Hello again, everyone!
I'm happy to announce that it is time to ask for your help in testing Ubuntu Touch OTA-21! This is slated for release on Friday, January 5th, 2022. Before then, we need to make sure it's ready to go!
What's new?
As explained in our last few release milestone posts, we're entering a period where change to Ubuntu Touch will slow down for a while. This shift in priorities is allowing us to get Ubuntu Touch based on Ubuntu 20.04 built and on par with the stability of Ubuntu Touch based on Ubuntu 16.04. Even so, there are some great improvements in this release!
• Google accounts have been fixed and can now set up again properly
• Microphone access in the browser is working
• clock-app has a fix for a weird animation in timer mode when the clock hands were moved across 12 o clock position
• Storage overview in system settings got an overhaul and more categories, also detailing better how much space is occupied by Ubuntu Touch and whats reserved by the system
• Huge MMS improvements to allow notification and re-download of an MMS if it was not received properly
• User metrics (circle statistics on lock screen) fixed for all devices >= Halium 9
• Added Tamil font
• Switch to libmedia-hub-qt
• Clearing of recent/missed calls lists is now possible
• Magnetometer and compass plugin was added for all devices >= Halium 9
• Greeter redesign (PIN/Pasword entry)
• Progress to getting Halium 10 devices installable (this is not visible to ordinary users yet though)
And a few bugs and common issues have been fixed, too.
By the way, if you'd like to help us out with Ubuntu Touch based on Ubuntu 20.04, you can learn more on the
GitLab Epic we created for the project. This epic lists milestones and tasks that need to be completed for the project to be finished. We're developing a tool called the
UBports Platform Development Kit, an integrated vm-in-a-box with handy developer tools that make it a cinch to work on our 20.04 images. It works on many Linux distributions, Intel, ARM64 and MacOS. We're also working on Windows support. We'd appreciate you trying it out and giving us a hand with documenting and developing with it.
How can I test?
We want to ensure that every release we ship is better than the previous one, so we're looking to our entire community to help us with the QA (Quality Assurance) of OTA-21.
We've prepared a GitHub Project for OTA-21 QA which lists the issues we'd like your feedback on. The QA column lists issues which do not have complete test results. The Done column lists issues which, thanks to our efforts here, are confirmed as fixed. The In Progress column lists issues which are either not fixed or where the fix has a severe negative side effect. The goal at the end of this is to have every issue in the Done column.
We're interested in hearing your feedback on everything in the QA column. We want to know:
* Which device are you using?
* Does the issue appear fixed in your testing?
* Did you notice any side effects of the change as it is listed in the issue or Pull Request?
Testing any issue should be easy. On your device do the following:
1. Update all of your apps using "System Settings -> Updates" or "My Apps" in the OpenStore app
2. Head to System Settings -> Updates -> Update Settings -> Release Channel
3. Select `rc`
4. Go back to the Updates screen to install the downloaded update
After your phone reboots, you'll be on the OTA-21 release candidate! Of course, **only** step 4 is required if you are already on the `rc` channel and this update will come through as usual.
The image which loads will be named `(2021-W51/2)` or newer. You can find your image version in System Settings -> About -> OS.
Now you can pick any issue in the QA column in the OTA-21 project, and ensure that you are not able to reproduce it. If you can't reproduce the issue, the fix worked! If you can reproduce the issue (or you notice something else that isn't right), we want to know about that too. Leave a comment with your device and image version, then let us know the results of your test.
