OTA-16, now available the second version of Ubuntu Touch most important in its history

By the end of 2020, UBports He launched a version of its mobile operating system that made major improvements. One of them particularly caught my attention: the design change and other improvements made to its default browser, Morph Browser. And, in an operating system where the browser is used a lot, it was a more than necessary change. A few hours ago, the project has thrown out la OTA-16 of Ubuntu Touch, and it's a bigger release than it sounds.

In fact, after mentioning the new devices that Ubuntu Touch supports, UBports tells us that it is the second largest release in Ubuntu Touch history, remaining only behind the OTA-4 that was with which they made the leap from being based on Ubuntu 15.04 to Ubuntu 16.04 on which the current version is based. But it is also that the OTA-16 is preparing the way for another important leap that will take place in mid-2021.

OTA-16 highlights

• New supported devices:
  • LG Nexus 5
  • OnePlus One
  • fairphone 2
  • LG Nexus 4
  • BQ E5 HD Ubuntu Edition
  • BQ E4.5 Ubuntu Edition
  • Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition
  • Meizu Pro 5 Ubuntu Edition
  • BQ M10 (F) HD Ubuntu Edition
  • Sony Xperia X
  • Sony Xperia X Compact
  • Nexus 7 2013 (Wi-Fi and LTE models)
  • Sony Xperia X Performance
  • Sony Xperia XZ
  • Huawei Nexus 6P
  • Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet
  • OnePlus 3 and 3T
  • Xiaomi Redmi 4X
  • Google Pixel 3a
  • OnePlus 2
  • F (x) tec Pro1
  • Xiaomi Note 7 Redmire
  • Xiaomi Mi A2
  • Volla Phone
  • Samsung Galaxy S3 Neo + (GT-I9301I)
  • Samsung Galaxy Note 4
• Qt 5.12.9, up from v5.9.5. This paves the way for uploading the base to Ubuntu 20.04.
• More than a third of the binaries have been modified in this release.
• Many fixes.
• Morph Browser improvements:
  • Improvements in the download system. Now it is no longer full screen and you see an icon above that vibrates when the download is finished.
  • The download page also includes a "Recent Downloads" panel.
  • A control has been added to the tab manager that allows you to reopen the most recently closed tab.
  • Now it looks better, whether we use it in desktop mode or if we use it in the tablet version.
• Video recording support has been activated on Android 7 devices.
• Support for GStreamer that enables hardware acceleration in the PinePhone camera.
• Performance improvements.
• The Anbox installer has been included by default, but you have to do the manual installation.
• Other fixes.

Already on your device

Ubuntu Touch OTA-16 is now available on the stable channel of supported devices, including the PinePhone and PineTab. But you have to take into account, and so UBports remembers, that in PINE64 devices they appear with another numbering.