UBports' Ubuntu Touch OTA-7 Atop Ubuntu 20.04 Released

[phoronix]

Phoronix: UBports' Ubuntu Touch OTA-7 Atop Ubuntu 20.04 Released

The UBports community today released Ubuntu Touch OTA-7 as the latest version of the smartphone/tablet Linux platform currently running off an Ubuntu 20.04 base...

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Ubuntu-Touch-OTA-7-Focal

[ezst036]

Got UBPorts on my phone, I'll never go back to Android again.

[slalomsk8er]

Just had my phone giving up the ghost and now run Android again until I flash it with Sailfish OS but maybe I should give Ubuntu Touch a go as jolla isn't yet providing official support for my new phone.

Android is such a pain and I feel like I'm just a data and advertisement gold seam to mine.

[varikonniemi]

Sadly they still don't support pinephone. Most distros have stopped active support for it. Seems like also it will go down in history as yet another Linux device that never became fully working.

[MillionToOne]

Just had my phone giving up the ghost and now run Android again until I flash it with Sailfish OS but maybe I should give Ubuntu Touch a go as jolla isn't yet providing official support for my new phone.

Android is such a pain and I feel like I'm just a data and advertisement gold seam to mine.

Nobody forces you to use a smartphone. Get a dumbphone instead.

[slalomsk8er]

Nobody forces you to use a smartphone. Get a dumbphone instead.

Why? I can have a computer in my pocket and as soon as I flash a proper OS, I can use my Nextcloud to sync my calendars and contacts, surf the web, watch movies and listen to my music collection. Dumb phones are a bit too limited, as calling and texting are the least I do on my phone.

Unofficial support as just missing the Alien Dalvik runtime for Android apps, and I can live without that. Maybe I will tinker with Waydroid and still manage to the the apps running.

[Vistaus]

Also interesting to note is that VoLTE support is currently being tested: https://forums.ubports.com/topic/104...m_medium=Email It's been a long time coming, but this is great news!

[MillionToOne]

Why? I can have a computer in my pocket and as soon as I flash a proper OS, I can use my Nextcloud to sync my calendars and contacts, surf the web, watch movies and listen to my music collection. Dumb phones are a bit too limited, as calling and texting are the least I do on my phone.

Unofficial support as just missing the Alien Dalvik runtime for Android apps, and I can live without that. Maybe I will tinker with Waydroid and still manage to the the apps running.

You can do all that with custom ROMs

[ezst036]

I feel like I'm just a data and advertisement gold seam to mine.

Running Android, you are the product. Not the phone.

[ikoz]

I have been using Ubuntu Touch since 2021 and so far it is really nice. No ads, no tracking, proper open-source apps and Linux experience.

Sadly they still don't support pinephone. Most distros have stopped active support for it. Seems like also it will go down in history as yet another Linux device that never became fully working.

There is support for all pine64 devices (pinephone, pinephone pro, pinetab, pinetab 2). Pinephone (https://devices.ubuntu-touch.io/device/pinephone/) has been supported since 2020. You need to disable the "Development Stage" filters in the devices page to see it. Also, they don't get normal OTA updates, they are updated with apt like on normal Linux devices.
Unfortunately, pine64 aren't as usable as other phones because they run mainline Linux. Other Android-based phones use the hardware abstraction layer (Halium), to use the android APIs (it doesn't run android though, only the blobs).

You can do all that with custom ROMs

Can you plug your device into a screen and get Ubuntu desktop on a custom ROM? No. On Ubuntu Touch, apps are convergent, meaning they can work on any screen, from phone to TV. You can install any normal Linux app using the Libertine container or snaps and use (preferably) it on the big screen. Termux is nothing like the real Linux terminal.