Reinstalling the system seems to have fixed the issue for now.

Having taken everyone's comments and advice into account (thank you very much to everyone who has been helping me), and having ran a Mastodon poll (for the hell of it) I have just ordered myself a phone to run Ubuntu Touch on as a daily driver!

And the winning phone is drum roll................ the Volla Phone!

After being quite frustrated by the lack of much information in the 'User Guide' part of the UBports documentation (especially the 'Daily Use' portion) I am actually really glad to have found this post.

I'm glad to see that there is some serious thought going into improving it, as right now I feel like a robust user guide is exactly what I need as someone who still feels like they are wrestling with Ubuntu Touch rather than using it comfortably. I know that I also can't be the only one who feels this way.

If the UBports documentation can be improved in the way that has been suggested in this thread (as well as some other ways too), then I think this would solve a lot of issues that people are having. Looking across the forum I am seeing a lot of questions being asked that could in theory be solved by a good user manual. I think this would reduce headaches for both people who are getting used to the OS, as well as for those who frequent the forum to help people who are always having to answer questions that have already been asked, (I'm pretty sure I've asked questions that have already been answered before).

I'm not suggesting for a minute that we start telling people to RTFM, but I would really like a good manual to go and read when it comes to using Ubuntu Touch.

I hope that these suggestions and posts are in the works to be added to the current documentation.

This has been partially discussed in a previous topic: https://forums.ubports.com/topic/5804/ringing-volume-and-other-issues/2 However, I feel that the issue isn't properly resolved.

The volume buttons on the Volla seem completely ineffective. The volume bar on the screen goes up and down, but there is no change to the volume of the system (although since OTA 18 having the volume on 0% does mute the phone, so there's some improvement there).

In the aforementioned topic thread, uVolMan was brought up as a solution, and it works sometimes, but it is a very clunky solution which is a pain to have to adjust on the fly. It is incredibly frustrating to have to switch apps and unlock a slider in order to change the volume when there are volume buttons that the system can clearly recognise (hence why there is a visual acknowledgement of them on the screen but not an audible one).

In the short time I have had the phone this has been an issue when it was running OTA 16, 17 and 18, it doesn't seem to be being fixed.

Worse still, since installing OTA 18 the volume issue has started to affect calls too. It used to be the case where speaker phone was unusually quiet, but the standard call volume was okay. Now there is an issue where I cannot hear anything during a call, the person on the other end of the call can hear me, but I hear nothing. Even adjusting settings in uVolMan seem ineffective in this scenario.

Does anyone have any suggestions of how to properly fix this issue?

I've had to put my SIM in my old phone now as a phone without the ability to have a phone call is no phone at all....

@luksus Hey Luksus, I really respect and appreciate your honesty about the current port of the FP3+.

What are the current issues to do with mobile data? Is it similar to what people have been saying about the Volla Phone where some people aren't able to get a connection? Or is it something else?

The "fair" in Fairphone is important to me, and for a while they were the only phone company that I would consider buying a phone from new, for any other phone I now buy second hand. I can't get behind the idea of buying a phone that has been built by a slave in some hell hole concentration camp. Unfortunately, a lot of phone companies seem to choose to build their phones that way.

The thing that actually made me consider buying a Volla (which I would need to buy new) was the fact that they are made in Germany and not China, this way I can be pretty sure that they were manufactured under good (I hope) working conditions. So other than Volla and Fairphone, any other phone I would consider buying I would have to buy second hand to make sure that those companies don't get my money...... so that concludes my Ted talk on the subject.

@CiberSheep @Flohack You know I have thought about adding to it rather than just complaining lol

Once I get to grips with using the OS more (and have a more stable build of it on a future phone) I will almost certainly write up some of the pages I've been thinking of!

As for what I'm struggling with: updates. They seem to be a bit of a mystery, I see a lot of people (myself included) asking various questions about the update system but the only clear information I can find easily is to do with the OTA stable system, anything else doesn't seem as clear.

So a page on the guide dedicated to the different update systems, and a quick troubleshooting guide for typical problems related to it would go a long way.

@luksus That's a shame, the FP3+ looks like such a cool phone.

I'll be keeping an eye out for updates to it though as I would love to try out the phone when the Ubuntu Touch port for it is more ready.

@cibersheep Well I suppose this will need to be a one step at a time kind of thing. Once a half decent guide for one language is set up then surely it shouldn't be too much trouble for people to translate it later.

@scoobie Sorry for the late reply (busy). I've used it for around a month now and I'm mostly very happy with it.

It does have an issue with the volume rocker not actually changing the volume. Although since OTA18 it can now mute the audio lol.

Other than that, I'm happy with my choice

Reinstalling the system seems to have fixed the issue for now.

@domubpkm Re-flashed UT, unfortunately despite unchecking the 'wipe user data' box, it went ahead and wiped my data anyway.

However, the volume issue seems to be fixed. How strange, I wonder what had caused it in the first place. I am still considering giving Volla OS a go though, just to try both options (I'm not too much of a fan of Sailfish OS, so I doubt I'll be putting that on the phone lol).

@domubpkm I'll either be trying this or trying Volla OS when I have time to see if it's the phone or the OS. Thanks for the help

@domubpkm Sure, I've made a thread about it now where I go into more specifics:

https://forums.ubports.com/topic/6457/volume-unresponsive-on-volla-phone

@totalsonic Oh God I hope not. I might have to consider trying to flash VollaOS to the phone to see if it has the same issue. I'd rather not have to if it can be avoided though.

This has been partially discussed in a previous topic: https://forums.ubports.com/topic/5804/ringing-volume-and-other-issues/2 However, I feel that the issue isn't properly resolved.

The volume buttons on the Volla seem completely ineffective. The volume bar on the screen goes up and down, but there is no change to the volume of the system (although since OTA 18 having the volume on 0% does mute the phone, so there's some improvement there).

In the aforementioned topic thread, uVolMan was brought up as a solution, and it works sometimes, but it is a very clunky solution which is a pain to have to adjust on the fly. It is incredibly frustrating to have to switch apps and unlock a slider in order to change the volume when there are volume buttons that the system can clearly recognise (hence why there is a visual acknowledgement of them on the screen but not an audible one).

In the short time I have had the phone this has been an issue when it was running OTA 16, 17 and 18, it doesn't seem to be being fixed.

Worse still, since installing OTA 18 the volume issue has started to affect calls too. It used to be the case where speaker phone was unusually quiet, but the standard call volume was okay. Now there is an issue where I cannot hear anything during a call, the person on the other end of the call can hear me, but I hear nothing. Even adjusting settings in uVolMan seem ineffective in this scenario.

Does anyone have any suggestions of how to properly fix this issue?

I've had to put my SIM in my old phone now as a phone without the ability to have a phone call is no phone at all....

I'm having a similar(ish) issue.

My Volla Phone doesn't have TWRP (at least it doesn't look like the TWRP I'm used to). However, when I've done updates to OTA 17 and OTA 18 after both I am met with a recovery screen stating that the update has failed and that I should reboot and try again. However, when I do reboot the update says it has installed and in the about section it will say the correct OTA number.

I assume this is a minor glitch and that everything is probably installed correctly. Is this a known glitch? Is there a way of verifying that all of the OTA update has been installed?

@domubpkm That's a good question, I didn't think to test that when I wrote my last post.

It seems to not accept MMS messages, I've yet to send one (It's been so long since I've used an OS that actually supports MMS that I've gotten out of the habit of using it), but as it doesn't accept them I doubt it will send them either.

So, to clarify my point more. As of July 2021 the Volla Phone can:

• Send and receive phone calls
• Voice mail works
• Mobile data works (2G, 3G and 4G all tested)
• MMS doesn't work

On O2 in the UK.

@scoobie Sorry for the late reply (busy). I've used it for around a month now and I'm mostly very happy with it.

It does have an issue with the volume rocker not actually changing the volume. Although since OTA18 it can now mute the audio lol.

Other than that, I'm happy with my choice

After using the Volla Phone with Ubuntu Touch in Britain with O2 for almost two weeks now, I can say that it's going well. I haven't noticed any issues with the signal or coverage yet.

Hopefully this will help others who have wondered the same thing.