First Ubuntu Touch OTA Release Based on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Is Out Now

This release brings support for devices running Android 9 or later.
Ubuntu Touch 20.04

The UBports Foundation announced today the general availability of the first Ubuntu Touch OTA release based on the Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa) operating system series.

To everyone’s surprise and while we were waiting for the Ubuntu Touch OTA-25 update, UBports pushed today a new stable update based on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, entitled Ubuntu Touch OTA-1 Focal. This is the culmination of more than a year of hard work porting Ubuntu Touch from Ubuntu 16.04 to Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.

The Focal Fossa Ubuntu Touch OTA-1 update is currently only available for Fairphone 4, Google Pixel 3a, Vollaphone 22, Vollaphone X, and Vollaphone devices. UBports also mentioned the fact that this release supports Android phones running Android 9 or later.

As expected, the Ubuntu Touch OTA-1 Focal release runs the Lomiri UI, which is a fork of the Unity8 mobile interface developed and maintained by UBports, which wants to make it available to other distributions than Ubuntu.

Other noteworthy features include the adoption of the systemd init system, Ayatana Indicators, and Waydroid, a new porting style for device porters, as well as support for building many components against GCC 12 and Qt 5.15 LTS so it will be easier to port Ubuntu Touch to newer Ubuntu releases, such as Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.

“Other UT [Ubuntu Touch] devices that currently run Focal might not have all features working yet with OTA-1 depending on the exact status of their port., but you are free to try if you wish. Your comments are welcome here,” said UBports.

Some bugs and improvements are present as well in the Ubuntu Touch OTA-1 Focal release, such as a fix for an issue when trying to mute the phone’s microphone during phone calls, a fix for a context menu issue in the Morph Browser, as well as fixes for various issues when receiving MMS messages.

Furthermore, this release improves XWayland integration and improves support for running legacy X11 apps on Lomiri, adds support for PIN codes between 4 and 12 digits, updates broadband provider data, adds support for USB-C USB-PD, improves PAM/logind integration, and refreshes various Lomiri effects.

The Morph Browser received hardware-accelerated video decoding with support for up to 2K video playback and video chat support, the Camera app now supports barcode reading, the Messaging app now lets you zoom in on conversation text using a pinch and spread gesture, and the Addressbook app now lets users add notes for a contact and a URL address.

The Ubuntu Touch OTA-1 Focal release is now rolling out to supported devices. Users can update their installations by selecting the 20.04 Stable channel under System Settings > Updates > Settings > Channels. Please also read the announcement page for all the known issues.

Last updated 12 months ago

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