Two weeks only on UT
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Hi, on my holidays to Cuba I decided to take only my Nexus 5 with UT with me ...
After two weeks - it worked that’s the summary ...
A few things have been a bit, well, uncomfortable ... but if you step out of your comfort zone ...it workedSignal - not showing the pics before clicking on them ... and notifications only when app is running ... but messages and pics and calls are working - check
Messages and calls - check
Internet - check
Wlan Access - check
Offline maps - check (but Osm scout doesn’t download the maps for northrhyne Westfalia any more for example so it depends where you’re travelling - and hiking routes are only didplayed in the closest zooming Level what’s is kind of unusable)
Ebooks - check
Audiobooks - check
Currency converter - only online (unusable in Cuba with mostly no WiFi)
Translator - only online (unusable in Cuba with mostly no WiFi)
Telegramm - Check
Whatsapp - not that I need it but missed nearly all my birthday congratulations
- not available - but not adorable anywayIt freezes sometimes on the Nexus 5 and there is the odd reload of the UI every now and then ... but most times it works ....
So it worked fo me ... and if more people would ditch WhatsApp ... there would be no showstopper any more ..at least as the second phone ... for the use as a primary device it needs some androids support as I won’t start buying more expensive paper tickets for public transport again ...
But I need two phones anyway ...
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for the use as a primary device it needs some androids support
It sounds funny to me that to have a free phone as a daily driver, proprietary source-closed walled-garden apps are mandatory.
That defeats the whole free phone project goal for me, and I don't understand it. If someone needs or wants to use Android apps... use an Android device or fight to change the current status!
If someone needs an android app for a public service, the solution is not to develop anbox or whatever, the solution is to ask why you need to be an Android client to use a public service.
Some years ago I couldn't access a public service in Spain, it was Microsoft only, so I went to the Public Administration, and required a written statement saying "it's absolutely obligatory to be a Microsoft client to exercise citizen rights with the Spanish Public Administration".
Well, they couldn't do that obviously, and after some public pressure, that service uses a standard that's accessible from any software platform now.
Think about all the free software we have nowadays, and how we have got it.
The solution is not emulators, VMs, or whatever, the solution is open standards and native applications.
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@advocatux
I agree with you, but as long as the public bodies (or more likely the companies carrying out the public services on contract) are not willing to to even set up a mobile webpage where you can use their services (it works great with German HandyTicket which is unfortunately only available in a few regions) there is no real choice... only thing I could do is refusing to use the app and buying more expensive tickets on the bus ...
Another scenario are the banking apps - especially the new banking startups that relay on apps only like revolut (you can’t access your account without an app) so you can only choose an account at another bank - I’m sure most people are more willing to choose another device/platform ...I’m aware an emulator is not helping to push the companies to develope their apps for another platform but neither is a user base from just a few hundred to few thousand people.
So without the possibility to run apps people need to use we won’t get them to UT and with the small user base companies are not interested in developing their apps for UT ... has been like that on desktop Linux so wine came handy ... today I’m not needing a single windows application on my Linux machine any more ... -
@elastic no, Wine didn't help to push Linux software at all. Making native GNU/Linux, and demanding open standards, it's what pushed free software.
The matter you need to know if that an Android app is never going to work the same on Anbox, and upstream development can change anything at any moment an break the app running on Anbox.
And there's also the case(s) that an Android app is not going to run on Anbox at all, because that app needs some tracking that UT can't give, for example.
So without the possibility to run apps people need to use we won’t get them to UT
That's perfectly fine for me. People come to free software when they're tired of proprietary abuse, and they're ready to fight, like voting with their wallets against walled-garden bank apps.
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@advocatux said in Two weeks only on UT:
That's perfectly fine for me. People come to free software when they're tired of proprietary abuse, and they're ready to fight, like voting with their wallets against walled-garden bank apps.
Sorry I have to disagree, that's not how most people behave... Most human beings are just to comfortable with their routine...
The point of an emulated environment is that you have the freedom to use it but you don't have to... That's the point of freedom and openness for me - I can't agree with anything that has to be this or that way to be the true thing... Freedom means choice and the acceptance (not only tolerance) of other ways to see and do things ;-)... So if people want to use this or that app with this or that emulator it's their freedom of choice. If you want to avoid that emulated environment, it's your freedomnot to install it
win-win situation -
@elastic I don't know about other people routines but I agree with you on the point of freedom and openness.
Of course people are free to run their android apps on their android phones!
Of course anyone can develop whatever emulator they want on UT!
Of course anyone is free to have a sub-optimal experience trying to run an Android app on UT.
What I'm telling you is that a lot of Android apps are not going to run on Anbox the same way they do it on an Android device. Some of them are not going to run at all, and who are going to blame the users for that? I bet it's not going to be Android and their apps. They are going to blame Ubuntu Touch.
But they are free to do that too, of course!!
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@advocatux @ELASTIC interesting discussion.
I think the user-numbers vs app developer vicious circle is part of the Apple (and later Google)... deception: part of their attempt to ring fence their platforms.
What I've noticed about UT, is that people with skills come along and say "I like this OS. However, I like to do x or y, and I can't find an app for that. I'll build one." These devs are usually incredibly approachable and open to suggestions too, which is great for mere mortals like me.
It also helps the Open Source cause when bigger entities - like Milan or Barcelona - start backing it.
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It also helps the Open Source cause when bigger entities - like Milan or Barcelona - start backing it.
@3arn0wl what do you mean? Are you talking about Fairs, or Public subsidies, or...?
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@advocatux I meant governments funding software development - as Barcelona have pledged to do, and actively promoting Open Source. While this wave's energy may not in itself reach as far as a phone app, it is nevertheless changing perceptions and unsettling traditional proprietary providers.
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@3arn0wl ah, okay, thank you