@AppLee
Hello all. I'm new here and love all the work you all are doing on Ubuntu Touch. In the United States, the Google Pixel 3a is cheap and readily available. Some of the other phones I've been looking at to run Ubuntu Touch are quite expensive to get in the United States, especially the Fairphone 5. I'd imagine the prices of any phone requiring imports could continue to increase.

Currently, I have been testing with the Google Pixel 3a. Alfred's work on this has been amazing. I'm sure all users of this device will agree! The only thing preventing me from using it as a daily driver is the lack of VoLTE. I'm able to get data over 4G, but I can't get phone calls. Phone calls only occur on 2G. On 4G mode, I can call out, but people can't call in. On 2G mode, I can call out and people can call in. For data priority, I have to switch it to 4G mode. For phone call priority, I have to switch it to 2G mode. 2G is important because I can only receive calls in this mode. The 2G/3G/4G mode won't swap the call down to 2G for me to receive it. I doubt swapping down to 2G is possible, but I could be wrong.

I may need to be pointed in the right direction on how to test. I'm not sure where the project left off and who all may be interested in continuing the development further. However, I want to show my appreciation for all the work done so far and see if this could potentially be taken further by a small group. I know Alfred is incredibly busy and can't dedicate as much time for it. However, for people in the US, the Google Pixel 3a presents a low bar of entry and great accessibility into the world of Ubuntu Touch for those who may want to try it out, learn more, etc.

If any notes can be left and a maybe a direction of where to go with incorporating VoLTE, that would be helpful! I don't know how I can help other than potential testing. I don't know anything about scripting for VoLTE, etc. However, maybe with some notes and research, a group can gather to learn more and help out!

In the worst case scenario that VoLTE won't come to the Google Pixel 3a, another phone recommendation may be needed for users in the US. If there is a phone recommendation that can run VoLTE, 5G, MMS, and Ubuntu Touch 24.04 that is in US, please let me know. I'd like to continue trying to see if I can make Ubuntu Touch a daily driver for me. Again, thanks for all you do!

@AetheralMeowstic

We have confirmed VoLTE is possible with Ubuntu Touch for the Google Pixel 3a. The VoLTE patch is included in this port. We just need to finish this port to get everything up an running. Currently, we need to get the device info file built.

The Ubuntu Touch community does see the need to get VoLTE up and running for those in the US and elsewhere. A number of phones are already running VoLTE. However, a number of these may be hard to get in the US or expensive. For example, the Fairphone 5 can run VoLTE in the US. Trying to find one in the US may be difficult or expensive. That is part of the reason why we are trying to get this port up and running. This could also help our European friends and others if their carrier has not dropped the Google Pixel 3a or does not include VoLTE Roaming.

Unfortunately, the original developer's carrier dropped the Google Pixel 3a, and this is the main reason why this port is unfinished. We already have confirmed that some carriers in the US still support the Google Pixel 3a and VoLTE Roaming. Therefore, we can continue this project for the original developer. We are always looking for people to help test and contribute!

@wally

Thanks! Yes, that is the main reason why I created this post. I wanted to assist anyone in the United States who may be interested in Ubuntu Touch as a potential daily driver and wanted to test VoLTE capability.

There's some great information in your post. I've been searching for some phones in case we can't get VoLTE working on it, it gets dropped by the carrier, etc. I'd definitely like a workable backup, but finding one that I know has official support has been a bit difficult.

I will keep looking and see what I can find out. If I come across anything, I will post here too!

I got a runner and tried to run it, but the build failed. I may need some assistance with Gitlab as I haven't used it before. I'm more used to building on a local machine. It will take me a while to read up on it, and I don't want to slow anyone down.

Here are the changes I made to deviceinfo if someone wants to fork and try it on their own:

deviceinfo_kernel_cmdline="console=ttyMSM0,115200n8 androidboot.console=ttyMSM0 printk.devkmsg=on msm_rtb.filter=0x237 ehci-hcd.park=3 service_locator.enable=1 firmware_class.path=/vendor/firmware cgroup.memory=nokmem lpm_levels.sleep_disabled=1 loop.max_part=7 androidboot.boot_devices=soc/7c4000.sdhci androidboot.super_partition=system buildvariant=user"

deviceinfo_bootimg_header_version="2"
deviceinfo_bootimg_os_version="12.0.0"
deviceinfo_bootimg_os_patch_level="2022-05"

This was taken from sargo-sp2a.220505.008-factory-071e368a which is the September 2022 build -
12.1.0 (SP2A.220505.008, Sep 2022).

@mr_growl

I completely understand. It has been hectic this way too. I hope I can get some more time to look at this soon! I hope what I sent can be of some use.

@mr_growl

Sounds like a good idea! Keep us posted how the build goes and if you need anything! I did find this online during my research. Would this help?

https://github.com/propgsp/Android-Tools

@JayH

Yes, that is where I am stuck. I need to know what exactly is missing to complete the build. It's my first port, and I'm new to this. The port does reference other code via clone statements, so I have to look at that too. There are no comments that I am finding that tells me what does what. It will take me a while to figure out what each thing does and what goes where and when. I'm comparing other ports and reading some documentation, but it will be slow going on my own unfortunately.

I added Sudo to the Apt statements in .gitlab-ci.yml. I also added systempart=/dev/mapper/system to the deviceinfo file.

For this part,
https://lucaweiss.eu/post/2023-03-30-retrofit-dynamic-partition/

I'm trying to figure out where to add this on github. The code on github is referencing a number of other githubs by "clone." I'm trying to untangle it to get a since of what happens when and where. I want to make sure I'm not missing anything.

@Eric-H

Thanks! This is a great post! Very helpful!

@Eric-H

Thanks! I was looking at that one when I was messing with the runner. Good to know we are on the right track with thinking something was going on with that part!

@Eric-H

Thanks for the info! Just to verify, should work for a retro-fitted partition too, right? I'll check this out in the file and see if I can find anything else that may need to be added.

@mr_growl

That's what I'm thinking too. When I looked at it again today, it looked like permission was denied because it wasn't running as sudo. I was using the runner on my local machine. I noticed it didn't prompt me for my password which was interesting. So, yes, we probably need to add sudo to the file.

I got a runner and tried to run it, but the build failed. I may need some assistance with Gitlab as I haven't used it before. I'm more used to building on a local machine. It will take me a while to read up on it, and I don't want to slow anyone down.

Here are the changes I made to deviceinfo if someone wants to fork and try it on their own:

deviceinfo_kernel_cmdline="console=ttyMSM0,115200n8 androidboot.console=ttyMSM0 printk.devkmsg=on msm_rtb.filter=0x237 ehci-hcd.park=3 service_locator.enable=1 firmware_class.path=/vendor/firmware cgroup.memory=nokmem lpm_levels.sleep_disabled=1 loop.max_part=7 androidboot.boot_devices=soc/7c4000.sdhci androidboot.super_partition=system buildvariant=user"

deviceinfo_bootimg_header_version="2"
deviceinfo_bootimg_os_version="12.0.0"
deviceinfo_bootimg_os_patch_level="2022-05"

This was taken from sargo-sp2a.220505.008-factory-071e368a which is the September 2022 build -
12.1.0 (SP2A.220505.008, Sep 2022).

It looks like the pipeline is stuck. I'm getting this on GitLab:

"This job is stuck because of one of the following problems. There are no active runners online, no runners for the protected branch , or no runners that match all of the job's tags: ubports
Go to project CI settings"