I love working in Ubuntu. It’s a great OS for getting things done, fast.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
For all intents and purposes, my phone is now an Ubuntu Touch phone.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The trouble comes when I try to actually use Ubuntu Touch to do any of the things I usually use a smartphone to do.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Facebook, twitter, and other applications which should have access to and trigger notifications in the notification menu simply do not do that.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Hopefully by the time the RTM period expires, these will all be addressed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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