14 DAY TRIAL // Ubuntu developers are working hard to improve the battery life the Ubuntu Touch operating systems, and they are preparing for the launch of a new major update that should provide better performance in this regard.
The battery life of a mobile device is a very important aspect, and some users have reported issues with the battery, especially for Bq devices that are now in the wild. When you buy a phone, you don't expect it to drain while it's not doing anything, but that's exactly what is happening. Canonical is already making some important changes that will land with the next OTA update, which is scheduled to arrive any time now.
More and more users now have access to Ubuntu-powered phones, and that means the devs at Canonical will have their hands full as the community find bugs and stress test the devices. If Canonical had made the phones widely available, this battery problem would have been a PR nightmare, but the fact that only a small number of enthusiast users willing to wait for updates have the phones in their possession works best for the company.
The new update will feature other improvements besides battery life
The devs don't push major updates with just one change, and the same is happening with this latest one. There is a ton of people working on the operating systems, and they are also making their contribution. For example, some important rehaul of the indicator-network is also expected to arrive.
"The most important OTA-3 milestone fixes have now landed in ubuntu-rtm. The landing gates will still remain open as there are a few other important changes that we're waiting for, but so far it seems OTA-3 should have everything that we planned. QA is currently signing-off a rehaul of indicator-network, this will make the indicator generally more responsive, fixing a few good bugs (one of them critical)," noted Canonical's Łukasz 'sil2100' Zemczak.
If your Ubuntu phone is connected to the internet, you should see the update as soon as it has been made available.