(No longer Updated) - Feature Report - CatWithCode

CatWithUT

List of stuff I tested with last tested Status (Copy of: https://catwithcode.moe/Blog/2024.10.07_Ubuntu_Touch_on_Fairphone_5/Ubuntu_Touch_on_Fairphone_5.html) :

Note: I test drove the Fairphone 5 with UbuntuTouch for around 17 days two times. Don't worry I hand a second, fully configured phone on hand just in case (And a Android Phone was ready to swap in). I relyed on some Android apps to work but the main once are covered and waydroid helps with the rest.

UPDATED: 2025.07.21
SOFTWARE: r52X

WORKS | WORKS, BUT STILL TESTING | NOT TESTED YET | ISSUES | NOT WORKING

✅ Install
✅ Setup
✅ Working with German SIM-CARD
✅ WiFi (With Network enforced Pi-Hole)
✅ Camera (Photo, Video, with and without Flash, Switching between cameras. Sometimes I need to reboot for it to work.)
✅ LTE [Works but sometimes I need to reboot for it to work]
✅ Alarm and Timer
✅ Stability (Fine)
✅ 5G (Somehow works better, faster and more reliable then on Android)
✅ VoLTE
✅ GPS (Works even inside Waydroid. Enable it in UB then start waydroid and enable it there)
✅ Battery Life - Really good! X11 App's running can consume a good bit more.
✅ Heat (More with Waydroid)
✅ Snap's (Using Snapz0r - Many Apps run! BUT onscreen keyboard dose not work in general for snap on UbuntuTouch! Normal USB-Keyboards do!)
✅ Tap to wake
✅ Performance (Good. Display seems to run at 60hz (not the possible 90hz), but performance-intensive stuff like streaming 1080p@60fps is working great regardless.)
✅ SMS
✅ CALL (2G, 3G, LTE, 5G)
✅ FLASH
✅ Vibration
✅ Screen Brightness (Sensitive but works)
✅ Proximity
✅ Rotation
✅ Fingerprint reader (Needs screen to be on. Seems just the way UbuntuTouch works.)
✅ USB-OTG (I had many issues with USB3.X and newer. BUT it was with the phone not matter what. So it is a FP5 or PC chipset issue, not Ubuntu Touch.)
✅ Keyboard
✅ Mouse
✅* Emergency Broadcast (If your country uses the reference implementation correctly it should work if you ask the forum. For me impossible to test. If at some point I get one and I see it for myself working in Germany I will update this: https://forums.ubports.com/post/83531)
✅ USB-HUB
✅ Sleep (Same time everywehere even on LockScreen (Unlike Android))(Same time everywhere even on Lock-screen (Unlike Android) aka. long Screen On times not recommended.)
✅ AUDIO (Is combined on Ubuntu Touch. So don't forget to make your phone quieter in the evening or you alarm will be at full volume or whatever was used last... .)
⭕ USB-MTP (USB to PC. Works but Copy/Past and file management is very buggy and slow. adb shell/pull/push is way better and WAY faster and 100% reliable)
✅ USB-AUDIO (Even USB to AUX Audio. Dose not work for me on Android for some reason)
❌ USB-VIDEO [BUG: Black Screen, Soft/Hard-Reboot and a broken Dekstop on Phone. Tested with USB-C to HDMI (Probably 3.0) and a Dock (Mostlikly 3.X).
✅ Waydroid

How well dose it work:
It works. It is a stopgap and nothing more. I recommend to use it as little as possible and make the battery settings for apps as aggressive as you are able too. I also removed literally anything not needed. Even the calculator.

NOT Working:
    Vibration
    Notifications inside Ubuntu Touch

✅ NFC (Tested with Flipper Zero)
✅ Bluetooth
✅ Libertine (Tested with Firefox and Signal-Desktop [AUDIO/MIC WORKS IF YOU INSTALL "pavucontrol".]) [Currently, generally broken for Ubuntu Touch. It actually works but one package (libc6) is outdated or miss-configured and needes to be tricked to install https://forums.ubports.com/topic/11112]
✅ Shutdown/Reboot (Was Bugged in the past. Now it works.)
⭕ Snaps - Work relatively well but without OSK it is kinda hard to use. But else stuff like Signal are the best here because of native Notifications System use incl. Screen-Wake, background usage and even calls (Without microphone)!

In the linked blog entry I have made a very extensive list of things that have been tested, workarounds and mods.

I test-drove Ubuntu Touch two times now and I decided it is not for me.

CatWithUT

Waydroid not working

It seems to be installed but the helper can just crashes and if i try to init it with the terminal (with and without root) i will get the following error:

(005311) [18:26:07] ERROR: Action "init" needs root access
(005311) [18:26:07] See also: <https://github.com/waydroid>
(005311) [18:26:07] Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/waydroid/tools/__init__.py", line 63, in main
    actionNeedRoot(args.action)
  File "/usr/lib/waydroid/tools/__init__.py", line 21, in actionNeedRoot
    raise RuntimeError(
RuntimeError: Action "init" needs root access

(005317) [18:26:25] ERROR: Binder node "binder" for waydroid not found
(005317) [18:26:25] See also: <https://github.com/waydroid>
(005317) [18:26:25] Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/waydroid/tools/__init__.py", line 64, in main
    actions.init(args)
  File "/usr/lib/waydroid/tools/actions/initializer.py", line 111, in init
    setup_config(args)
  File "/usr/lib/waydroid/tools/actions/initializer.py", line 98, in setup_config
    helpers.drivers.setupBinderNodes(args)
  File "/usr/lib/waydroid/tools/helpers/drivers.py", line 155, in setupBinderNodes
    raise OSError('Binder node "binder" for waydroid not found')
OSError: Binder node "binder" for waydroid not found

(005324) [18:26:42] % tail -n 60 -F /var/lib/waydroid/waydroid.log
(005324) [18:26:42] *** output passed to waydroid stdout, not to this log ***

EDIT: Added LOG.

CatWithUT

USB-OTG Hard Crashes Phone

Connecting the phone to a computer, such as an Android phone, to copy to copy files from it or similar, the screen will go black and the phone will become unresponsive. Only holding power reboots it.

Fuseteam

@CatWithUT are you possibly connecting it with a dock of some sorts?

Also might be a bit early for the fairphone 5 xd

CatWithUT

@Fuseteam That is what beta tester are for and no no Hub .

CatWithUT

I tryed again. It works with an USB 2.0 Cable. With an USB 3.0 and better cable it happens.

CatWithUT

Bluetooth is working, but cannot reliably connect to or read nearby devices.

Can not connect to a PC, Speaker, Headphones, ... anything. It sometimes conects but nothing works. Many devices show up as unkown even though they are having readable names on other devices.

CatWithUT

NFC works but no APP / Setting I found can read anything

The Apps see there is something but can not realy read it / write to it.

Fuseteam

@CatWithUT said in BUG: USB-OTG Hard Crashes Phone:

@Fuseteam That is what beta tester are for

hah! fair. I stand corrected XD

Fuseteam

@CatWithUT hmmm no hub, not sure then what it could be

Keneda

@CatWithUT
I'm not sure but I believe Waydroid needs some work on a device for it to work, are you sure the FP5 is "Waydroid ready" ?
I guess for now we should wait for the port to reach RC ou stable before taking care of Waydroid.

Keneda

@CatWithUT
That's one of prime UT dev, @dobey, that downvoted you lol, you can see it by clicking on the number of votes.
I don't know why, maybe a bad day for him

Second: In the linked blog entry in my profil here I have made a very extensive list of things that have been tested (to not spam this area with usless topics like "works lol").

That's maybe the reason for the downvotes.

You could use only one topic here to report all your testing.

CatWithUT

@Keneda Oh ok. Then i do that from now on. I did not know that it sould be done like this. My bad. sorry.
Then linking externaly is probably bad to. I will just clone my list here:

A list of stuff I tested with last tested Status and the Tickets if any (Copy of: https://catwithcode.moe/Blog/2024.10.07_Ubuntu_Touch_on_Fairphone_5/Ubuntu_Touch_on_Fairphone_5.html):

✅ WORKS | 📈 WORKS, BUT STILL TESTING | ➖ NOT TESTED YET | ⭕ ISSUES | ❌ NOT WORKING

    ✅ Install
    ✅ Setup
    ✅ Working with German SIM-CARD
    ✅ WiFi (With Network enforced Pi-Hole)
    ✅ Camera (Photo, Video, with and without Flash, Switching between cameras)
    ✅ LTE
    ➖ 5G
    ➖ VoLTE
    ➖ GPS
    📈 Battery Life - Seems to be ok. Not as good as LinageOS but ok.
    ⭕ Heat - The phone is a little hot. IDK. why. Could be the dev build with more logging in the background.
    📈 Performance (Can be a little laggy sometimes, but performance-intensive stuff like streaming 1080p@60fps is working great.)
    📈 SMS
    ✅ CALL (2G? 3G?)
    ✅ FLASH
    ✅ Vibration
    ✅ Screen Brightness (With and without Auto)
    ✅ Proximity
    ✅ Rotation
    ❌ Fingerprint reader (The OS knows it dose not work)
    ⭕ USB-OTG [BUG: USB-OTG Hard Crashes Phone (2.0 WORKS! 3.0+ CABLES CRASH.)]
    ✅ USB-HUB [Keyboard, Mouse and USB-Drive work]
    ✅ USB-AUDIO - Works perfectly... surprisingly.
    ❌ USB-VIDEO [Probably related: "BUG: USB-OTG Hard Crashes Phone"]
    ❌ Waydroid [BUG: Waydroid not working]
    ⭕ NFC [BUG: NFC works but no APP / Setting I found can read anything]
    ⭕ Bluetooth [BUG: Bluetooth is working, but cannot reliably connect to or read nearby devices.]
    ✅ Libertine (Tested with Firefox)

Keneda

@CatWithUT said in More detailed Beta-Testing Report:

Then linking externaly is probably bad to. I will just clone my list here:

Good.
So let say this topic is your testing report topic.
You can edit the title for it to be clearer.

I can merge your other topic with this one too if you're ok.

Thanks for your commitment in testing.

CatWithUT

@Keneda Yes pls do that. Thx I can not find the option to change the Titel

Keneda

@CatWithUT
Nevermind I'll do it ^^
But you shoul be able to do it by editing your first post, using the three dots on bottom right corner of the post.

CatWithUT

@Keneda Oh That is how you do that. Thanks. Also: Thanks for fixing the formating and putting it to the top of the topic.

Keneda

@CatWithUT
You're welcome ^^
Thank you for testing, again

dobey

@Keneda said in Beta Bug-Reports - CatWithCode:

That's maybe the reason for the downvotes.

Indeed, the forum is not a bug tracker, so many threads just to say "X is not working" is spammy. A single "testing progress" thread for a new port is fine I guess, but actual bugs should probably be filed in GitLab so they can be tracked and closed with "Fixes #NNN" in changes to code.

Keneda

@dobey what is the GitLab repo address?
There is no FP5 device page so hard for users to find.

Edit :
And it seems there is no issue area for FP5 already.
https://gitlab.com/ubports/porting/community-ports/android11/fairphone-5/fairphone-fp5/-/issues

@CatWithUT
What android version was on your phone before installing ?
I bought my FP5 pristine couple months ago and it was shipped with android 13, and i see port is halium 11, so android 11 needed, and downgrading is not an option due to anti rollback s..tuff