Xenial on Meizu Pro 5
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Hi all,
I don't want to stir the muddy water here, but is there any chance that Pro 5 will be updated to Xenial? Back in Canonical days of Ubuntu Touch there was even working 16.04.2 STAGING channel image and it was booting. Yes, it was unstable like the ice on summer sun, but it was there. I read somewhere along the lines that Pro 5 will only get a bug fixes but no Xenial upgrade/rebase. It doesn't make a sense to scrap it. There are probably some other users with Pro 5, that would love to have this device to be moved to core devices.
Please can someone explain this device situation?https://plus.google.com/u/0/101216811071065193275/posts/NBB5UYa5fy5
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@Stefano i have a pro5 on ubports as a daily phone, so i hope it will be updated to Xenial.
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Plus I want to stress that the UT experience on Pro 5 is far more better than on e.g. Nexus 5, 4
Far better battery life and a nice big Amoled screen- a really good Ubuntu Touch reference device. -
@Stefano The uBports developers will explain it better, but as I understand it, if there is no Cyanogenmod or LineageOs version available with the appropriate kernel it is not possible. Canonical was working directly with Bq and Meizu to get the kernels and drivers for these devices, uBports is not. This is the way I understand it.
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@wgarcia There is Resurectuon Remix available. What about to ask Canonical to release the kernel Meizu provided for them?
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@Stefano I don't know, as I said the developers know better, but what I'm sure is that they are desperately looking for portable devices, if this device was portable (hackable) for sure it would be in the list.
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@Stefano Do you have any idea whom we can contact to do so?
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@Flohack did you mean at Canonical? I was under the impression that you guys get along well, at least Marius has.
From RESURECTION REMIX it would be this person:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/member.php?u=2533313https://github.com/faust93/kernel_meizu_m576 ( source code Meizu Pro 5)
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@Flohack Is that the answer you were expected? There is cm12, 13, 14.1 kernel source code available, plus Faust is rather experienced XDA developer, if any problems, just drop him a line or two, he might be able to help.
Please, let us know once you guys decide whether it might be a doable to put Xenial on Pro 5 and move it to Core Devices.
Thank you in advance! -
@Stefano Thx for the re-phrasing of the contact. I have no idea if we have this information, will forward it on...
BR
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@Flohack I'm running the RR from faust93 on my Ubuntu pro 5 (for some months since Canoncal droped it)... The RR works almost 100% great... So if the Ubports would be based on that base I would most probably switch back since then hopefully also all bugs that the Pro5 had will be gone... (ex Bluetooth, Headphone volume, no å,ä,ö in messaging, miracast (cromecast) support, etc...).
Just a question if I now could do without the gapps since I started to get used to be able to do my bank tasks on my device now a days...
So with Anbox and libertine container with access to the system (sdcard, gps, camera etc.) and the bugs above solved I would do a switch back all day in a week...
For now only my BQ e 4.5 running the ubports and the M10 is still on Canonical image planning to do the switch as soon there's some news on the 16.04 ...
/Lars
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@Lars Yes, I was using it for some time, it's about 95%stable, so is UT, and almost all the bugs sorted. So we'll see what guys at Ubports says once they have a look at the source code. Fingers crossed.
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@Stefano I still don't get it why Pro 5 can't get XENIAL update when there is a full Android source tree for it.
https://github.com/faust93/android_device_meizu_m86
https://github.com/meizuosc/m576
Maybe Marius could explain a little better, cos he said yesterday that Meizu is closed source, but what about this source? Will you Marius? What else is needed?
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Pro 5 should have Xenial update. There is plenty of Pro 5:s around and some chinese still sell it. My pro5 has loose antenna or something else wrong with it's hardware, because it has very poor reception. If it pro 5 gets Xenial i might order another one from Ebay or Aliexpress if they have euro versions left.
Pro 5 is pretty decent phone and i could use it many years to come.
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@alternat0r Yeah, they not as expensive at the moment, like £250 and for a new device. But surely the best UT experience to date on Pro 5.
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@alternat0r Open it up and have a look on the loose antenna wire. Just 2 screws on the bottom on the phone, then heat up the screen and then just pry and should separate easy. See youtube.
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However Ubuntu Phone support on it has a few important flaws, that spoil the experience from me (I'll definitely report bugs right now):
- battery drain when Wi-Fi is on - probably it wouldn't last 24h on standby with Wi-Fil on (I think problems started with one of Canonical's OTA's)
- completely unreliable data connection - it looses the connection and regains it totally randomly, many times when I need mobile data it either drops during browsing the internet or there is no connection at all and I have to restart the phone (even that doesn't always help)
- cellular network is a problem too - it drops from time to time too and sometimes I don't have network when everyone around do have - it says "Unregistered" or "Rejected" (or similar, as I see this texts in Polish)
- I also have issues with call quality - I often have hard time understanding what people talk to me (but this might be just a result of lack of support for "HD Voice" or however it's officially called)
Those are really irritating issues and solving them is vital for device to be reliable, so I would't say that "almost all the bugs are sorted". But who knows, maybe using CM's sources could result in a reliably working system?
Anyway I believe that even if porting requires more work it's worth doing 16.04 for Pro 5, as there is a significant amount of users and app developers that use it, but they won't stay more if they are forced to buy a new device.
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@Mitu Yeah, probably just a bugs. Since I switched to UBports, the mobile signal dropping is happening just occasionally, from 4G to H, but just for a moment only. The biggest problem this phone has is Bluetooth calling noise and distortion. BUT, then again on Resurection Remix from Faust93, most of the bugs are sorted and this is the SourceCode that I'm talking about, which is available on Github, so it must be an OpenSource, therefore could be customized, re-build, patched...
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@Stefano said in Xenial on Meizu Pro 5:
@alternat0r Open it up and have a look on the loose antenna wire. Just 2 screws on the bottom on the phone, then heat up the screen and then just pry and should separate easy. See youtube.
I have so many bad experiences when i have opened phone and didn't get it back together like it was. But perhaps i could try it if i can find small enough torx somewhere. Not much to lose anyways.
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@alternat0r I am with you on this, my pro5 is a great phone,works good on android and should be equally good on ubports,an it has good availability,they could be bought up and converted then resold as ubports devices, ( after the niggling little problem are fixed).
