Canonical has announced some changes in terms of device support for Ubuntu Touch. The list once included the 2012 and 2013 variants of the Nexus 7 as well as the Nexus 10 for tablets and the Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4 for smartphones. Furthermore, many were expecting support to be added for the Nexus 5. Moving forward though, the list will be cut to one tablet and one smartphone.
Those devices include the Nexus 4 and the 2013 Nexus 7. This is all being done in the push to Ubuntu 14.04, which for those unfamiliar, corresponds to April 2014 for a release timeframe. Basically, this will allow the Ubuntu engineering team to “ensure focus on the [Nexus 4] and emulator polish” in time for the April release.
This also doesn’t rule out future support for other devices. Essentially, this simply appears to be the best way the Ubuntu team will be able to ensure the April release deadline. Moving past 14.04, and there is potential that future builds could support some of these older devices, or for that matter, the Nexus 5.
The other aspect mentioned by the engineering team dealt with the Nexus 5. The reason that wasn’t being swapped out for the Nexus 4 at this time comes down to the costs involved in switching. Simply put, it was said the costs would be “too high” under the current set of plans.
Aside from official support, Ubuntu Touch could still surface for other devices based on community involvement. For now though, no news has arrived in terms of upcoming community builds being released, which means Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 2013 builds are the only ones likely to be arriving in April.
VIA: OMG Ubuntu
When are you people going to learn to stop listening to anything Mark Shuttleworth says?