Ubuntu phone downloads for Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4 to be released next week

By Darshik Jariwala - February, 19th 2013

We saw some limited set of features of soon-to-be-launched Ubuntu OS by Canonical for smartphone last month in CES. It was previewed on Samsung Galaxy S3, the video of which you can see here.

There were no hardware manufacture or carrier support announced back then. But today, Ubuntu developer Canonical announced that two pre-compiled images will be available to anyone with the supported devices(Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4). It will not only allow the developers to get the hands-on, but the users as well. This is well before the availability of the device in October this year.

Since it is an open-source project, apart from Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4, developers will also be able to port the software’s to other devices as well. The company will also be showcasing their brand new OS at the MWC 2012(Mobile World Congress) which will be held in Barcelona, Spain this year from Feb 25-28.

Canonical’s Pat McGowan said, “Our platform supports a wide range of screen sizes and resolutions. Developers who have experience bringing up phone environments will find it relatively easy to port Ubuntu to current handsets.” Ubuntu is a, “significant next step in our history” said Mark Shuttleworth in London, where he had demoed the device.

The Touch Developer Preview for Ubuntu is coming on 21st February. Details to install Ubuntu Phone, and the devices supported, will be listed at wiki.ubuntu.com/TouchInstallProcess in the coming week.

A desktop app will also be released that downloads, updates and install Ubuntu Phone on to supported handsets.

Source: OMG! Ubuntu! 

Photo Credit – antoinemaltey/Flickr