@roguerascal said in Best phone for Linux Mobile OS:

Stability is important. Not so fussed about 3g / 4g or ability to make and recieve calls but wifi is important. It must be able to get to the internet via wifi.

... are you sure a laptop or tablet won't suit your needs?

Don't take this the wrong way, but I think you're very ill-prepared coming here asking for device recommendations. You're vague as to what is important for your device (no reference for "long" battery, "CPU power", etc.), and you're vague as to what you want to do on it (yes, SSH and packages, but can you give a general reason for it?). As others have mentioned, UT is not as similar to Ubuntu Desktop as it comes across you're thinking it is.

But I'm not gonna come in here and not answer your question. In my understanding, you're looking for a pocket PC. Try looking at the F(x)Tec Pro1, the Planet Computer Cosmo Communicator, or the Planet Computer Astro Slide. Only you can be the judge if these devices are good for you. I can't speak for how good UT is on these specific devices. Like Moem said, check the devices page. They'll always be better over time.

A helpful tip: please understand the differences and limitations of UT vs Ubuntu Desktop. Maybe try buying and old and cheap but well supported device to try UT on first, like a Nexus 5 or OnePlus One.

If you find you need a desktop environment but want something that fits in your pocket, all I can do is point you to the GPD Pocket 2 or the One Netbook Onemix2s. I have never used these and can't say anything for them, I just love what they are. Otherwise, look for tablets or laptops. Hope you find something good for what you want.

Hello and welcome.

First and foremost, Ubuntu Touch is not going to be discontinued. Development is very active. In fact, the developers (and users too) just celebrated the release of OTA-16, and the next update OTA-17 is on the horizon about 2 to 3 months out.

As for the your question, the status thread you're referring to is up to date as of December 14, 2020. The thread is locked because around that time, device discussions were being organized into their own sub sections (where we are now). Everything that is written there should still be accurate, unless there was something fixed without being announced. Other issues you will notice from the Pixel 3a section are about problems with MMS and VoLTE (in the US). I'm pretty certain these particular issues are being worked on, but I don't know anything more. According to the UT Devices page, the progress of development on the 3a is at 85.5%, which is fairly significant.

Is it daily driver ready? Realistically, only you can be the judge of that. In my opinion, it's the best phone to get for the US specifically. However, I don't yet have one myself. I say this because this is the phone I'll be hoping to use shortly (the first vendor I bought from sent the wrong phone model -_- ). If you're in the US, I strongly recommend you read up on issues with MMS and VoLTE in Ubuntu Touch (not exclusive problems to this phone). As far as I'm aware, US carriers haven't dropped 3G calls yet, you only can't activate non-VoLTE phones. Also, not that I have tried this yet, but I suggest you activate the phone before installing UT. And copy down ALL of the APN settings that are set up before you do.

I'm sure some others will post here with much better information too.

@RogueRascal Okay, sorry in advance, but now you're really unclear on what exactly you are looking for and what is necessary for your needs.

You want a UT phone but you don't need it to be an actual phone? You need a mobile device, be it a laptop or phone, but can't clearly say that you do or do not need to have mobile celluar network or why you would.
Why explicitly do you need a desktop OS on a phone device? Is it the size? The portability? Touchscreen?
Why do you want a phone GUI, what does that do for you?
Why is a simple laptop not the best choice for you?
What can you compromise on? What are your absolute requirements?

You don't have to answer these questions on this forum in writing, but you need to know the answers yourself so you can explain it and we can offer help. Because you seem to be in a very, very unique situation that has something out there for the best possible solution. But only you have all of the info in order to find this solution. And frankly, you don't seem to be putting in much effort here. Everyone starts researching and learning about things from step 0. Just go to Google, or browse around this forum, and see what you find. Then you'll be able to ask about the capabilities or functionality of what you're after.

@standupmobile said in SMS and MMS Issues on Ting:

One thought might be to track down where these setting are stored and modify / create new ones from the terminal ... although not sure if that is possible.

The user Aircooled in the thread MMS issues shared that APN contents could be found in /var/lib/ofono/<id> /gprs. It may be better to continue discussion on this specific idea in the original thread, since there is more information there already.

Also for rebooting, are you doing a soft reboot or hard reboot? I haven't tried, but I would think that a full system power off would do what takes 3 reboots.

@mellowmatt I don't remember where I saw this, but apparently there is a difference with having one APN for "Internet and MMS" and separating those into 2 APNs. But it's a moot point if you can't edit or save them. shrug

From someone with 3 bad attempts to buy the right Pixel, let me share 2 things to keep an eye on when your phone arrives (assuming you bought the phone listed as new. And if you already know this, then great!): Make sure it's a G020G model. G020E is the Verizon model. And double check that the bootloader can be OEM unlocked. My last attempt was a G020G model but the bootloader was locked. T-Mobile (who it was locked for) couldn't unlock it and told me to get a refund.

For swapping the SIM, it depends on the carrier, but generally you can just take your current SIM card and put it in a new phone and it'll just work. Double check on your carrier's website or searching US Cellular swap sim cards. I can say that swapping SIMs on Sprint does not work because for some stupid reason Sprint has 4 different kinds of SIM cards, and I don't mean sizes. And even still, Sprint ties the SIM to the IMEI and so it wouldn't swap even if it was compatible in both phones. T-Mobile on the other hand does allow swapping SIMs. I'm believe it's the same for AT&T.

(This part is solely my own speculation) I think you should swap your SIM card or activate a new one while the phone has Android just to be safe. You may want to also consider copying down the information in Android's APN settings. That will be helpful for any APN tinkering you may need, as evident from other posts here (APN settings are retrieved automatically from the SIM card, but may still need adjusting or duplicating in some way). I think you should have an active SIM card in the phone when you go to install UT. That's what I would do.

@crab_aesthetics I was buying mine through Amazon too, so still double check. I know the listing itself says G020G Unlocked, but what any seller actually has can be up in the air. I bought twice on the same G020G Unlocked listing from different sellers, the first was G020E and the second was absolutely locked. This goes for the Q&A too. Even though they're all together under the same listing, it can be up in the air about what phone those people actually have.

Otherwise your plan seems good. Checking calls and texts may be unnecessary because it's Android and of course it would work. Essentially just as long as the phone accepts the SIM and there isn't any message about needing to unlock the carrier or something, you'll be good.

Hope all goes well

@neothethird Hi Neo, I got around to trying to flash the binaries today using 0.7.4 beta. I didn't get any instruction for downloading binaries, it just installed UT and finished.

@crab_aesthetics I was buying mine through Amazon too, so still double check. I know the listing itself says G020G Unlocked, but what any seller actually has can be up in the air. I bought twice on the same G020G Unlocked listing from different sellers, the first was G020E and the second was absolutely locked. This goes for the Q&A too. Even though they're all together under the same listing, it can be up in the air about what phone those people actually have.

Otherwise your plan seems good. Checking calls and texts may be unnecessary because it's Android and of course it would work. Essentially just as long as the phone accepts the SIM and there isn't any message about needing to unlock the carrier or something, you'll be good.

Hope all goes well

From someone with 3 bad attempts to buy the right Pixel, let me share 2 things to keep an eye on when your phone arrives (assuming you bought the phone listed as new. And if you already know this, then great!): Make sure it's a G020G model. G020E is the Verizon model. And double check that the bootloader can be OEM unlocked. My last attempt was a G020G model but the bootloader was locked. T-Mobile (who it was locked for) couldn't unlock it and told me to get a refund.

For swapping the SIM, it depends on the carrier, but generally you can just take your current SIM card and put it in a new phone and it'll just work. Double check on your carrier's website or searching US Cellular swap sim cards. I can say that swapping SIMs on Sprint does not work because for some stupid reason Sprint has 4 different kinds of SIM cards, and I don't mean sizes. And even still, Sprint ties the SIM to the IMEI and so it wouldn't swap even if it was compatible in both phones. T-Mobile on the other hand does allow swapping SIMs. I'm believe it's the same for AT&T.

(This part is solely my own speculation) I think you should swap your SIM card or activate a new one while the phone has Android just to be safe. You may want to also consider copying down the information in Android's APN settings. That will be helpful for any APN tinkering you may need, as evident from other posts here (APN settings are retrieved automatically from the SIM card, but may still need adjusting or duplicating in some way). I think you should have an active SIM card in the phone when you go to install UT. That's what I would do.

From what I understand, the 3a and 3a XL install the same way. The difference between the phones is the screen resolution. The port was developed on a 3a, therefore the UI is larger on the XL because of the scaling. This can apparently be changed with UT Tweak. Also the larger battery capacity is nice.

I don't have any first hand experience on the 3a XL.

Have you tried entering the information a second time when adding a new APN? I have found that when the info doesn't save, if I click on the new setting that was just made and enter the info again, it would be saved after that.

And not sure if this is a device specific issue or not, but what device are you on?

Unfortunately, this idea is simply not feasible.

First off, UBports is a small, community driven project. There are just not enough resources, developers or time, to devote to custom, potentially one-off, OS builds.

Never in a million years would companies be interested in anything like this. For a company like Chik Fil A or Panera, their utmost priority is functionality. They need a solution that just works, and they will pay vast amounts for the simplicity of it. No corporation wants to put their large budget towards tablets running an admittedly niche OS that is not immediately and intuitively easy for their [very casual tech user] employees to use, not to mention the lack of immediate software support.

Your post overestimates just what corporations actually need. They're not all using iPads because it's one of the very few tablets on the market, it's because an iPad is a perfect choice for their needs. Quite honestly, anything with Ubuntu Touch would not be presentable as a better alternative.

I'm not a developer, but I can offer to do testing when needed. I'm on T-Mobile. I'm curious to see if there could be any difference activating this phone on Android first and then installing UT (doubt it considering everything gets wiped, but this is science. I'm not sure if you all are sim-swapping or if the phone is actually tied to an account). I'll also need to be sure I have a viable backup phone to swap to so I can actually call and text.

I want this to work as much as all of you. I'm ready to daily drive UT in the US. I'll do everything I can to assist.

@dobey oops, there I go not reading again...

A phone running Kai OS might have a better chance running the deGoogled version of it called GerdaOS. Currently that OS is only official for the Nokia 8110 4G.

@standupmobile said in SMS and MMS Issues on Ting:

One thought might be to track down where these setting are stored and modify / create new ones from the terminal ... although not sure if that is possible.

The user Aircooled in the thread MMS issues shared that APN contents could be found in /var/lib/ofono/<id> /gprs. It may be better to continue discussion on this specific idea in the original thread, since there is more information there already.

Also for rebooting, are you doing a soft reboot or hard reboot? I haven't tried, but I would think that a full system power off would do what takes 3 reboots.

@mellowmatt I don't remember where I saw this, but apparently there is a difference with having one APN for "Internet and MMS" and separating those into 2 APNs. But it's a moot point if you can't edit or save them. shrug

Hello and welcome.

First and foremost, Ubuntu Touch is not going to be discontinued. Development is very active. In fact, the developers (and users too) just celebrated the release of OTA-16, and the next update OTA-17 is on the horizon about 2 to 3 months out.

As for the your question, the status thread you're referring to is up to date as of December 14, 2020. The thread is locked because around that time, device discussions were being organized into their own sub sections (where we are now). Everything that is written there should still be accurate, unless there was something fixed without being announced. Other issues you will notice from the Pixel 3a section are about problems with MMS and VoLTE (in the US). I'm pretty certain these particular issues are being worked on, but I don't know anything more. According to the UT Devices page, the progress of development on the 3a is at 85.5%, which is fairly significant.

Is it daily driver ready? Realistically, only you can be the judge of that. In my opinion, it's the best phone to get for the US specifically. However, I don't yet have one myself. I say this because this is the phone I'll be hoping to use shortly (the first vendor I bought from sent the wrong phone model -_- ). If you're in the US, I strongly recommend you read up on issues with MMS and VoLTE in Ubuntu Touch (not exclusive problems to this phone). As far as I'm aware, US carriers haven't dropped 3G calls yet, you only can't activate non-VoLTE phones. Also, not that I have tried this yet, but I suggest you activate the phone before installing UT. And copy down ALL of the APN settings that are set up before you do.

I'm sure some others will post here with much better information too.