Oneplus 6T to daily drive? Please help
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Hello,
I am looking into getting a Oneplus 6T to install Ubuntu Touch on and use as a daily driver.
Some background: I'm reasonably tech savvy, but my daily driver is an ancient dumb phone. I just never wanted more. Then my carrier canceled my phone. So I have to get a 4G phone with VoLTE, but basically only need basic call/text functionality to work. When at home, I keep the phone turned off and put away. I only use the phone for 2-factor authentication (fast start-up time is important here) and the rare call or text. I could live with some bugs and just need the basic functionality to work.
The Question: Would the Oneplus 6T with Ubuntu Touch work for use as a daily driver for basic call and text functionality?
Thanks
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@linux-is-life
Look here to see what is working:https://devices.ubuntu-touch.io/device/enchilada/
None of the devices supports VoLTE at the moment, it is being worked on, but it takes time.
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@rondarius Thank you!
I had no idea about UB Touch not yet supporting VoLTE. Every carrier I have found says they require it, yet people are apparently still using Ubuntu Touch with carriers in the US. I don't even want VoLTE. I just thought carriers wouldn't allow me to make calls otherwise. Maybe VoLTE isn't as required as I thought? I was thinking about switching to Mint or Ting or some other pre-paid service anyways.
How is carrier support for devices with Ubuntu Touch? Are there any specific carriers the community has had good luck with?
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@linux-is-life I had a 6T till I lost it.
Yes, the phone does calls and texts quite well, and I was using the pre-installer version. Although VoLTE isn't ready on UT yet, 3.5G (shows as H on the phone) is used by most US carriers, so you'll be fine. -
@linux-is-life daily driving Mint Mobile on the 6t for about a month so far. I still cannot get gps to work, nor group mms. Other than that, no major issues. Totally daily driver material.
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Thanks for the info!
A 6T just arrived today and I successfully installed Ubuntu Touch. I couldn't get the windows installer to work, but the Linux Mint installer worked perfect.
It's a great looking operating system; it's more polished than I would have thought. The Suru dark mode on Ubuntu Touch is significantly better than the original android 9 high contrast mode. I appreciate the security features. It runs well. I haven't tested the calling/texting yet, but hopefully soon. It runs 3D games with zero lag. This thing is a hot rod. Finding a decent secure phone has been a difficult task, but I think this will be perfect.
Thanks again.
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@linux-is-life Glad you are enjoying it and keep doing so. You know where we are if you need anything.
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@linux-is-life said in Oneplus 6T to daily drive? Please help:
This thing is a hot rod.
Now you've done it... now I want one!
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An update regarding the network functionality: The phone works on the 4G network of my carrier AND I am able to force the phone to run in 3G only mode(what a fantastic feature). My carrier said that they already shut down 3G(the stated reason why my other phone was shut off), but apparently not yet. It's great to be able to use a 3G phone again. I far prefer 3G, so this is an invaluable feature.
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@linux-is-life great to hear it is working well. What carrier do you currently have again?
Can you confirm incoming SMS work reliably (more than 1 in a row) when on 4G (even though you prefer 3G)? We had a big problem with that on Pixel 3a and I am curious if it is a problem for other phones or not. If it is, there is a way to fix it.
Also, can you comment on MMS photos: can you send and receive? (you may need to be OFF wifi for it to work). So please report on that and if you need to disable wifi or not.
Also, to reply to your question about carriers, in the USA I use US Mobile, with the unlimited text + calls + 1GB LTE data for $12/month ($16.48 with tax and fees for me). They are very easy to use and have a responsive customer service. For Ubuntu Touch use the "white GSM" sim they give you (T-Mobile) instead of the black one (Verizon).
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@rik AT&T. Hope to switch to another carrier soon. Interesting about texting on 4G. I just tried and it wasn't working at all, then I restarted the phone and it is working fine. I couldn't get it to send images earlier and now that is also working. I even texted some 60mb tiff files and it sent them no problem. It looks like I can both send and receive long lines of text and images with wifi on. I basically never text and not in 4G, so it's hard to make a comment about reliability, but it seems to work at the moment.
