Ubuntu touch on the fairphone 4 (lemm.ee)

submitted 4 months ago by jeffreyosborne@lemm.ee to c/linuxphones@lemmy.ml

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It looks like ubuntu touch on the fairphone 4 is nearly perfect, and the features that don't work I won't miss. I'm very tempted to buy a second hand fairphone 4, but I can't really find much on the experience of ubuntu touch. How do you install apps? Are there repo's that I can look at? And is it just branded ubuntu touch, or will any ubuntu apps made for arm work on ubuntu touch? If anybody has some links or personal experiences they could share, that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot in advance!

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[-] haui_lemmy@lemmy.giftedmc.com -1 points 4 months ago

Hi there, ubuntu touch is just ubuntu. It has been taken over by the community after ubuntu abandoned it iirc.

Anyway, its just linux so you can install apps and stuff that run on linux. Beware, not all apps are mobile friendly (yet).

I personally am involved in the postmarketOS microcosm (pretty much the same idea but based on alpine). Works pretty great but I cant tell you how it compares to ubuntu touch since I have no personal experience with ubuntu touch but from what I hear, its kinda cool.

If you are somewhat adept with linux you could download an emulator and check the features for yourself before you buy a phone. That way you could get an idea of the look and feel. But beware, setting up an emulator will be a lot more work than flashing a phone is.

Let me know if you need more info.

Good luck.

[-] poVoq@slrpnk.net 5 points 4 months ago

Sorry, but this is not true. Ubuntu Touch is based on Ubuntu, but it differs significantly from desktop Ubuntu.

[-] jeffreyosborne@lemm.ee 3 points 4 months ago

I'm noticing some conflicting information, do you have any sources?

[-] poVoq@slrpnk.net 4 points 4 months ago

Yes, I have used Ubuntu Touch as a daily driver for two years and even developed some apps for it.

[-] joanisc@mastodont.cat 1 points 4 months ago

@poVoq @jeffreyosborne Can I ask you what are you using now?

[-] jeffreyosborne@lemm.ee 1 points 4 months ago

I'm stuck on a hand-me-down iphone se 2020. I'm really sick of ios and apple in general, so I want to find a cheap pixel 3a or a fp4 and try out mobile linux. That would be more of an experiment though, so I'm going to look at the price of the pixel 8(a/pro) a few weeks after the release of the pixel 9.

[-] poVoq@slrpnk.net 1 points 4 months ago

I got a Fairphone 5 and will probably try to use it with Mobian once that becomes available for it.

[-] joanisc@mastodont.cat 0 points 4 months ago

@poVoq thank you! Meanwhile are you using ubports or AOSP?

[-] poVoq@slrpnk.net 1 points 4 months ago

For now the stock android that was preinstalled. I only recently bought it 🤷‍♂️

[-] aviation_hydrated@infosec.pub 3 points 4 months ago

Does it get the same security updates then? Docs state it supports older hardware, which if secure that would be awesome

[-] poVoq@slrpnk.net 5 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Sort of, but no. Ubuntu Touch uses libhybris to run the original Android kernel and device drivers. It's a bit more complicated than that, but basically it is Android with a more Gnu/Linux like layer on top. This means you can run it on older hardware and the top-layer still gets some security updates, but for the most part you are stuck on the old Android parts with all the security issues.

[-] aviation_hydrated@infosec.pub 1 points 4 months ago

Rough. Thanks for the info

[-] haui_lemmy@lemmy.giftedmc.com 1 points 4 months ago

Of course. Many devices are mainlined and get the exact same updates as PCs.

[-] jeffreyosborne@lemm.ee 2 points 4 months ago

Do you know what's stopping pmOS from supporting fairphone 4? Wouldn't it be one of the easiest devices to support?

[-] haui_lemmy@lemmy.giftedmc.com 5 points 4 months ago

I think you are looking at this from a different angle than me. PostmarketOS is a small project which is very dependent on community contributions. The fairphone 4 is community supported and this means it works pretty well. See wiki for more info: https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Devices

Most people who come from the proprietary „give money, get product“ world think only official support counts and they will get anything more than community support which is not the case. In the open source world, if you dont have the skills to repair your device, you ask someone to help and often they do for free. If you need it done NOW, you pay someone for it. Its not different than in proprietary land. Fast, good, cheap. Pick two! ;)

[-] jeffreyosborne@lemm.ee 3 points 4 months ago

Sorry, totally missed it and didn't see it on the list. Thanks!

[-] haui_lemmy@lemmy.giftedmc.com 2 points 4 months ago

No problem. Feel free to update on your journey to mobile linux.

[-] adelgado@eu.mastodon.green 0 points 4 months ago

@jeffreyosborne @haui_lemmy It's not officially supported, but it works with pmOS, except camera (big issue), fingerprint, GPS, and a few more things. Camera I think it's a problem with the library or the driver, not sure

[-] jeffreyosborne@lemm.ee 1 points 4 months ago

I've heard ubuntu touch uses a library from android to be able to use most cameras, but because pmOS is alpine they don't have that library.

[-] jeffreyosborne@lemm.ee 1 points 4 months ago

Thanks a lot!

this post was submitted on 13 Aug 2024

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