I would just like to share my experience with UT, maybe get some ideas on things I did not try and possibly share some that may help.
First things first I would like to thank anyone who had a hand in getting UT to where it is today, I think this project is incredibly important and in my opinion the mobile OS space is at a turning point and really needs something like UT in a big way.
What/Where/Why:
What - Fairphone 5 on T-Mobile (GSM)
Where - US
Why - Ownership, in today's day and age a mobile OS that the end user has any shred of ownership over is just about nonexistent, especially where I live.
What I expected:
Going into this with the knowledge that I may need to do some work to get things running and not everything from any major smartphone is going to work. That is perfectly fine and worth it for what you get.
My basic needs are: Calls, text messages, quick web search for an answer, maybe some music while making dinner.
What I found:
This may vary, and I understand its dependent on all of the factors from who where why.
Calls work as expected
Web search (specifically on the FP5) has a weird bug where apparently it thinks the screen is 9" and everything is zoomed out. Bit of an annoyance with my aging eyes.
Text messages this is where I really had some trouble, RCS is a major sticking point as its forced by other devices and even MFA codes. Even SMS has a 10 min delay and is delivered with a current timestamp so for me it looks like it just got here, but to my wife who sent a text from the car asking for help carrying groceries in I ignored her.
Its not all bad though, there is plenty to like. Its very stable even running a nightly release on my device as the devel had a weird WIFI bug. My phone was 99% what I expected out of it. The gesture control was WAY ahead of it time when Ubuntu Edge was announced and UT along with it, since then all the major players have copied it in one way or another.
Some ideas (from a non programmer):
I know that there was some chatter about RCS somewhere, but its hard to tell what is relevant anymore as there is a lot of outdated information floating around in the ether. A somewhere official with the current state of affairs that is not on telegram would be a big help I think. Maybe I simply overlooked it, I would do a search for a feature, find a github page that moved to gitlab (or something else) that is now dead or had a link that sent me back to github.
I am willing to bet everyone is elbows deep in getting 24.04 stable and pushed but I do have a wish list I would like to share.
I think that getting something like flatpack running would be very beneficial to the platform as a whole. To break dependencies on Android (which I will get into) and Two for the same reasons that they are easier for linux distro's containerized/one "package" works everywhere/ and to really broaden the availability of applications for the platform.
Breaking dependency from Android, I understand there is a layer involved with helium, but Google looks to be merging Chrome OS and Android. They have stopped providing build trees for Pixel phones which seems to have had a negative impact on GraphineOS presumably other AOSP roms like Lineage. It also coincidentally aligns with the leads at CalyxOS stepping down and them pausing all new releases.
Now I am not saying these are all linked or some conspiracy, but I do think relying more on Linux for apps or low level device support and not Android would be a net positive. Again I am not a dev, just a passionate end user.
I don't even mind not having all the apps ever in the whole world either, if something like RCS was working where I can communicate with my family in a timely manor UT would be perfect for my daily needs.
IF you have suggestions, ideas, comments I am more than open to input on how to make that happen today.
Thanks!
