Ubuntu OTA-12 Bringing More Features & Improvements To Mobile Ubuntu

[ResponseWriter]

I think you can blame Phoronix coding for that, I had issues with Phoronix forum on Android as well, all other forums I visit on my Ubuntu phone dont have such delays. Writing this now from my E4.5 and eagerly awaiting the update.

Sure, it's not Phoronix specifically but a 'feature' of the forum software. That's one example but I've noticed a general trend towards transitions and effects that are detrimental to the user experience. It seems like Ubuntu mobile handles it less well than my Android did. I've had just one tab open to read a blog and even that has been unstable, closing and reloading.

[starshipeleven]

Sure, it's not Phoronix specifically but a 'feature' of the forum software.

*cough*vBullettin*cough*

[andre30correia]

Sure, it's not Phoronix specifically but a 'feature' of the forum software. That's one example but I've noticed a general trend towards transitions and effects that are detrimental to the user experience. It seems like Ubuntu mobile handles it less well than my Android did. I've had just one tab open to read a blog and even that has been unstable, closing and reloading.

the problem is this foruns, even in desktop i have delays, and have a i7. I already upgrade to ota 12 in bq aquaris, this ota 12 is more for the tablet m10 and the meizu and bug fixes, open some apps look sharpen after the upgrade and for the critics the same cell with android is much slower and multitasking in android is much worst. Ubuntu touch devs are doing a good job, in one year and half the improve a lot (a lot again)

[fuzz]

On officially launched phones its pretty good now, dont know how well community ports work, I dont lack much on it now, and with Skype going WebRTC we might get a proper Skype client for Ubuntu Touch. I might upgrade my BQ Aquaris E4.5 with Meizu MX6 though and have convergence via wifi screencasting. Is Nexus 5 port working well?

The OS itself seems pretty smooth (everything but bluetooth and texts work, which is odd since I can make phone calls). Battery is not great but that is pretty common in the community ports. I also miss the dedicated back button and Android's notification system, but those are arguments you could make against iOS as well, which Ubuntu Touch seems to take a lot of design insight from. I'm really not a fan of the "cutesey" Qt interface and icons. They even made the browser icon to look like Safari's.

There are just a few key apps that are holding me back... maybe I have been spoiled by the native experience I'm used to on Android. I tried both LastPass "apps" in the store and neither one worked. I want to move away from LastPass anyway, so I could probably do it. I also need Office 365 support for work.

I'm pretty much just using the Nexus 5 as a testbed until enough of the ecosystem is there for me to make it my primary phone OS.

[Cerberus]

The OS itself seems pretty smooth (everything but bluetooth and texts work, which is odd since I can make phone calls). Battery is not great but that is pretty common in the community ports. I also miss the dedicated back button and Android's notification system, but those are arguments you could make against iOS as well, which Ubuntu Touch seems to take a lot of design insight from. I'm really not a fan of the "cutesey" Qt interface and icons. They even made the browser icon to look like Safari's.

There are just a few key apps that are holding me back... maybe I have been spoiled by the native experience I'm used to on Android. I tried both LastPass "apps" in the store and neither one worked. I want to move away from LastPass anyway, so I could probably do it. I also need Office 365 support for work.

I'm pretty much just using the Nexus 5 as a testbed until enough of the ecosystem is there for me to make it my primary phone OS.

Surprised about the comment on battery life as official phones have very good battery life, better than Android. I like how Ubuntu Touch looks, it is consistent across the OS, something Android doesnt manage to do well in my opinion, but everyone has their opinion. Converged phones will be soon able to install X applications from the Ubuntu Store, currently they can do it manually, something which will improve the usability, some of them even look decent enough for mobile use on full hd screens. What I miss is a good VOIP client, Skype for Ubuntu Touch would largely solve that, and I wouldnt say no to Viber either, other applications I need are there as core applications or installed from the Store. I think voice calls now work with Skype web wrapper application available in the Ubuntu Store, video call availability depends on Microsoft because they didnt implement that yet in the web version of Skype.

I made an experiment recently and flashed Lollipop on my BQ and used it for a week or two, after more than a year on Ubuntu Touch I found Android to be way too invasive when it comes to privacy, worse battery life and I missed swiping gestures from Ubuntu Touch, I reflashed the phone again with Ubuntu and I cant say I miss Android at all, except for a handful of applications like Viber and WhatsApp. Ubuntu Touch UI is really good once the user adapts to it, when I experimented with Android I found Android clumsy to use, especially when multitasking with multiple open applications. If I manage I will buy MX6 and play with convergence and X applications on it, I can do it on E4.5 too, though wifi screencasting is not supported on it. OS has a few rough edges, but it is aimed at enthusiasts so people who buy Ubuntu phones know bugs may happen or that there are features not yet fully implemented. You can probably never get rid of bugs 100% because even Android and iOS, developed by much bigger companies, sometimes have bugs. Nevertheless I am enjoying my journey so far with Ubuntu Touch and I help with bug reports and feedback, I hope the platform succeeds, alternatives to Android and iOS are not many, and FirefoxOS and SailfishOS are practically axed, if Ubuntu Touch fails too we might end up with no alternatives whatsoever to big players.

[fuzz]

Surprised about the comment on battery life as official phones have very good battery life, better than Android. I like how Ubuntu Touch looks, it is consistent across the OS, something Android doesnt manage to do well in my opinion, but everyone has their opinion. Converged phones will be soon able to install X applications from the Ubuntu Store, currently they can do it manually, something which will improve the usability, some of them even look decent enough for mobile use on full hd screens. What I miss is a good VOIP client, Skype for Ubuntu Touch would largely solve that, and I wouldnt say no to Viber either, other applications I need are there as core applications or installed from the Store. I think voice calls now work with Skype web wrapper application available in the Ubuntu Store, video call availability depends on Microsoft because they didnt implement that yet in the web version of Skype.

I made an experiment recently and flashed Lollipop on my BQ and used it for a week or two, after more than a year on Ubuntu Touch I found Android to be way too invasive when it comes to privacy, worse battery life and I missed swiping gestures from Ubuntu Touch, I reflashed the phone again with Ubuntu and I cant say I miss Android at all, except for a handful of applications like Viber and WhatsApp. Ubuntu Touch UI is really good once the user adapts to it, when I experimented with Android I found Android clumsy to use, especially when multitasking with multiple open applications. If I manage I will buy MX6 and play with convergence and X applications on it, I can do it on E4.5 too, though wifi screencasting is not supported on it. OS has a few rough edges, but it is aimed at enthusiasts so people who buy Ubuntu phones know bugs may happen or that there are features not yet fully implemented. You can probably never get rid of bugs 100% because even Android and iOS, developed by much bigger companies, sometimes have bugs. Nevertheless I am enjoying my journey so far with Ubuntu Touch and I help with bug reports and feedback, I hope the platform succeeds, alternatives to Android and iOS are not many, and FirefoxOS and SailfishOS are practically axed, if Ubuntu Touch fails too we might end up with no alternatives whatsoever to big players.

I've done some Ionic development for Android and iOS. It would be pretty interesting to see them support Ubuntu Touch as a platform -- that would bring a lot of apps over. I know I saw someone experimenting with Cordova on Ubuntu Touch.

Anyway, I'm sure my experience would be better on an official device... currently I have a Motorola X Pure edition which is probably the best phone I've ever owned, so the competition is pretty high here . I think it's important to note that stock android seems to do a lot of things better than some of the OEM interfaces, and material design is really slick even for desktop web apps.

I do like the main navigation gestures in Ubuntu Touch. But it's really annoying to reach the "back" button in the upper left especially when I'm using the device in one hand.

One of the main reasons I'm not too worried about the level of appearance or anything is I know I could modify any part of the OS if I wanted to. That's the main driving force for me here.

[ferry]

The 7 users waiting for this are thrilled!

8 including me

I really like my Meizu with Ubuntu. Battery life is exceptional (OTA 11), native apps are pretty quick without draining power. If only they could get BT to work well so I could call hand free in my car and get the calendar/contact to sync with our owncloud server (yeah I can sync now if I make the openvpn connection and then open a terminal to run the sync command). Nevertheless a lot of stuff that can be done easily with android works well with Ubuntu Touch.

[sarmad]

Any idea when Ubuntu phone will get Whats App and all the other communication apps? Afterall, communication is what phones were originally invented for!

[Cerberus]

I've done some Ionic development for Android and iOS. It would be pretty interesting to see them support Ubuntu Touch as a platform -- that would bring a lot of apps over. I know I saw someone experimenting with Cordova on Ubuntu Touch.

Anyway, I'm sure my experience would be better on an official device... currently I have a Motorola X Pure edition which is probably the best phone I've ever owned, so the competition is pretty high here . I think it's important to note that stock android seems to do a lot of things better than some of the OEM interfaces, and material design is really slick even for desktop web apps.

I do like the main navigation gestures in Ubuntu Touch. But it's really annoying to reach the "back" button in the upper left especially when I'm using the device in one hand.

One of the main reasons I'm not too worried about the level of appearance or anything is I know I could modify any part of the OS if I wanted to. That's the main driving force for me here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydnG7wVrsW4

I think that Cordova is supported on Ubuntu Touch. SDK supports various other frameworks

Motorola X Pure Edition seems somewhat similar to Meizu phones on offer with Ubuntu Touch, Pro 5 has octa core Exynos CPU, 3 GB RAM, 5.7" AMOLED 1080p screen, 21mpx Sony camera etc. MX6 has 10 core Helio CPU, 4 GB RAM, 5.5" IPS 1080p screen, 12mpx Sony camera. Both are metal I believe. Very nice phones and not too expensive. I am definitely having my eye on Meizu MX6 when it comes out.

Unity 8 can be modified to look different though official theming is not yet available.

[Cerberus]

8 including me

I really like my Meizu with Ubuntu. Battery life is exceptional (OTA 11), native apps are pretty quick without draining power. If only they could get BT to work well so I could call hand free in my car and get the calendar/contact to sync with our owncloud server (yeah I can sync now if I make the openvpn connection and then open a terminal to run the sync command). Nevertheless a lot of stuff that can be done easily with android works well with Ubuntu Touch.

You have Pro 5? I know some use hands free with BQ phones, maybe not all of them work or its a bug, try asking on the Ubuntu phone mailing list, maybe other owners or developers can give your more information.