, we should have a new update next Wednesday.
Ubuntu Touch has been stable for a while now, and it has already received four major upgrades. Now a fifth one is on its way, and we already know that it's going to bring some interesting improvements. One of those enhancements is for the battery life of the new Meizu MX4, but it's very likely that other changes will be made as well.
The landing gates for the OTA-5 update are closing, and that means that no more changes or new features will be added and that a first RC for the patch will be made available. If nothing out of the ordinary happens and if the testing process goes smoothly, we should be able to see the new patch land next week. It's not an exact science, and developers will prefer postponing the launch in order to fix stuff, so the date is not set in stone.
No phased updates for this release
The update process for Ubuntu phone is usually done in stages, using a phased model, meaning that it takes 24 hours for everyone to get their updates. This ensures that, if something goes wrong, not everyone will be affected at the same time and that the update procedure ca be stopped.
"The ETA for OTA-5 release to users is around Wednesday next week. We should have our first candidate around tomorrow evening. We usually use phased updates for our OTAs but this time due to a regression in the OTA-4 system-image package we will not be doing phasing this time and release it to everyone at once. Phased upgrades will be back with the next OTA," said Canonical's Łukasz 'sil2100' Zemczak.
We'll keep you updated with more information about the upcoming OTA-5 update.