Best recent phone hardware for install ?

Peter Gamma · 1 Jan 2021, 13:28

Xiaomi Poco F1 is sold for US $115,50 on ebay:

https://www.ebay.ch/itm/Xiaomi-Pocophone-F1-64-GB-Graphite-Black-Unlocked/324430926662

scienz · 1 Jan 2021, 16:36

@peter-gamma

here are my pros and cons of the Mi A2 and the Pocophone.

Pros Mi A2:

lays better in the hand because phone is slightly smaller
display seems to be a little bit better than on the Pocophone
supported by the UBports Installer
4GB or 6GB of RAM, 32GB/64GB/128GB of ROM
easy to open, 2 screws close to the USB port, case is not glued
replacement parts available on ebay
got a used Mi A2 with 6GB of RAM and 128GB ROM that is in a pretty good shape for 85 Euro on Ebay. I was very lucky. Good used ones are available for around 100 Euro and upwards as of now.
Unlock process more straight forward over fastboot and ADB. No regristration is necessary.

Cons Mi A2:

no Micro SD card Slot
no headphone jack, USB-C to headphone jack adapter comes with the phone
Snapdragon 660 is ok

Pros Pocophone F1:

Micro SD card slot(shared with second SIM slot), headphone jack
Pocophone is still a fast phone with the Snapdragon 845
6GB or 8GB RAM, 64GB or 128GB or 256GB ROM
easy to open, 2 screws close to the USB port, case is not glued
replacement parts available on ebay
very good support for alot of custom ROMs (crdroid was my favorite so far)

Cons Pocophone F1:

display is not bad but the one on the Mi A2 seems to be slightly better
Phone is a little bit bigger
Unlock process is much more complicated because you need to use the Mi Unlock Tool to do it. For that you need a Mi account, a SIM-card and an email adress. In the past it worked best with an Gmail account. There were problems with other mail providers! When you 'apply' for the unlock you have to wait 3 days to actually unlock the phone.
price for a used phone seems to be higher for a used pocophone. Once I was lucky I got one in a nearly perfect shape for 100 Euro. But prices for used pocophones vary between 120 and 200 Euro. The 8GB RAM / 256GB ROM version is much more seldom and also more expensive.

Peter Gamma · 1 Jan 2021, 18:41

@scienz many thanks for sharing your experience .

Peter Gamma · 1 Jan 2021, 20:30

@peter-gamma

pro of Xiaomi Redmi 7 Onclite:

GITHUB where you can write issues:

https://github.com/Vin4ter/Ubports-Onclite-redmi7/blob/master/README.md

this is the simplest WIKI

arubislander · 2 Jan 2021, 16:14

@scienz said in Best recent phone hardware for install ?:

The 8GB RAM / 256GB ROM

What do you mean with ROM? Why would a device have differing amounts of Read Only Memory?

scienz · 2 Jan 2021, 16:58

@arubislander
With ROM some people mean the flash memory. Yes, it is not correct but it is shorter.

scienz · 2 Jan 2021, 17:05

@peter-gamma

BTW, I wasn't succesful installing UB Touch with UBports Installer on my Mi A2. The installation was stuck on the point where you boot into the UB Touch Recovery and the UBports Installer should be copying the UB Touch image file to the phone. I waited 2 hours and nothing happened.
Maybe I should install it manually using TWRP like I saw it in a video.

Peter Gamma · 7 Jan 2021, 17:32

I bought a PinePhone. Shipping time was near to a month, shipping costs where 30 USD through DHL, import taxes where another 30 USD. Then I saw the Xiaomi devices with Ubuntu touch. I live in Switzerland. I bought a Xiaomi Redmi 7 onclite in UK for around 100 USD, and a Xiaomi Poco F1 in Switzerland for 50 USD.

The Xiaomi 7 from UK was sent back by Swiss duty because of the lack of an invoice. Then she sent it by UPC, but to the wrong adress. Now she sends the phone by postal service and sent me the tracking number, and I will soon have the device. Still faster than to wait for a PinePhone.

I sold my PinePhone on ebay before I used it, negotiated with two guys from Italy and one from Brazil about the best shipping method for the PinePhone. But no method was really satisfying.

Finally I could sell my PinePhone to a guy in nothern Italy who wants to make a youtube review about the PinePhone. He will have the phone I guess in a view days. Thanks to Swiss post.

But if Ubuntu Touch works for daily use on Xiaomi devices, why then should one buy a PinePhone? Long shipping time, high import taxes, little power. You can get a Xiaomi Poco F1 on ebay for half the price of a PinePhone if you are lucky, and it has an 8 core processor instead of 4 cores of the PinePhone, and it has 6 Giga RAM instead of the 2 of the PinePhone.

Keneda · 1 Jul 2021, 19:17

@peter-gamma said in Best recent phone hardware for install ?:

But if Ubuntu Touch works for daily use on Xiaomi devices, why then should one buy a PinePhone?

Because :

Open source hardware
Build by open source people
Run pure uTouch, not any traces of androïd and closed source blobs here
You don't need an atomic bomb to run uTouch, and my old MX4 thanks this
Price for a such little "company" is not so high, you can't compare prices from a worldwide capitalist company that product millions of smartphones a year to an open source hardware association that sells its hardware almost the price it costs them...

Peter Gamma · 8 Jan 2021, 08:39

@keneda open source hardware and open source people are fine, but when you look on ebay, it is flooded with Xiaomi devices, and they have a new model every now and then. Do not devices with the best price performance ratio win, and will survive on the long term?

Keneda · 9 Jan 2021, 14:11

@peter-gamma said in Best recent phone hardware for install ?:

Do not devices with the best price performance ratio win, and will survive on the long term?

You can't compare Xiaomi (Monstruously big Chineese capitalist company, billions device each year, enormous profit, economic model based on software obsolescence) and Pine64 (little association of people that design and product open source hardware on a basis of thousands devices, sold quasi without profit).

We don't need more chineese androïd devices that could make skynet alive with its power.

We need open source hardware, with open source software (drivers), with enough power to run smoothly uTouch and all its apps, and get "lifetime" support (with nothing from shi**y androïd).

tricky · 1 Oct 2021, 18:40

@Keneda The main issue is that after 10 months of availability on the market Pinephone still cannot be used as daily phone with UT. If Xiaomi works smoothly with UT onboard I don't see any reason why not to spread a word about that. If more people give a try to UT (it doesn't matter on which hardware) our community can only benefit from that. Personally i'm also looking for a replacement of my Pinephone and Xiaomi might be a good option.

Keneda · 10 Jan 2021, 20:06

@tricky

I only said PINE64 open source device can't be compared to Multinationals.

Lakotaubp · 11 Jan 2021, 08:09

Just getting a little OT for this thread.

Peter Gamma · 15 Jan 2021, 14:52

@lakotaubp not me, we can continue discussing.

PhoenixLandPirat · 16 Jan 2021, 11:05

Will just say, buying phones with Ubuntu Touch, or at least some varient of linux, such as kde plasma, manjaro, etc, supports our movement more than installing Ubuntu Touch on x, y, z android device.

So Id personally recommend
Pinephone,
Fx(tec) pro x
Or the volla phone.

Im saying that from a OnePlus 3, but I have a pinephone, and i plan on continuing down the line of supporting those who support me/my preferences financially.

domubpkm · 16 Jan 2021, 12:03

There is no miracle UT smartphone. It would be known. There are myriads of issues for every new and old. You have to assume that you don't even know if your own SIM card will be fully compatible : this is my case currently, no internet (like others) with the Volla and Pinephone. So everyone has to make his choice despite all the comments and hope.

Luckily the first smartphones (BQ, OPO, Nexus5..) which are more and very reliable, are still maintained and I hope that they will remain so as long as necessary..

PhoenixLandPirat · 16 Jan 2021, 12:18

@domubpkm Absolutely, rather than "Best recent phone hardware" which leads to peoples personal favourites, and then people get upset when someone says "nah this one is the best because its my favourite" , we should talk about what peoples values are, or desires, if someone wants a better camera, will be different from someone who wants a physical keyboard, which might be different from someone who wants a high end cpu, and someone might hit there price limit at £400.

People will fall in different places with all these different questions, and there are a lot more questions than that, if I care about camera, and you dont and you care about a physical keyboard, if we are asked "Whats the best phone" if I say x, and you say y, its possible that we'll get angry and upset at eachother, because we are fighting for a place, rather than being happy with the phone that fits us better.

Peter Gamma · 16 Jan 2021, 12:24

@phoenixlandpirat No need to get angry. There is a phone for everyone. Miracles can happen when the cost to power ratio is good, the community for a device is growing, when a company makes a constant effort to have the most recent hardware components. The more people which are using a device, the more interesting it becomes, there are more debuggers and developers, which makes the device more attractive. In my view, chances are best that a Xiaomi device becomes a miracle device.

PhoenixLandPirat · 16 Jan 2021, 12:27

@peter-gamma I wasn't angry in anyway, so don't worry about that