I used a Linux phone for 30 days
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- Опубліковано 11 тра 2024
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This is the Google Pixel 3a XL and this is the only phone listed to be 100% compatible with Ubuntu Touch, arguable the very best and feature rich mobile Linux operating system available. This means all the hardware should work great from the camera, bluetooth, usb connectivity, everything. I used it as my main phone for an entire month.
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00:00 - Google Pixel 3a
02:23 - Ubuntu Touch
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05:40 - User Interface
08:24 - Tweak Tool
09:24 - OpenStore
10:26 - Web Apps
11:17 - Gaming
11:55 - Web Browser
12:56 - Native Apps
15:00 - My Issues
16:40 - Camera
17:53 - Final Thoughts - Наука та технологія
My impression is, they invented something really great back in the day, but hammering it to a stable release took such a long time, most of the GUI innovations got obsolite during the years. MeeGoo had the perfect GUI for mobile Debian based operating system, so much time to reinvent the wheel. We need to take this to the next level, fast.
Agreed, back in the day I daily drove Ubuntu Touch on a Nexus 7 tablet, and I was blown away by the gesture navigation, same as with SailfishOS. Nowadays Android and even iOS have caught up, and improved upon that stuff
MeeGo lives on as SailfishOS, and I have been using it as my daily driver for last 6 years. It is by far the best Linux mobile OS in my opinion, with a big disadvantage: it is not fully open source. Parts of the GUI are closed source, which is a bummer. Especially as it prevents them from updating to a newer QT version, because of its license change.
The device support list is also quite small, but you can actually use it as your daily driver, which is awesome!
This is more like an experimental project. They know what they have been doing and are smart enough not to waste resources on this.
@@seanseago699: I don't think that the Ubuntu Edge was ever supposed to hit the market. It was designed to be an extreme phone to enable people to develop software for the future, so that by the time the software side was ready for daily driving, there would be mass produced Android phones available to put it on. What people have forgotten, is that OHA announced an anti-fragmentation policy. Since Ubuntu Touch was based on Android for the hardware support, OEMs would've had to choose between Ubuntu and Android, which is a competition that Ubuntu would lose. But you're obviously correct in saying that the extreme negativity and conspiracy theories about Ubuntu would make it difficult to get partners.
agreed
PSA: I had a pixel 3a xl at one point in time. The "Carrier unlocked" and "OEM unlocked" variants of this device are identical in terms of hardware. I even flashed over to the OEM firmware using the script from Google perfectly, and everything works as well. As long as you can get the bootloader to unlock and flash it. I figured this might help some people, as I completely understand the pain with Carrier models and OEM models sometimes being different in terms of hardware. We are lucky that this is not one of those cases.
I was never unable to unlock the bootloader on a Verizon carrier model of the 3a. And I understood from forums that Verizon made it impossible to unlock the bootloader on their devices. Even though, yes, it is identical hardware, it seems Verizon put an irremovable software lock on the bootloader that will prevent UT from being able to run on them.
@@matthewpanhans This is true for all devices for Verizon. At this point in time, those in the modding community know not to buy from Verizon or cricket (in a lot of cases) for this very reason.
@@sprungles4tech Good to know!
Any links on how to di this?
@@SoundblasterYT I will type instructions later today here!
"Ive been using it for 2 weeks", Title says 30 days. Just say 2 weeks instead of lying on the title.
It's funny, my reasons for putting aside my linux phone I got as an experiment are the exact opposite reasons he put it aside. I LOVED the app availability, being able to essentially use ARM ports of any linux application actually had me using apps MORE on my phone than ever before as I could for once actually use tools I was more used to. It was the best pocket computer I ever used.
It just sucked as a PHONE, the battery life was abysmal compared to android, there's modem bugs and it would silently miss calls all the time, the spearkerphone had a tiny delay that caused feedback and crackles on the other side, the audio quality was noticeably worse, and texting was awful, anything outside of base SMS wasn't guaranteed to work, RCS and MMS was just flat out broken and often corrupted/dropped messages. Seriously I would kill for a decent, cheap linux phone that just works as a fully-functional PHONE first. Carrying around a phone where texting and making calls didn't work right was just a showstopper for me.
when did you use it?
So here's the thing, there's this operating system called Android that's based on Linux, ever heard of it?
Though running full fat Linux apps on a smartphone sounds awesome lmao
@@me_fault about 8 months ago, of the distro's I tried the one that had best support for messaging was manjaro's plasma mobile version, it had the ONLY messenger that seemed to even understand MMS properly, but RCS still broke on it and it was weirdly laggy.
that's about as relevant as saying that the ps4 runs freeBSD, yeah it's true to a point but doesn't really help any. it's a highly restricted version that doesn't properly support full applications, the android kernel itself is HEAVILY modified from vanilla and has no standard userland. Many things you normally run on desktop trivially recompile for an ARM port that will run on linux mobile, you can even dock and use it as a desktop (works great with keyboard + mouse), I was even able to use it as a complete work laptop replacement for programming PLCs out in the field. (it's still great at that, i don't have my sim card in it anymore as it was a horrible phone though)
@@1Raptor85 interesting. i use manjaro on desktop. hopefully support for the phone functions will improve across all linux flavors
If you plug it into a compatible hub, it should function as a full blown desktop. That was one of the goals of Ubuntu Touch, was to able to have your phone and that it would also be a desktop when plugged into keyboard, mouse and monitor.
In theory it should. But when I tried it doesn't show the desktop although it detects the sound/speaker. Later I found the USB C GEN 2 OF pixel 3A/XL doesn't support video out.
You could with a DisplayLink adapter
Great review video. It reminded me of the hours I spent in 2012-2013 trying different ROMs on my Android devices. Thank you!
I ran Ubuntu Touch on my Nexus 4 and loved it. Sadly, the touchscreen died, but I used it as a daily driver for a couple years even though it was only 3g and picture messaging didn't work back then. I may just have to pick up a pixel 3a now!
Awesome video, glad to see UT getting some notice!
Couple things of note as someone who daily drives the same phone.
- Android apps can be installed and run just about like normal via the waydroid helper tool in open store and can allow android apps to be installed with or without google services attached based on how much you care about that kind of stuff.
- The UT tweeker tool can allow the Desktop mode to activate and can allow window tiling in mobile or using wireless display casting can turn the phone into a fairly functional desktop (especially using a usb dock).
- Libertine allows full on desktop software to be installed (via outdated repos I will admit) or via deb files (a little more reliable) and they honestly run quite well assuming you use the libertine tweak tool to fix some of the weirdness.
- I have found installing Firefox ESR via a deb package allowed me to get my passwords all synced up and now when I used the device I alternate between Morph and Firefox for browsing the internet.
- Not sure why, but I have had few if any problems with location services on pixel 3axl, but I mean who knows really (I am aware it varies a bit device to device).
I loved most of it and an idea of having another option as an operating system but it looks good for 2013-14 most of it gave me my highschool vibe which is not bad I would use it for nostalgic reasons but it really needs to catch up with graphics and system interface. There were not any specific features that would make me excited about it and go for the switch. But I really wish the funding took off even donated at that time will do it again if the company is willing to come out with something solid.
Loved your video tho!! Keep up ❤️
It's very interesting to see Brandon (perhaps unconsciously) trying to use screen gestures from other phones, or perhaps ones that seem logical, but do not exist on Ubuntu Touch. Apple and Google have spent a lot of time on the actual operation of a UI on a touch device and i think this is something that Ubuntu Touch hasn't exactly mastered. Flicking from the bottom of the screen is a good example - according to what application you have open, you get completely different results of which some are unexpected.
Swiping up from the bottom is app specific features, so it's no wonder that you get different behaviour in different apps. But just because you're used to swiping up to get to the home screen, doesn't mean it's more _logical_ than swiping from the left. It's a habit that you have.
Yep, wouldn't want to be like the other guy's...hopefully its customizable ,so that you can make it any way that suits your needs, so the learning-curve less painful.
@@mytouchable: When you switch to a new OS, whatever it may be, you should take the time to learn it. He's using it all wrong and hasn't understood the logic in the design, which is why he doesn't understand the benefit of it. It's actually really comfortable and makes a lot more sense than any other shell I've ever used on a phone.
It seems Ubuntu Touch supports second screen, mouse and keyboars, I guess it will have been cool to see that in action. Anyways, great video!
Long time ago I was seriously considering using Ubuntu Touch as daily driver but it didn't have great support, it's great to see there are devices much better supported coming up.
I'm going to get a phone and install Ubuntu Touch on it. I probably won't even get a sim card for it, but I just want to use it and do a video on it for my UA-cam channel.
Honestly, the OS that seemed the most far along as an alternative to Android/iPhone are the Sailfish OS phones.
Unity is the Convergent Desktop, so of corse it supports secondary screens, hell why do you think they are working on Lomiri for PC?
@@Fancy2209Real I forgot all about Lomiri until you mentioned it. Do you know about the Ubuntu Unity Remix? It started a couple years ago by a 12 year old boy, and is now an official Ubuntu flavor.
@@Fancy2209Real The pixel 3a doesn't have hdmi out unfortunately.
@@grayghost832 USB c spec supports HDMI. Pretty cheap to just buy an adapter that is multifunctional w pd. I share the same one with my laptop.
And here is me trying to port Postmarket OS to a old galaxy S5 🥲
And i am trying the same thing on my old j7
And here is me trying to unlock the bootloader on some old huawei garbage 😂
Can you give me the Port for the Galaxy s5 if you Finally did it?
Did it work ???
@@themuhammad1 Hell nah Ubuntu for the S5 is not Stable enough.
I love the multitasking gesture and the animation it does when you slide in from the side!
That's one of my favorite in this DE. Sometimes I swipe from the right as a fiddle XD
Short swipe also switches between 2 apps. Not shown in the video though.
@@AninoNiKugi oh wow
Interesting video. I used to work on Ubuntu Touch before it was cancelled, and hadn't kept up with the state of the UBPorts fork. The most obvious change I could see is that the home screen launcher seems to have been ripped out completely. I can kind of understand that since a lot of the information it incorporated came from backend services that no longer exist.
The replacement app drawer looks like it works pretty well for Ubuntu Touch as it exists now, but the vision was to do a lot more.
I was on a community design team working on the ux wireframe for the files app
I absolutely loved the scopes and lenses ui and where it. Was going i even mocked up a version for the desktop which included tabs as if it were a modular search engine with web apps
I think the new launch is slick but yea it could have been much more
something that doesn't get a lot of highlight: project halium, and therefore ubports which is based on top of it, CAN run on ANY treble-compatible phone, as a normal GSI image, if you patch the kernel a little (or grab a pre-patched kernel), running as a GSI means the android drivers would take care of the hardware, with a unified interface, so you DON'T need to bake up a custom image for EVERY single device
granted, not everything might work...but there's a good chance a lot of stuff will!
This is a very interesting option. I have been looking to try out Linux based phones for a while. I may be tempted to get a Google A3 and give it a try.
Wait till he realizes what android runs on
Just an FYI: you can swipe from the top and then swipe from left to right to go to the different top menu items. So you can go from notifications to battery by simply keeping your finger in the bar that you swiped down on.
Also, if you swipe down from the icon, you'll open that menu. So if you touch the battery icon and swipe down, you'll get the battery settings, clock opens the calendar and so on. Once you get used to it, it's much faster than having a huge menu filled with icons.
Yeah, it's well designed but personally, I also wish some can be combined so they're not too many 😅
what is battery life like?
@@maximus6884 Varies from device to device. Usually UT is good with standby battery life and SOT is a bit behind from Android. Overall, it's fine but can be improved.
@@maximus6884 Like Anino mentioned, I'm sure it varies between devices. On my FP3+, the battery life is pretty on par with other smartphones I had before. That is, it lasts a full day with common use.
There are apps and features that heavily drain the battery. Waydroid being the biggest one, not surprising, since it emulates an Android phone on top of your UT OS. Hotspot also drains the battery but it is the same as any other phone with that capability. But even though I use hotspot and Waydroid on a daily basis, I usually have around 20% of battery left at the end of the day.
Overall, I'm pretty pleased with Ubuntu touch's battery life on my phone.
what a great little ad for "in hell ill be in good company" song. what a great song and a band, and im so happy you showed it on vid ^^
Exactly what I've been hoping for ... for a few years now ... thank you for this video
Last time ive tried Ubuntu Touch, there was only Axolotl as a Signal Client which was barely working for me. As soon as there is a good working Signal Client for Linux i would be absolutly ready to use Ubuntu Touch as a daily driver.
"is it a good phone?"
"If you stop using your phone, then yes"
great video ! it was really gratifying to see this video because it was on my experiments list !
loved it !
You're my hero. I wanted to get UT on my Pixel3a but there's no recent video about UT and sepecially about UT on Pixel3a. Thank You
This is really encouraging. I like the idea of possibly switching my phone to Ubuntu at EOL for my Android OS so I can keep using it. Nice to see this project is still moving forward.
It will never be functional to a point of being a viable alternative for the general population, and those running the project know this.
But it's been a great way to receive funding $$$
No 100% true open source Linux mobile OS will ever be allowed to reach fully successful development for the masses,
because govt tracking/spyware code cannot be baked deep within the os.
This isn't some "C/T" it's just a pure fact and reality.
I would like to congratulate the team. They have come a long way with Ubuntu Touch and have managed to achieve an extraordinary feat.
It still requires a lot of work though, but I believe that the number of users will slowly start increasing now 😊
I'll be one ;)
Yeah I'm actually pretty interested on how it would look like if the UI is a bit more polished and more app support that's not just web apps.
I really hope this OS succeeded so we can get 3 competitors
@@blueelectric05 Exactly. Open source all the way 👍
Its so clean! Loved the video and Ubuntu Touch itself!❤❤❤❤
First time watcher, long time Minter. Both your video and Mint are great.
Good video showcasing Ubuntu Touch :)
I'm actually surprised how smooth UT looked in this video. I haven't tried UT on a Pixel 3a in a while and it looks good.
I have a few corrections though or some things that maybe you were not aware.
- I notice you always swipe from left and tap the button to open the app drawer. You can actually just swipe continuously AKA long swipe from the left to open it.
- Switching theme doesn't require a reboot. Not sure where you got that since the app doesn't tell you that :)
You have to restart most apps though. There are also quicker way to switch theme in the store if you like switching between them.
- Short right edge swipe will switch between 2 apps so like Alt + Tab. This is one of my favorite because switching between apps is a breeze and so simple.
- You can also swipe from the bottom of the keyboard to access some features like copy/paste so you don't have to press and hold text fields for the wonky popups.
- Sadly, AGPS isn't available on UT so GPS needs an open sky to get its initial fix. It will work fine after that though. It has AGPS in the Canonical days but it was removed I believe due to licensing.
- You can swipe down the top panel or indicators without releasing and swipe horizontally to select between the items. But I do agree that they're too many. I like the design of it but I also wish some can be combined.
Wait what is AGPS
@@SoundblasterYT Assisted GPS. Most devices has it. It helps to get faster location fixes instead of solely relying on the GPS staellites.
@@SoundblasterYT It is based on Wifi and mobile cell data. Maybe you did notice that your GPS was turned off, but an App still knew your location on adroid. That is because the app read out the available wifi routers and similar and compared it with the database from google. The google streetview cares aren't only making pictures, they are also scanning the environment for wifi. A bit scary, google still knows your location, even when using an non-google app.
But there are Alternatives like MLS - Mozilla location service. It is based on scans, done by the services users. Ubuntutouch were to use this in cannonical times, but as I understood the programm wasn't easy to maintain (?)
Also price of maintenance.
Wow, the Linux user bases are really passionate, considering how Ubuntu is now coming to phones. I wonder how many other distributions are going mobile.
This is a really old project.
i love it! reminds me of my jail broken 3gs back when i was a kid. Newer phones are just to unpredictable and unstable.
I am feeling the same. I am trying Ubuntu Touch OS right now. These are common Pros and Cons as you said ... Thanks
Nice video. Didn't realise this was still getting worked on. While there's little to no chance I would be use Linux on my main phone, I would absolutely love to be able to use old phones as glorified SBCs. I mean, think of the hardware stashed inside one of these things! Wifi, bluetooth, camera, microphone, thermometer, accelerometer, you name it. And it's all battery powered, sipping only a few watts of power.
What's an SBC?
@@bartimaeu1 "Single Board Computer" like a Raspberry Pi
@@ugh.idontwanna ohhh. Thanks
This looks so wonderfully snappy and usable. If only it had app developer support for commonly used stuff, like banking, navigation and video services, I could've probably tried daily-driving it.
Tbh, phone banking is really overrated.
@@zethcader6478 Also probably the most unsafe way to do banking
I got a Pixel 3a XL just to try Ubuntu Touch. It was fun to try but I feel that it’s just not ready for real-world use. I had better luck with the GPS than you did, it took a few minutes to connect but it stayed connected after that.
The lack of apps is the biggest gripe.
I have lot of troubles swapping into my favorite Os since what others offers do not available in ubuntu.. but this video gives lot of hopes. thanks for shearing
I love the design of the ubuntu edge design. Unfortynately there is no big app development and market appeal on the ubuntu touch platform like windows phone, will be great if we had another alternatives beyond android and iOS in the market, i'm tired of this oligopoly.
The main thing is just that many devs don't really like having to support a lot of different versions for various platforms. Multiplatform development for UT won't really happen unless it gets support from tools like Flutter and Dart.
Ubuntu touch is a weird mashup of android and ubuntu, hence why the compatibility is so good. SailfishOS is sort of better in terms of gestures and looks, but both are pretty horrible to actually use honestly, nothings beats an android custom rom
Mobian or PostmarketOS are much more interesting since they are real linux and linux only, you should try them on a Pocofone F1
Strangly enough the best strange OS for a phone that i tried is Windows 11 arm, it's surprisingly usable for my poco X3 pro
You can't use pure Linux on powerful phones without coming up with a billion dollars or more in initial investment. That is the fundamental problem. I have a Pinephone and a Galaxy s8. I would love to have a Galaxy class Pinephone, but that simply is not possible. The Ubuntu Core-based approach is much better, because then you can have a company support a BSP with proprietary drivers, having signed an NDA, and then you can have open source distros on top of that. But unfortunately, that would be attacked by the Linux user community, who would rather have perfect dreams than good products, effectively preventing progress.
@@jeschinstad I installed a Pinephone Pro on FOSDEM, and its already so much better than old Pinephone, with a bit more polish I guess we have a working daily driver Linux phone at the end of the year.
@@flugfloh6281: Well, anything that they could do in 2007, we can certainly outdo now. :) We need people though.
Awesome review! I'm looking into postmarketOS and Mobian for my poco F1
This actually blew me away, i always had a weird relation with ubuntu, my few interactions with it were back in 12.10 and recently on my job and it lags af, and i was always trying to make my boomer superior's mind to install at least Lubuntu cuz it really lagged, although i'm sure the PCs are to blame, my company literally puts windows 10 on 13yo pentium machines
So even tho i have been fancying mobile linux for a while AND i do have a linux QEMU VM set in a tablet here, which works great with kbd+touch, i never expected Ubuntu Phone to be so cool! I guess i have some mind opening to do, congratulations
Ah, unity, this video aged well
I remember when Google making phones was just a joke. Now, they've been creating phones for almost 6-7 years. God, how time flies before you notice it, and things change at a seemingly rapid pace.
and they are indeed quite good for a certain profile of user!
They have low market share so not something to be proud of
The stack of icons on the left, and free space for widgets on the right is really cool and I wish I could do that on my iphone
The Unity Design team was a very productive and cool community to be a part of. Nothing was too small. I still believe that the Unity 7 desktop is the best that has ever been made, even though others are catching up.
this looks amazing! cant wait to get my own pixel 3a
Why didn't you test the Android compatibility layer ? I believe there's something called "Anbox", which your device actually supports?
I've got the Meizu MX4 , which was an officially supported handset up until Canonical decided to drop the whole Ubuntu Phone / Ubuntu Touch project - and unfortunately, my device didn't get the same love from the community, so it doesn't support the Android Emulation, which is a dealbreaker for me, since I require my handset to be able to run certain Bank-related authentication apps which only exists for Android and iOS.
"Polycarbonate instead of plastic"... So the marketing fooled people. Of course it's a plastic.
Nice video!!! Thanks for the review. Btw, did you install the ubuntu touch by yourself or it came with it when you bought it?
I'm curious can you run regular linux applications on this phone? One thing I think would be really cool is having a proper IDE installed locally on your phone, either to make some quick edits on the go or plug in a keyboard and monitor to have a super portable desktop in your pocket a bit like samsung Dex but with the ability to apt-get to install proper applications.
Two weeks isn't 30 days, it's 14.
For this exact reason I got myself a cheap pre owned Pixel 3a. Although I wasnt brave enough to switch to Ubuntu Touch because of missing WhatsApp 🙏 Got mine for 45€.
Apps will always be a problem especially since our society is so integrated to them.
Waydroid works on Pixel 3a but compatibility apps isn't a sure thing especially for secured apps like banking apps.
Also, it kinda drain the battery faster.
Whatsapp can open thru website
@@abdmuhaimin you can't call someone on the web version, only texting is available.
Not sure what's the state of Waydroid with Ubports but it's worth a shot
@@PakoSt It works on some devices and may work quite well. Of course it depends on the app. And it also currently lacks proper integration so it's like a VM and drains the battery more than usual.
Good review; my main interest would be basic functionality with the usual apps (can I Uber on the thing, seems the GPS bug kills it) but mostly security updates; same question as for desktop Linux and yet I can't get a straight answer beyond "follow the normal security steps". I think there are many people who would pay a yearly fee just for security updates instead of having to buy a whole new phone.
You can Uber only if that runs in the Waydroid container - and GPS works but not in buildings as we do not have assisted GPS.
I hope this phone grows a lot as soon as possible..
.. and beings selling here in Brazil!
Linux on mobile is still miles behind traditional android. Well i hope they integrate native android support or no one gonna use Linux alternatives on mobile.
check out waydroid, they literally already have that
@@artu3359 Never heard of it, but thanks for that info.
Sailfish OS has Android app emulation. But only so many phones are aviailable and I don't think there are any available in the US currently.
In oreder for Linux phones to become a viable alternative, it NEEDs to have a compatibility tool for Android apps (possibly even a good way to enable the Play Store), it needs even more so than the Linux desktop needs Wine. There are just too many apps people across the world NEED: banking apps, gov apps, whatsapp, etc
There is a way in Linux phones to use android apps. It's called Waydroid. I use it daily on my Fairphone 3 with Ubuntu touch. You can even choose to install with Google Services or with MicroG. I used both and currently have the version with Google play services installed and it works just like any android phone.
All my necessary apps work flawlessly (Password, authenticator, Bank, ID, WhatsApp, etc...) And it is like any app on my Ubuntu touch phone. Once I'm done using the apps, I can close Waydroid and continue on with my day.
@@mariofeared I know some banking apps are really picky about the OS, they will not work even on Android if you're using a custom ROM or you have rooted your device. Do you know if that's the case for these apps on Waydroid?
@@WolfiiDog13 Yes it's the same case. My bank app doesn't work in it. Compatibility will always be an issue just like Proton even if Valve is a big company and works hard on it :)
@@WolfiiDog13 I can't say for all bank apps, of course, but the one I use is dependent of Google play services to function correctly. Which some custom OS might not have by default.
I installed initially Waydroid without Google play services and used MicroG. It worked fine except the annoyance of having to constantly update the apps and settings.
Now I installed Waydroid with Google play services and it is exactly like want Android phone. Google play store and all included.
I would tell you to give it a try and see.
The problem is that nobody NEEDS another OS, neither developers nor users. A bunch of people like to play around and experiment. No amount of android compatibility will make a dent in android usage. Blackberry had a compatible android runtime, but without real Google Services. Developers didn’t bother writing native apps in part because of this. Users didn’t care about it.
Interesting experience and thoughts. I'll want to try to install but thanks to this video now I won't. I'm not ready for this ))
While you drop down the top menu you can move your finger left and right to select the desired option.
I absolutely want to switch to a Linux phone, full-time. Unfortuantely, accessibility just doesn't exist in these; Neither Sailfish, Ubuntu Touch, Manjaro or PureOS have accessibility available. I need screen magnification and color inversion to work due to my impairment. But other than that? I am throughly impressed! True convergence is also slowly being implemented, which is amazing :D
That is an inherent weakness with bazaar-style development, that minorities are minorities. It's easier to get me to work for free on something that affects me directly. So for really good accessibility, you absolutely depend on serious funding, which is difficult to get when you don't have all that many users. But to be honest, we do have a problem with those who need it as well. Summers of 2010 and 2011, I spent a lot o my time volunteering for this for Ubuntu, but I had problems getting people to help me research issues. Because the minority that needs these features, see us as a minority that they don't care about. And that's fair, because they're not computer geeks. So the lack of accessibility, is not because we aren't supportive or don't want to help, but because it simply is difficult. But this is a problem that could be solved with money and money can be raised by anyone. It should primarily be raised by those who need the stuff they're raising money for, in my opinion.
If this was updated and had the bugs fixed.. i think Linux could weigh in as a viable competitor to the smart device market..
Particularly now that Flutter supports Linux. Flutter has an enormously large app developer community.
Thanks for the video. As a Linux desktop user, I'd like to see the Penguin to enter the mobile world.
This looks promising. Unfortunately, best to my knowledge, very few (if any) banks or other institution provide apps for Linux. And this is where the problem starts. Of course, you can use the web-browser versions, but they don't always work well in mobile browsers. Still, good to see things are improving. And thank you for the video. Very much appreciated.
It looks like it is getting so close. I check in on linux phones every couple of months and this looks like it is almost there. I think I would need the GPS, but if they get that working and come out with a phone that has a wide angle lens, I am all for it.
I've used Ubports. Its a great OS, but the main drawback is the lack of software developers writing applications. I wish there were more 3rd party applications available.
That will to great extent be solved by the support for Flutter. Any app that doesn't require system integration, will just run on Linux. And that is a lot of apps.
Ubports Supports waydroid which is Android in a Container allowing ubports to run Android apps
0:45 and as we all know, it takes 30 days for two weeks to pass 😁
I kept using it for a bit after recording this. :)
@@TechHut yeah I'm just kidding mate, just couldn't pass that without a comment :)
For me debloating via adb with regular android seems like a better option for people who like to game on there phones as the drivers are not comparable for example i did mess around with a nexus 5 on ubuntu touch you could not get playback ubove 360p on ub but you could stream it at 1080p on android. positive thing about using adb (and configuring privacy settings on the phone and google account) on a modern phone you can remove most of the proprietary stuff without breaking the phone (ofcourse you will need to know what each package does as you will run the risk of bricking your phone) and replace them with open source apps from fdroid and still be able to make use of the speed and utilty of a modern android phone as well for gaming and emulation. when it comes to people who want privacy they can also just not log in and remove google services (breaks alot of apps) the data collection will be no where near the level as on a stock android phone.
Thank you for your Ubuntu Touch review. You should try postmarketOS too! :)
How did 2 weeks become 30 days?
I hate to be that person, but it's worth knowing that polycarbonate is just a specific kind of plastic
Thank you for this video! I’m might just go out and buy a pixel 3a😊
Great review! +1 to a PostmarketOS review and you should include Waydroid on it 😉
16:40 *THANKS* for showing how a video *SHOULD* be shot! :)
PSA: We can watch these *full screen* on our TVs, monitors and laptops instead of the stupid migraine-inducing narrow (and now ultra-narrow,) videos so many people are producing these days. Maybe they should watch this one to see just how easy it is to do it right!
To make a point, a while back at the local pub, someone was trying to take a picture of several friends but couldn't get them all in. So, I suggested turning the camera into a horizontal position. They were happy with the suggestion and the result. ☺
I think the problem with Linux phones (despite how I'd love them to become popular) is the lack of clear vision how apps should be created (or ported to it from mainstream platforms). If UBports bet on web apps - totally fine, they are lighter, take less bandwidth to load, support offline mode (aka PWAs), etc. BUT it's not claimed by anyone that this is the designed model for developers to go. No app platform -> no devs -> no apps -> death. Take the Windows Mobile for example - it is still beautiful even today, but it was killed by wrong strategy.
UBports doesn't exactly bet on web apps. It's just a result of having no "native" apps support 😅
The real problems though appear to be the absolute basics. Battery life, phone calls, etc. It's not even the apps holding it back.
@@drownthepoor I agree- these things are important, but if there’s no TOP-10 apps available and no active development being done - how would you convince non-linux enthusiast to ditch android in favor of Linux phone
@@drownthepoor Those things have been working fairly well in UT. I've been using UT as my main phone since 2015 :)
Bought an Android phone as secondary a few years ago and sadly it meant my reliance to apps and such has increased.
@@lisovyy You're not going to convince any non-Linux enthusiasts to ditch Android for Linux. It's not going to happen. Even if it had every app available to them why would they want to leave behind Android? The one argument you might make is privacy, and they don't even care about that. Not to mention all of those top 10 apps are anti-privacy.
Ubuntu Touch seems like it would meet all my requirements for a phone os, so I'm going to give it a try!
Hello TechHut,
Do you know when/if they will support flashing this to a newer Pixel device(Pixel4 or newer) or have there own hardware/devices? Been waiting for quite some time, and would LOVE Linux on a phone ! ! !
Thanks Man !!
actually you can unlock the oem yourself i think you use fastboot and type "fastboot oem unlock"
That drop in connection is an issue. If that can be fixed, then I could use this as a daily driver. Currently, that seems to be an issue. But just to confirm, is there just a drop in the quality of the connection, or does it lose connection altogether? Also, how is the android app support?
drops to 2g for about 20-30 seconds then it goes back to full speed LTE. I noticed it happens a lot when calls come in. I don't think it can handle calls and data at the same time. I really hope with is fixed in the next major release.
@@TechHut Okay, thank you very much. You're one of my favourite tech youtubers. Keep it up!
@@TechHut Are you in the US? Maybe it's because of the termination of their 3G signals or something like that?
UT doesn't support VoLTE yet.
The only reason I am still using ATT's ZTE folding phone is because the folding phone doubles as a tablet when I sleepwork (not sleepwalk). Many creative ideas happen when you go to bed and sleep but couldn't fall asleep. And the phone at the pillow just conveniently becomes the most productive device.
O gosh. You make me nostalgic. I joined that Ubuntu Edge! What a pity it failed. Canonical should reconsidering an Ubuntu phone. Now with Flutter support on Ubuntu, it's easy to write apps for Ubuntu. And with its adaptive capability, Flutter apps on Ubuntu can easily fullfil Canonical's dream of the convergence!
Does being OEM unlocked mean coming with a pre-unlocked bootloader ? Cause I was able to do that easily with a refurb mi A2 I bought, like didn't even require Xiaomi's official unlocking tool just standard android platform tools like adb and fastboot probably cause it was part of the android one programme. Since carrier locking is not a thing in India that isn't a concern either.
Polycarbonate is plastic
You can oem unlock any pixel phone. That's one of the prerequisites for rooting. It's right in the developer settings.
I had so much HOPE for this!! It sucks it never really became a thing....
Android is Linux too
Most things are
Android is linux too but just the kernel. Most of the time when people say Linux, they mean gnu linux
Very interesting. May try something similar if one of the old phones we used as test devices are oem unlocked. It’s definitely a modern curiosity
Why do they not understand Jobs' philosophy at all? The success of the iPhone was not simply because it was a touchscreen phone, but because it gave individuals the right to create various apps. This operating system without even a proper UA-cam app is just a wasteful business.
Can we just get one thing straight: Android is a Linux operating system, and thus phones that run Android are, by extension, Linux phones.
I think for videos and articles like this, it's important to refer to GNU/Linux phones, like those running Ubuntu Touch.
Yes, all of us here probably already know what you mean, but the more people keep referring to non-Android Linux phones as just "Linux Phones", the more average people will think that Android phones don't run Linux.
Sorry to be pedantic!
Actually Android is also a Linux based OS.
Yes and no, only the kernel
Only the kernel. Libraries, runtimes,etc are different
So is iOS.
Location and navigation actually does work, but you have to be in direct sight of the satellites, that means you need to be outdoors. Google uses other means i.e. known routers and stuff to help with location services. Location does not work behind thick walls, just as google does not work inside a tunnel and such.
I have a pixel 3a. I initially had UT installed but I drop it for CalyxOs. It's basically a barebone droid but it's a fort knox for off the gridders 😂 I'm sold on the fact that I relocked my bootloader after install which makes it harder to override and wipe. But I do want to return back to UT tho.
hey!! i still use my pixel 3a in tandem with my iphone, i should try this out!
We evaluated PInephones and UBports phones for three years, and decided to continue to evaluate a Fairphone 2 with PostmarketOS for future projects.
Geat review! It looks like you location is not working because you didn't give the app permission @14:44 you should see the allowed apps in the blank space below. The best part of this phone is what it does not do which is distract you from life.
With USB-C id love to see a bulkier beefier phone I can use as a PC with a dock anywhere / anytime. I am just waiting for the day to get Linux on my phone.
Great, thanks for sharing.
Thanks for mentioning destination Linux podcast
I installed Ubuntu Touch (based on 20.04) on my Pixel 3a today. It was on Android 12 and lost security updates a year or so ago. I am happy to breathe new life in it for it is my only phone and I see no sense in buying another while this one still functions.
Great video! You should show and email client next time
Amazing video 👍
Will plasma mobile also work on this phone? And if so is it much better than the super slow pinephone?
I wish linux phones will be a big thing in the future.. In the meantime I really enjoy using iodéOS which allows me to have a google-free experience but still can use apps that are not compatible on linux.
The 3A doesn't support video out over USB-C, does it? It's still the dream to have a phone that can output a full desktop interface that's also tied to the mobile interface (i.e., not dual booting two separate environments). Samsung DeX gets most of the way there but the lack of desktop-grade applications kills it. Ubuntu Touch with the convergence shell seems like the best candidate but the lack of hardware support, particularly relative to contemporary flagship specs, is depressing.