Hello Linux Geeksters. Despite the fact that Mark Shuttleworth wants to release the first Ubuntu Touch phones this autumn, the developers are not ready yet to ship a stable version of Ubuntu for phones.
The development of Ubuntu Touch is separated on a number of branches, only one being stable. Also, the developers are considering building a separate branch of Ubuntu Touch that will get RTM (release-to-manufacturer) status and will be focused on bug-fixes and stability improvements. So, the developers may use the “derived distribution” feature of Launchpad, which branches the entire distribution or some parts only, into a new distribution.
If everything goes according to plan, the RTM version will be the most stable Ubuntu Touch image released so far and may be used by default on the BQ and Meizu phones.
Canonical has been working a lot at Ubuntu Touch, the mobile version of Ubuntu. While the initial plan was to make it available for all the Google Nexus smartphones and tablets, the developers have dropped the support for Galaxy Nexus, Google Nexus 7 2012 and Google Nexus 10, Ubuntu Touch being officially available only for the Google Nexus 4 smartphone and the Google Nexus 7 2013 tablet.
Until now, there aren’t a lot of applications for Ubuntu Touch available, Canonical’s Mark Shuttleworth hopes that by the time the first Ubuntu Touch powered phones hit the market, the top 50 Android/iOS apps will be available for Ubuntu Touch.
Also worth mentioning, Mark’s Shuttleworth big dream is to reach full desktop-mobile convergence somewhere between the releases of Ubuntu 14.10 and Ubuntu 15.04 (between October 2014 and April 2015).
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