Hardware recommendation for Noble
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Hello everyone,
I'm currently using Focal on a Google Pixel 3a as daily driver, and I would prefer to wait a bit before upgrading it to Noble. But I would also like to start porting an app I'm writing to the latest UT platform.
Could you please tell me which phone would provide the best user experience (considering a scenario where it would be imaged with Noble straight away, not upgraded from Focal, and use the latest available version, not /stable)?
Side question: do we still need to start from Android 9 before installing Noble?
Thanks in advance for any recommendation.
Xiaomi Mi A2 (16.04 OTA-25/stable) with 2 SIMs
Daily driver: Google Pixel 3a (20.04 OTA-11/stable) [was: Nokia N900 (Maemo) from 2009]. -
Volla Quintus has served me well so far. It's also one of the only devices that is officially commercially supported for UT. Volla has someone working on UT for their devices.
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@PhAndersson said in Hardware recommendation for Noble:
Side question: do we still need to start from Android 9 before installing Noble?
Yes to that one if you are coming from Android. If you have UT already installed, you can either upgrade through the System tools or use the installer (leaving WipeData unticked if you want to preserve apps and data).
The Google Pixel 3a is a good device, but unfortunately lacks the VoLTE support
For me and this is what you will get as everyones experience varies the devices I recommend are OP5 and OP5T, Nord N100 and Nord N10 5G, Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro and Xiaomi POCO X3 NFC...
Anything device that has worked with Focal should clean install to Noble with a few exceptions (OP6 and OP6T and Xiaomi Mi A2).
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@MrT10001 said in Hardware recommendation for Noble:
The Google Pixel 3a is a good device, but unfortunately lacks the VoLTE support
Indeed -- the support for that device is excellent overall. I'm very happy with it. It's just a pity that the HW specs are a bit basic.
For me and this is what you will get as everyones experience varies the devices I recommend are OP5 and OP5T, Nord N100 and Nord N10 5G, Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro and Xiaomi POCO X3 NFC...
OK, thanks -- I'll have a look at those.
Anything device that has worked with Focal should clean install to Noble with a few exceptions (OP6 and OP6T and Xiaomi Mi A2).
You surprise me -- I thought the Mi A2 was never ported to Focal. I have one, but it's still on Xenial.
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@projectmoon said in Hardware recommendation for Noble:
Volla Quintus has served me well so far. It's also one of the only devices that is officially commercially supported for UT. Volla has someone working on UT for their devices.
Many thanks -- I'll give it a look. I guess flashing my first 2 phones with fastboot and adb earned me a few nerd points, but I won't complain either if the next one comes pre-installed
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@PhAndersson said in Hardware recommendation for Noble:
@projectmoon said in Hardware recommendation for Noble:
Volla Quintus has served me well so far. It's also one of the only devices that is officially commercially supported for UT. Volla has someone working on UT for their devices.
Many thanks -- I'll give it a look. I guess flashing my first 2 phones with fastboot and adb earned me a few nerd points, but I won't complain either if the next one comes pre-installed
From a hardware standpoint, it's one of the few phones that functions without issue (beyond the software limitations of UT itself--QT 5.15 etc). All hardware except the in-screen fingerprint reader and FM radio are functioning. Both would be nice-to-have, especially the fingerprint reader, but are not deal-breakers. Camera quality is not SUPER amazing, but it is serviceable.
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I cannot really say much about the Volla and Fairphones as I don't have any (too expensive, even second user) in comparison to the ones I have mentioned. But as they are well supported and commercially available with UT installed they are well worth looking at.
I upgraded all my Xiaomi Mi A2 to Focal - they are a good device, but a tricky install.
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I use a Fairphone 4 on channel
24.04/daily.When I did my research and asked the same questions you have, I came to the conclusion that USB3.0 display port with a wired connection to HDMI monitor was superior to any other USB2.0 device which has to use some kind of other technology to connect to another screen, but can connect a USB keyboard and a mouse.
From my USBC3.0 display out decision I figured out that Fairphone 4 or 5 would be suitable although very expensive.
The next question was if 6GB RAM would be enough (yes it is enough), or if I need 8GB RAM (still haven't taken on the banking app world with Waydroid, but I will).
Fairphone 5 is the only one still being sold. Fairphone 4 is much harder to find. Usually there are sales on Fairphone 5 during times like Black Friday, but there are no units in stock to be sold over the counter, only online sales.
There is a lot of writing about shifting customer support, lack of spare parts like extra batteries, extra USBC-ports and price point, which made me hesitate a lot.
It didn't get better to see 12GB RAM Pixel 9/10 sales as little as 270 €, but of course: There is no port!
I landed in that it is probably wiser to wait until a cheap 12-16GB RAM device with USB3 display out is ported.
Fairphone 5 was the only option available at the time so it was either to accept it and be ok with the price point or wait until something like Redmi 18C with USB3 arrives and sells out for 100 €.
The frustration is on my part that you have to anticipate which device will most probably be ported in the future and buy it when it sells out, maybe years before it gets ported. You can't easily get such a device later. On top you have this whole locked bootloader unlocking process and downgrading android if you are lucky to own a device which gets ported in the future.
In that sense, it was Fairphone or nothing for me. Learning about repair disasters from this forum, I would think twice to go for Fairphone with what I know today.
If you have 700 € and consider it worth taking a short term risk, go for a new Fairphone, it is definitely good enough for now. If no 700 € exist , I would personally with the knowledge I now have wait until another cheap 12-16 GB RAM device with USB3 that you can still buy appears in the Ubuntu Touch device list. Android 16 is supposed to offer desktop mode, which might push developers of devices to put in USB3. It is also common with 6000mAh batteries now and tablets most often have even more battery power. I am aware of that it might take time until more devices are ported.
I have been looking around for posts how users with USB2 devices solve the display out need without affecting internet connection, WiFi speeds and so on.
WiFi-7 is another thing that's starts popping up and that I personally think is going to become my requirement for future devices.
32 GB RAM seems to become the new norm on desktops, given that many wish to run local ai models which apparently need 20GB RAM to run 14B models on the graphic card.
My Fairphone 4 is good for all I am testing out, which is generally making it into a PC using wifi. I don't use mobile data that much at the moment. My focus is to make the device useful for everything you need in daily life, on any kind of internet connection. Calls can be made via Signal, Linphone, matrix.org, so I don't really need anything more than some sort of internet. Banking apps will most probably still require a cheap non-rooted android with gapps, that is why I plan to check out Waydroid with banking apps if it works or not. Zoom app is another thing to be aware about that does not work on Linux ARM, but probably does work in Waydroid.
Raspberry Pi 5 with 16GB would probably be another cheap PC that fits inside your pocket, although it's wifi is reported to drop speed drastically once you move away a couple of meters from the WiFi-5 access point. It does lack a good form factor with the extra board needed for SSD hard drive to get better speed, so it is not really an option to carry around. It's ai capabilities are not super either.
Which is why I went for a Fairphone and am trying to get all what I need to work properly on it. I think it is the only option right now, which unfortunately makes me who want USB3 become more dependent on one supplier who can do what they want. I don't like that, but it is what it is right now.
Overall I am more than ok with my Fairphone 4. It is not bad at all, but it is an expensive toy. Maybe I was lucky to get a good unit too. It has not broken yet. You still need to be tech savvy to get everything to work the way you wish in Fairphone 4. Not much comes ready out of the box on Fairphone 4 compared to a ten year old computer with latest Linux Desktop. I would not give Ubuntu Touch to others today to use even though they already adopted Linux desktops over Windows and Apples. It is in my opinion still too complex for a newbie regular user who prefers Android and such that has been around longer. I fear I would become a constant PC support for others if I promoted Ubuntu Touch to them today. 2-3 years from now I think Ubuntu Touch will be much better for the large crowds who are not tech enthusiasts. For me personally Ubuntu Touch is good enough already today for most things I need, including python3 scripting, API calls, JSON-data and LibreOffice. Copy-paste issues in Libertine, scrolling with mouse and screenshots of individual windows and regions like you do on a Linux Desktop is my biggest concern right now. Protonvpn I wish to get working. I noticed that the old PS2 mouses work better than new gaming mouses in desktop mode. Connecting other things to Fairphone 4 is for me more important than I thought previously.
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