Hello all!

Few years ago (in 2015 probably) I bought Meizu MX4 with Canonical's Ubuntu software and I was pretty happy how the software was working on it - with a hope for a real Convergence. Unfortunately, I broke my phone after year of usage, also Canonical dropped the Ubuntu for Phones project - so I used Android & IOS till yesterday.

For a now, because I remembered that there is something like Ubuntu Touch, I decided to go back and see what changed for last 6-7 years. I bought Pixel 3A, downgraded Android to 9.0 and after that, installed UT - It was a very nice and pleasant experience - I installed it without any problems and run the UT on my phone.
Then I started to look around to see what had changed in terms of the interface - luckily almost nothing! I found that using this OS is still very convenient.
After that, I decided to set up my phone as primary (and configure must-have features in my opinion) - and then, problems starts:

• There is no out-of-box mail app that could work with Gmail with push notification;
• Importing Google Contacts also not working.

So these two are a regression in comparison to few years ago usage while I had MX4.

• Lack of native open-source Firefox (used in most linux distros) (fragmentation of software continues....) - in my opinion, the resources should be utilized to port Firefox on UT instead of creating new Web-browser.
• Plenty of apps in Store are out-dated or not working properly anymore (or are only simply web bookmarks)
• Support for Android apps still require a lot of work (e.g. GPS is not working).

Above list is based on my personal needs and unfortunately, excepts open source and privacy aspects of using UT, I don't see any advantages for myself from using this phone

Do this phone has really some Convergence features? I'm not sure - to achieve it, we need to get most famous apps to be working (like Libreoffice or Firefox) with this.

From my perspective, it looks like it's a system where bugs are patched and pre-existing options are keeping alive; I haven't noticed any significant options added in the last 7 years in UT. And in addition, the App Store has fewer and fewer valuable apps.

Many years ago, while using MX4, I took an active part in the development of this system (mainly by reporting bugs and doing translations to my native language) - I would also like to change something now to make UT better, but I am not able (I don't know how to code).

I wrote this post to pass to you all my thoughts and observations from a user's perspective. I've been using linux on a desktop computer for 20 years, but unfortunately on phones we didn't make any spectacular success. This OS isn't for me (as for now).

The world has changed a lot over the last few years, the way we use our smartphones has also changed - and UT probably hasn't kept up with it

@domubpkm Thanks for your message And just curious, what Focal version will change? (I know that is a new base for the whole OS, but from the new features / usage of UT?).
Is there any features lists available?

@kugiigi Thanks for the information. I don't have any own domain to sign it with Let's Encrypt.
I would say it's not a Nextcloud account limitation, because on other devices (PC, android, iphone) I can access my acc.

Hello!
I have private Nextcloud server with public IP (so I'm syncing all my devices via IP address).
I don't know why, but when I try to add Nextcloud acc on UT, I get 'Invalid host URL' error on the screen almost immediately.
My setup:

URL:
https://my-ip-address/nextcloud

On the other hand, when I use

URL:
http://my-ip-address/nextcloud

The system seems to trying to connect....and after some time, getting the same error. It's caused probably by my block of http port (for security reasons I forbidden 80 port, allowed only https with self signed SSL).

@arubislander You're right, I didn't think in that way... So maybe, we should try to convince some established provider to prepare 'special' offer for UT users and share some part of revenue with Uports Foundation. So it'll take major part of risk related, but on the other hand, get some additional clients and profit.
I'll try to handle with this topic (but I don't have any experience and connections in this area); I suppose, I should start with some questionnaire in our community to get some predictions, how much people would be interested in such service. Do you guys know there I should start? This forum or some other places (e.g. telegram?)?
Secondly, I'll try to get connections with some major opensource cloud providers. Or maybe, someone already know some people in this business?

@arubislander
Thanks for your comments.
I have an idea (that could also maybe support UT developers). Maybe there is a possibility to set-up some paid service related to could service? What I mean that UBports Foundation could be a service provider for nextcloud/owncloud? I'd love to subscribe and pay monthly fee for some place in the could? Margin archived on such service could be utilized to support UT development?
Of course, before starting such project, we should estimate how much people could probably buy such service from UBports Foundation and whether it will be economically viable.

@moem said in Move from Telegram to Signal?:

I think this idea will not really go anywhere as long as the native Signal-compatible app Axolotl is in a less than usable state. The trouble with Signal is that it's not fully open source either, so the small, small team of Axolotl devs* have to painstakingly reverse-engineer after every change in the official Signal app.

The people behind Telegram, however, are much more willing to work with our devs and that is why the native Telegram app works well.

(* who are doing the best they can, and it's appreciated!)

Thanks for explanation... I thought that Signal is 'fully' open source in contrary to Telegram...

Hi all!
Did you consider to move Telegram UT Group to the Signal service?
Considering notable criticism by cryptography experts, but what is more important, lack of full open source support (backend), maybe we should switch to more transparent Signal communication app?

@kristatos Just because I would like to have ANY working cloud backup of my data (photos, files, contacts).
The ideal solution would be that Ubuntu Community will set-up their own paid cloud (aka Ubuntu One) that could sync data.

@domubpkm Thanks for your message And just curious, what Focal version will change? (I know that is a new base for the whole OS, but from the new features / usage of UT?).
Is there any features lists available?

@ian @CiberSheep Guys, don't understand me wrong - I'm not arguing that there is a bad job done around UT, I just shared my personal thoughts after several years of gap in using UT.

I adore this project, but I wanted to show that there are some things that should already (after those years...) work without workarounds that could affects safety of our data (e.g. Gmail or Contacts sync).

We have very limited coding resources so we should maybe start discussion where we should put effort to attract more developers?

In my opinion, there should be put more effort over:

1. Waydroid (to replace lack of native apps (only the most needed/used, like bank apps, Google Maps, food delivery (Uber Eats or similar), Spotify or Netflix and other media streaming services) for now.
2. Firefox - as mentioned before, in my opinion (from the user perspective) it could be better way to port it (maybe from Firefox android app?), instead of maintaining additional app. I'm aware of that, from the developer perspective, it is a completely different matter.
3. Working sync for most popular services like Google or iCloud (contacts, calendar, mail, photos and file sharing/drive) - most of people would like to have additional backup in these, and on the top of that, have an opportunity to migrate data easily and sync between devices.

@cibersheep said in Few thoughts regarding coming back after several years:

But I would say it is not fair going away, come back and expect someone else did the work you request.

I'm familiar with open source movement and volunteering (also in 'real' life) - I'm the last person that could demand anything - because, among others, I understand the idea that stands behind all of that. I'm only showing my observations, perspective and presenting my opinion over these topics - not to complaint, but to make UT better and more attractive for users.

Hello all!

Few years ago (in 2015 probably) I bought Meizu MX4 with Canonical's Ubuntu software and I was pretty happy how the software was working on it - with a hope for a real Convergence. Unfortunately, I broke my phone after year of usage, also Canonical dropped the Ubuntu for Phones project - so I used Android & IOS till yesterday.

For a now, because I remembered that there is something like Ubuntu Touch, I decided to go back and see what changed for last 6-7 years. I bought Pixel 3A, downgraded Android to 9.0 and after that, installed UT - It was a very nice and pleasant experience - I installed it without any problems and run the UT on my phone.
Then I started to look around to see what had changed in terms of the interface - luckily almost nothing! I found that using this OS is still very convenient.
After that, I decided to set up my phone as primary (and configure must-have features in my opinion) - and then, problems starts:

• There is no out-of-box mail app that could work with Gmail with push notification;
• Importing Google Contacts also not working.

So these two are a regression in comparison to few years ago usage while I had MX4.

• Lack of native open-source Firefox (used in most linux distros) (fragmentation of software continues....) - in my opinion, the resources should be utilized to port Firefox on UT instead of creating new Web-browser.
• Plenty of apps in Store are out-dated or not working properly anymore (or are only simply web bookmarks)
• Support for Android apps still require a lot of work (e.g. GPS is not working).

Above list is based on my personal needs and unfortunately, excepts open source and privacy aspects of using UT, I don't see any advantages for myself from using this phone

Do this phone has really some Convergence features? I'm not sure - to achieve it, we need to get most famous apps to be working (like Libreoffice or Firefox) with this.

From my perspective, it looks like it's a system where bugs are patched and pre-existing options are keeping alive; I haven't noticed any significant options added in the last 7 years in UT. And in addition, the App Store has fewer and fewer valuable apps.

Many years ago, while using MX4, I took an active part in the development of this system (mainly by reporting bugs and doing translations to my native language) - I would also like to change something now to make UT better, but I am not able (I don't know how to code).

I wrote this post to pass to you all my thoughts and observations from a user's perspective. I've been using linux on a desktop computer for 20 years, but unfortunately on phones we didn't make any spectacular success. This OS isn't for me (as for now).

The world has changed a lot over the last few years, the way we use our smartphones has also changed - and UT probably hasn't kept up with it