14 DAY TRIAL // Canonical has just released a new version in the Ubuntu Touch RTM branch and they have further improved their operating system for mobile devices, making it more stable and reliable.
The Ubuntu developers are working hard to fix all the performance issues and bugs in the Ubuntu Touch operating system. Now that we know Meizu's plans to release an Ubuntu-powered MX4 version in December, it's easy to understand the tight schedule of the developers.
The Ubuntu RTM branch is now the focus of the dev team. Even though all the new versions that land in this branch are stable and better than the ones that came before them, they are still just steps towards the final RTM. In case you are still wondering, RTM stands for release to manufacturing.
So, what’s new in the third version?
The Ubuntu Touch RTM branch has also been dubbed #3, but that is not all that important. What you need to know is that the current Ubuntu Touch setup is pretty representative for the final product and that not many features will be added so late in the development cycle. The previous version in the series brought a new keyboard, and that was a huge improvement, but now it's just about more fixes.
"We asked QA to perform exploratory testing for our latest 14.09-proposed images and with their blessing we decided to promote it to the ubuntu-rtm/14.09 channel! Please enjoy images #72 for krillin, #63 for mako and #59 for the emulator - now marked as image #3. But first, to clear out some misunderstandings: promotion to this channel doesn't mean that this image is ready for RTM."
"Our ubuntu-rtm channels are only used for beta and stabilization purposes - all images there are, so to say, something like release candidates that still need much work before they're ready. It's by no means an official final image," says Canonical's Łukasz Zemczak.
The developers have explained that the user feedback for secure connections has been improved, the newly-added developer mode (USB debugging equivalent for Android) has been tweaked, and the dialer, messaging, address-book, and ofono packages have received some fixes.
It's also worth noting that the Mir display server and the QtMir packages have been updated as well, and lots of other important components have received various changes.
We took a closer look at Ubuntu Touch RTM a couple of weeks ago and you are welcome to read our review and peruse the large screenshot collection.
As it stands right now, Ubuntu Touch RTM is officially supported for the Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 platforms, but that will change in a few months.
