I love working in Ubuntu. It’s a great OS for getting things done, fast.
So you might expect me to be excited when Ubuntu announced they were coming out with a touch OS. I was, of course. I scoured the site occasionally until a publicly available stable version would be available for download.
Owning only one phone, an LG Nexus 4, I wanted to make sure Ubuntu Touch was ready for prime time. Finally, I found a dual-boot option which would allow me to enjoy Ubuntu while still being able to boot my phone’s main OS.
So I went about the task of downloading the dual boot installer, rooting my phone, installing the dual-boot app and re-locking the bootloader.
For all intents and purposes, my phone is now an Ubuntu Touch phone.
The interface is sleek, if not a little jarring for those used to iOS or Android. Blackberry users might feel more at home with the swipe-from-edge gestures being your only access to menus and other features.
I quickly became accustomed to the nuances of Ubutnu Touch’s new interface. I kind-of like it! I could definitely use this every day.
The trouble comes when I try to actually use Ubuntu Touch to do any of the things I usually use a smartphone to do.
First, as you might expect, there are basically no native apps. There are some non-native web apps, and they all run terribly. Most flicker and flash, lag terribly and otherwise refuse to function properly.
That wouldn’t be a huge problem, as really I only want to communicate with people as a bare minimum. The problem being that I can’t even do that well.
Facebook, twitter, and other applications which should have access to and trigger notifications in the notification menu simply do not do that.
Facebook Messenger is the primary method of communication for a bunch of my friends. I don’t bother texting hardly anyone these days. So that right there makes this not a daily driver for me. If I can’t get FB messenger notifications, I can’t use it.
Also, the most heinous of problems, is that Ubuntu Touch had a well known problem with locking you out of your SIM card, even if the SIM card is not locked. I ended up having to call my carrier to fix the problem I caused by trying to get my SIM working. This problem seems to have been fixed, but bugs like this would surely be a show-stopper for consumers.
Overall, Ubuntu Touch isn’t ready for you. I don’t really care who you are, it’s just not ready. It’s missing key features everywhere.
Hopefully by the time the RTM period expires, these will all be addressed.
I recently discovered that ubuntu touch is totally unusable with the ballistic case I put on my nexus 5 (had to, since I broke the screen already once). You really can’t swipe from either side. Interestingly, I can swipe screens in android fine, including bringing up the google now page.
What really prevents ubuntu from working for me (since in theory I could remove the case) is that sms messages do not work at all. This could be because I’m on sprint, but I’ve never seen any other rom have that issue. Also there is no functional maps application, at least not turn-by-turn. Not even a terrible one.
Are you able to make calls? Seems like some of the basic telephony of Ubuntu Touch RTM is still very broken.