On August 21, UBports He launched the Ubuntu Touch OTA-10 and started preparing the next version. Today, seven weeks later, the team that took over the mobile version of Ubuntu has put available to anyone who wants to test it the OTA-11, an update that includes a smarter keyboard as a highlight. Personally, although it may not seem like it at first, I think it is an important advance that will help speed up writing.
UBports says the feature that makes Ubuntu Touch's keyboard smarter is called Advanced Text Functions. This novelty will allow us to move through the text that we have written, do and undo, select text with a rectangle and use the cut, copy and paste commands, all from the same place. For all these options to appear, you have to press and hold on the space bar.
OTA-11 will also include improvements in Morph Browser
The OTA-11, which we remember has already been released in the form of a trial version, also includes improvements in Morph Browser, the Ubuntu Touch web browser based on Chromium and QtWebEngine. In this version, some 4.000 lines of code have been changed to offer the Domain Permissions model, which will allow important functions that were not available before such as:
- Zoom levels of pages are now saved by web page instead of by tab.
- You can configure "Always allow" or "Always deny" access to the location by web page.
- Web pages can launch other applications through custom URLs, such as tel: // to make a phone call.
- Now you can blacklist access to certain pages or block access to all but those on a white list.
Today's mobile phone is not a good option without a good notification system, and the OTA-11 will also improve in this regard. Before, you had to connect to Ubuntu One for the notifications to work, something that will no longer be necessary from a next version of Ubuntu Touch that will allow any compatible application to deliver notifications without having to connect to the Ubuntu "cloud".
other developments
- Support for new devices, such as those that initially came out with Android 7.1.
- Improved audio support, especially for calls.
- Fixed issue on Nexus 5 that could cause Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to hang from time to time using a lot of CPU and battery.
- Improvements in MMS messages.
If you follow the roadmap of past releases, Ubuntu Touch's OTA-11 will be released in about a week. Until then, UBports asks users to give it a try to finish polishing what will be the next version of the mobile operating system that Canonical started.