Ubuntu Phones To Feature Wireless Display Support With OTA-11 Update (softpedia.com)

prisoninmate writes from a report via Softpedia: The moment you've all been waiting for is almost here, as you will no longer need a cable to connect your Ubuntu Phone to your TV or a supported LCD monitor. Canonical will soon release the OTA-11 software update to supported Ubuntu Phone devices implementing the Aethercast (also known as Miracast or Display Casting) technology that provides Wireless display support to Ubuntu Phone devices, but only for Meizu PRO 5, which comes with out-of-the-box wireless display functionality. Some other features of the OTA-11 update include: the adoption of the NetworkManager 1.2 network connection manager, an updated VPN feature with username and password authentication support, a pre-loaded Home Scope which will allow for a faster startup, multiple application windows, and subtitles in the header. In addition, the positioning in location service has been greatly improved, Dynamic Grid Unit (DGU) support is now available, and many bugs have been fixed (squashed). You can view a list of the devices that support the OTA-11 update here.

UPDATE 5/31/16: The report has been updated to clarify that the Meizu PRO 5 is the only device that supports wireless display functionality out-of-the-box.

Comments

how about supporting basic features first

[Anonymous Coward]

Ubuntu phones lag way behind Android, iOS, and even Windows phones. How about supporting basic features, then moving onto unnecessary things like wireless display support?

Re:how about supporting basic features first

[Anonymous Coward]

What basic features are Ubuntu phones lacking?

Re:how about supporting basic features first

[higuita]

my wife uses one ubuntu phone and complains about this:

- no draft in sms. If you start to write e text, you have to send it or you will lose it
- she uses google task with dates and they show up in google web interface in the calendar as events, but while ubuntu phone do synchronize the calendar, it do not synchronize the tasks and they never show in the ubuntu phone calendar
- the contact synchronization will fetch google contacts, but it not merges/remove duplicates, so right now she have about 5 contacts for each person

Other than that, it works well now... it had some crashes, but are getting a lot better in each release, Bluetooth was broken with toyota cars

Re:how about supporting basic features first

[Scarred Intellect]

- she uses google task with dates and they show up in google web interface in the calendar as events, but while ubuntu phone do synchronize the calendar, it do not synchronize the tasks and they never show in the ubuntu phone calendar

She's not alone, though this is a Google Calendar issue, not Ubuntu: Clicky. As far as I know, this issue is still relevant.

I use(d) tasks to schedule all my bills; since they don't sync easily, I instead set them all to be all-day events, and they show up at the top of each day similar to how a task would display. Fairly simple workaround, but I was annoyed that I had to do it.

Amazon

[Anonymous Coward]

This is the phone OS that sends all your search to Amazon as well as whoever is doing the actual searching?

Marketshare?

[sjbe]

The moment you've all been waiting for is almost here, as you will no longer need a cable to connect your Ubuntu Phone to your TV or a supported LCD monitor.

All three of you who own one... Seriously is the market share for these things into triple digits yet?

Re:Marketshare?

[BenJeremy]

I suspect the number of people (outside of a few developers) who have BOTH Ubuntu phones AND a "supported TV or Monitor" is roughly zero.

Users

[ArchieBunker]

I bet more people are running NetBSD right now than this phone!

Re:Users

[Githyanki]

They used to support Nexus phones, so I bought the 6 thinking I could run Ubuntu on it. Sadly, that's where they stopped supporting the Nexus line. I'm sure the amount of people running this would be higher if they would support anything other than their own models of phones.

Re:Users

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm porting it to a LG Optimus L7, Dude. Don't give up.

(squashed)?

[wonkey_monkey]

and many bugs have been fixed (squashed)

Why did you add "(squashed)"? Does it convey some additional meaning that "fixed" doesn't cover?

Re:(squashed)?

[Anonymous Coward]

Fixing them just means they can't propagate. Squashing them kills the bugs, but tends to dirty up your code which leads to code rot. Most people try to avoid code smells, so fixing them is generally good enough. Once fixed, they tend to bury down into your system where they stay out of sight and thus won't bother the users.

Re:(squashed)?

[thegarbz]

Yes. Fixed implies cleaned up and all problems disappear. Squashed implies that there's a smudge on the wall and your wife will get angry at you for not cleaning up the mess... kind of the standard way for the Ubuntu team to handle bugs.

NetworkManager doesn't instill confidence!

[Anonymous Coward]

The reference to NetworkManager in the summary doesn't instill confidence. Along with systemd, PulseAudio and GNOME 3, NetworkManager is one of the common Linux components that has caused me nothing but grief. I'm not talking about minor bugs or annoyances. I'm talking about functionality that just flat out hasn't worked under Linux, while it works fine in Windows on the exact same computer.

If NetworkManager has caused me so many problems on desktops and laptops, why should I believe it will be any better on phones? At least desktops and laptops are somewhat usable without functioning network connectivity. But a mobile device, especially a smaller one like a smart phone? Well it's nearly useless without a working network connection.

Squashed bugs?

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

>> many bugs have been fixed (squashed)

Kind of like squashed bugs in real life, can we assume that the crap code's still in there, but now no longer as noticable?

Re:Squashed bugs?

[Buchenskjoll]

As anyone, who has squashed a spider on white wallpaper, knows, bugs become far more noticable when squashed.

Online accounts

[Anonymous Coward]

They should add the ability so sync contacts and calendars using CardDAV and CalDAV.

This has been an issue for some time, the discussion between Ubuntu Phone users has been going on for a while, as can be seen here, for example.

A related bug report (open since 2013) can be seen here.

For now, a Google account is the only option the GUI allows to sync contacts and calendars. If you're doing that, what is the point in using Ubuntu on the phone, might as well use Android.

I'm aware that syncevolution can be used on the phone's command line but really, adding an OwnCloud server (for example) should not require enabling developer mode and adding scripts setting up cron jobs. This very simple omission is what's keeping me from using Ubuntu on the phone. I'd quite like to keep my data from Google or Apple or Microsoft and I fail to see why the management team behind Ubuntu Touch can't see this use - I know I'm far from the only one.

By the way you can easily install Ubuntu on a Nexus 4 using the images provided. It's a fairly ok to use - certainly miles ahead of FirefoxOS - but I was hoping they would have implemented this by now, I first tried it at release 9 so they've had 2 major opportunities to enable it.

Re:Online accounts

[Anonymous Coward]

A click package is being worked on with GUI Owncloud sync, Wood and Zanetti have been debugging it this weekend.
Once that operational, they will expand it to add card-dav and cal dav settings etc.

Till then it a cron of syncevolution, linux people should know how, and if not, here a start:
https://gurucubano.gitbooks.io/bq-aquaris-e-4-5-ubuntu-phone/content/en//chapter1.html

If you want to help, join the mailing list.

How does Ubuntu Phone compare to Firefox OS?

[Anonymous Coward]

How does Ubuntu Phone compare to Firefox OS?

I know that Firefox OS has received some of the most negative software reviews of all time. So in some ways it's hard to see Ubuntu Phone doing worse than Mozilla managed to do with Firefox OS.

While Firefox OS pretty much limited app developers to using limited technologies like JavaScript/HTML/CSS, does Ubuntu Phone have similar limitations? Can Ubuntu Phone apps be developed in real programming languages like C, C++, Java, C#, and Swift? Does it support real GUI widget libraries?

Despite being built upon Linux, it's like Firefox OS went out of its way to hide or replace everything good about Linux and instead offered us really shitty web-based alternatives. Does Ubuntu Phone make the same mistake?

Re:How does Ubuntu Phone compare to Firefox OS?

[Anonymous Coward]

Ubuntu phone has 'scopes' in lieu of apps; an interesting concept that can smash the walled gardens. It's pretty much HTML5-oriented. It only needs more work. It can bring a whole new paradigm to the mobile landscape.

Re:How does Ubuntu Phone compare to Firefox OS?

[Anonymous Coward]

FF OS is a fork of android. Main problem was developing for those phones is like writing firefox addons which in itsself is not a bad thing. But you can't share code between multiple OS-es, eg. writing logic in C/C++ then write the GUI in java, obj-c or whateva.
No company will finance you to rewrite your app in XUL. Mobile apps don't work that way. Industry is too fast.
What I have seen Ubi phones can run Gimp. That's mighty impressive considering gimp has a shit for interface.

Yay!

[Anonymous Coward]

Yay!... ...said all five people with Ubuntu phones.

Re:Yay!

[flacco]

Don't forget the three of us who have Ubuntu tablets.

Never seen one

[PmanAce]

As one of the few who had a Windows Phone 7 (and actually released 5 apps to the wild), I've never heard or seen someone use an Ubuntu phone. What advantages does it offer, why does it exist? I know I got a Windows Phone because I love coding in C# and could do it as a hobby, but Ubuntu?

Re:Never seen one

[Anonymous Coward]

you can program in any language (C, C++, python, ruby, java, javascript...) using Qt (QML) for mobile/ convergent UI/UX native feeling aplications. also thanks to libertine/ puritine and linux containers you would be able to install/ develop/ use linux desktop apps (X11). Talking about C#... I dont know what shape is mono for armhf and arm64...

Re:Never seen one

[FatRatBastard]

I run it on an old Nexus 4 for shits and grins. Basically the only advantage that I can see (and the only reason I haven't wiped it off the Nexus) is I think the "hook the phone up to a monitor/keyboard and turn it into a computer" is the next big step in mobile computing. Whoever gets it right first will have the advantage. Microsoft is trying with Continuum, and Ubuntu has their version. Android has their home grown merging of ChromeOS/Android, plus third party things like RemixOS, and it looks like Apple are moving OSX and iOS closer to each other as well.

Odds are Ubuntu won't be the winner but its interesting to see where they're going with their phone OS.

Other than that, though, there's no compelling reason to use it. App ecosystem is basically barren, and there's nothing compelling about the UI to recommend it above all the other options.

Re:Never seen one

[Anonymous Coward]

It doesn't offer any advantages. Canonical is just flailing around trying to act like it's still relevant.

summary is confusing

[Anonymous Coward]

Why does the summary phone keep referring to Obama phones as Ubuntu ?

All three ubuntu phone users rejoice!

[Anonymous Coward]

Yup, all three of those ubuntu phone users must be super happy now.

Patents

[Stan92057]

How is this phone going to make it on the open market where the likes of google and apple and MS have been inundated with patent lawsuits?