@mango
Wow !
Thank you for that effort !
I like your one-click-install idea ...
Now, to access Proton mail via Thunderbird, just need to install Proton Mail Bridge on host Linux PC, and configure phone to access that ?
or
compile Proton Mail Bridge for ARM ?

@idonthatevests
The N10 5G is 5G. The N100 is similar, but no 5G. Some people said they ordered N10 from somewhere, but got N100, so watch out for that. If in USA, search for BE2026. You might have trouble unlocking BE2028.

on Ebay, over 10 used N10's (some BE2026) have sold for under $100 in past 2 months. Some new-in-box BE2026 have recently sold for over $150.

@mango
I did find & install snap for Thunderbird a couple days ago. Installs, but not open (actually, a 'fuzzy box with a text bar at top appears, but nothing in fuzzy box). Then tried series of questions on Google AI 'reasoning model' via browser. It had a series of troubleshooting commands to type in to terminal. I did not follow through yet due to sharing the same display between UT phone and main PC doing the AI thread. Summary was AI estimate of required spending approximately 10 hours on configuration, IF using UT on a phone that had WIRED external monitor, USB Keyboard, mouse, etc. AI thought MANY more hours required if using a wireless external display.
I gave up on Thunderbird at that point.

Searched for snap for Linphone. found none.

Found snap for Signal. Installed. No account so it shows "failed to connect to server". So, it might work.

Firefox snap install process gave error: bad plugs or slots: kerberos-tickets (unknown interface "kerberos-tickets"). No icon installed on main screen.

Just installed Brave browser via snap. Installed with no errors, opens on wireless external display, and performs a web search, & display correctly. (5 second test. NOT comprehensive. but it opened & looked OK)

@rocket2nfinity
OK. Thank you for quick reply. I will find that Telegram group.

@rocket2nfinity
Thank you for a possible solution, but bummer on battery drain !
I need to research what effects of 24/7 charging would be on battery life.
Could do that while phone in home office, then Waydroid off for mobility / cell use.

@Yumi
installed UT 2 days ago on 1+ Nord N10 (BE2026). [Note VoLTE worked, but NOT WiFi calling].
UT mentions 'Desktop Convergence', so I tried to see if my phone could reproduce my Linux Mint LibreOffice 'desktop experience'.
Easy to connect to WIRELESS external display (limited to 1080P), as long as that display runs Miracast (my LG TV's do).
Then I connected Acasis multiport USB-C hub, with PD charging, a wired keyboard, wired mouse, Gigabit ethernet adapter and USB-A Flash drive.
I installed LibreOffice via snap. (direct, no libertine required).
I opened a spreadsheet that had been created on main PC.
not as quick as main PC, but workable.
Image on TV was a bit 'wavy', moving top to bottom, as it refreshed, or something. (maybe 2.4Ghz WiFi interference also)
A phone model with WIRED external display capability probably fixes the 'wavy'.
I did NOT exhaustively test this (meaning the usability for lengthy spreadsheet changes).
It was just to see if it would work.
If you have a specific thing to try, let me know. I might be able to give a quick test.

would like to make voice phone calls to landlines and other cell phones NOT running VOIP apps, in weak / no cell service area.
Suggestions ?

@mango
Divide into groups based on needs is a good idea. Assign a rank # to all you mentioned.
My version of list starts with:
Group 1: need voice calls - with VoLTE (required in some countries now, and many more in future). USABLE on 4 or 5 phones as of today ? Have not tried it enough to say 'mainstream ready' or not.
Group 1a: Voice calls over Wifi (Rural areas, etc). Hope you don't need it. NOT supported by UT.
Group 1b: VOIP to PSTN. Please tell me how to set this up (see 1a, above)

other groups ? Your list...

BTW: Libre office snap installs directly - no need for Libertine.
Use wireless external display direct to TV (IF TV supports Miracast. Many LG TV's do). Limit 1080P, even on a 4K TV, due to Wifi speeds, or something.
Wired external display would be nicer, but it seems NOT many older phones that UT currently runs on support it.
(if Oneplus 8 gets UT port, I think it supports wired ext display).
Wired keyboard & mouse through USB-C expansion adapter with PD charging (Acasis $10) operational.

@rocket2nfinity said

We have work a rounds for the things that are still in progress, it is daily drivable.

Is there a workaround for no WiFi calling ?
Openstore shows Telegram - says it can make calls, but it looks like only app-to-app -but not to PSTN.
I search using terms 'VOIP', and linphone shows up, but that says 'no longer available'.
Any suggestions ?

@ChromiumOS-Guy
Thank You. I might follow that up when I have a bit more time & energy.
I bought an easy-to-unlock BE2026 via Ebay, which arrived a couple days ago, and got UT installed.
I still have a BE2028 to try to unlock. Not worth a huge effort now, though.

@vverve
GREAT !
Hopefully, that will help others who might be trying to figure out which phone they could buy or upgrade, to be most usable in their respective countries.
It definitely was not clear to me when I started searching here 6 weeks ago !

Viability: hmmm, at the moment:
No voice calls (no VoLTE) on Pixel 3A (which WAS a primary supported phone for UT), on UT in USA (which is the third largest phone market by country, or 4th largest by region, after Europe).
[alternative: VOIP - NOT available in openstore for most recent version UT]

That is pretty NON-Viable, if you want a phone you can make calls on.

Is that the fault of the UT teams ? I would say NO, it is the fault of the much larger system cancelling 2G, 3G, (USA & Australia , etc, now, and changing worldwide, with plans in place over 10 years ago) and the fact that the drivers for the radio chips and most others are closed source or Android or whatever.
Who would be the ones to fix it ? UT dev teams, if at all.
Or, what about WiFi calling ? Not functional.
Is that the fault of UT devs, or other main stream code (from the larger base) being unavailable ?

OR some phone brands / models NOT supporting required radio bands in some countries. NOT Viable.

I think PC's are a better analogy than cars, since we are mostly talking software here, not hardware.

if using cars analogy, could mention how air bag manufacturers caused a huge recall problem for a variety of car manufacturers.

Q: So, where did UT come from ?
A: 1) a gigantic base of hardware and software: major players who recently CANCELLED (in some countries, and in process in others) the fundamental ability of UT to make phone calls, through changes to the larger hardware and software system.
A: 2) a few dedicated, volunteer developers who are doing their best to modify code for specific devices to overcome above obstacles.

For perspective, I just googled 'top 10 core linux facts".
It pointed out things such as top 500 fastest supercomputers in the world are based on Linux kernel, and over 90% of net infrastructure.

[When I tell people I want to run 'real' Linux on my phone, and they look at me blankly, I mention things like that, and the fact that android phones run modified linux kernel...]

Then I googled "top 10 Ubuntu Touch Mobile facts".
More good info. The more important - comparing to Android - might be 'No data mining'.

The point I am trying to make with my various comments is to build on / combine the original post, and Arubislander, and others comments.

Ubuntu Touch mobile would be a stronger healthier community IF there were a few clear graphical pages that new potential users could see, so they quickly understand just how gigantic the Linux base is, and how Android is a part of that and so is UT.

I think a related point to make is total installs (according to Google): Linux 10 billion (installed devices, all types), iOS 2.5 billion, Windows 1.4 billion monthly users.

Major problem as I see it, comparing PC & laptops to mobile devices is ease of install on almost ANY PC, (even 15 years old), versus somewhat more difficult install on mobile, and EXTREMELY limited number of USABLE mobile devices.

Most everyone who has been here a while knows this, but it takes a while for a newbie to figure it out.

@Moem said

Personally I'd much rather someone create an image themselves, using their own brain and skils.

Yes, if I had the knowledge, time, and skills.
The original post listed a large number of contributors for the base of the whole UT system.
I really had no idea it was so many, before seeing the list !
Add to that the parts done by UT Mobile core developers - THEY know all those parts, but who besides them ?
Then add the parts modified by the porters - I imagine they overlap with parts of the above - as relates to specific device hardware.

So, IF I had that giant list of details (hundreds, thousands ?), I could create a large spreadsheet, fill in all the cells with components, then shade them according to some map key.

Probably take hours or days, or more.

I tried Google just to see if it would / could come up with anything, to get an idea.
To see if the concept might be helpful to people.

@arubislander I think you make good points.
But I would not call the original post unhelpful.
After I read that original post, I realized that an image could make this much clearer to all.
I tried asking Google to create an image (a wall of bricks) representing major components of Ubuntu Touch.
I asked that it show the parts created by UT developers in a different color from the rest.

The response was 3 different style groups of prompts for some listed AI systems, which could generate an image.

I have never tried to give prompts to these type AI systems, so maybe someone here could do that, and post image results.

after reading arubislander's post, I think it would be good to show that AI 'brick wall' so that all UT components that come from other sources unmodified are shaded green.
Then anything that UT developers have to modify, or create from scratch, is shown in yellow or red, or something, to show the degree of effort and or the 'criticality' of the effort.
In other words, the parts, without which, there would be NO UT on portable devices, would be in RED. (and maybe the unmodified stuff could be light yellow, instead of green, so the RED would really contrast).

ALSO, it might be good for the work of core developers to be a different, deeper shade than device porters.

It just occurred to me that an image of a tree would probably make more sense than wall or pyramid of bricks.

Anyone know how to create this, or have a better idea for a graphical representation ?

@ChromiumOS-Guy said

@oldbutndy not really it would help a lot yes but you can use standard reverse engneering software to check it, also engneering roms have unlocked bootloader so you just compare that to the oldest release if an engneering rom exists.

I actually spent more time looking into this yesterday. I did sequential question search using google AI, and asked about finding a bit to change, etc. The answers sounded reasonable (AI is sometimes very good at that, so I am not sure if all were true ...) For one thing, it said the setting was in special partition. It might have said encrypted. And that the special protection firmware in the T-Mobile models check any changes to that partition. I saved the interaction to a file, but have not edited it for clarity yet.
But it was convincing enough to completely give up on BE2028, and the Metro model (# ?).

Hi, I check devices page weekly (for about 5 weeks), and noticed that Nord N10 5G shows VoLTE as being NOT functional.
But I have also read and received messages from users in USA who say VoLTE IS functional.
Is there a specific level of quality or reliability or need to be tested & confirmed by more users, before the devices page is updated to show it as functional ?

idonthatevests said in OnePlus just informed me they will NOT unlock bootloader for a device on bought on Ebay.:

@oldbutndy > Some N10 models can be unlocked without requesting a vendor key.

MODEL BE2026 - factory non carrier locked model for USA

UPDATE: as of 2026 Jan 27, there is a seller on ebay offering MANY factory sealed New-In-Box BE2026.
Seller has tested a few units, by charging, and batteries seem OK. (100% charged). Replied quickly and thoroughly to my questions so far. GOOD !
My hesitations: brand new seller (0 feedback as of this morning), no returns, & 2x average price of 10 recent used BE2026 sold over past 45 days on ebay (usually under $100, unless already converted to UT).
One more hesitation: IF 1+ 8 Pro gets UT port, it would be better for my needs than N10 (faster CPU & wired ext display, etc), so I would rather buy used 8 Pro than new N10, if similar price.

@ChromiumOS-Guy said

@oldbutndy ...
this is the only thing i can think of short of cracking the phone open and starting to dump chip data, or if you can dump NAND dump from there and try to manually patch firmware directly. (after all theres a boolean somewhere for bootloader unlocked y/n)

If I had an unlocked BE2026, I could try NAND dump, then change to locked & dump again, then compare the 2 files, & look for single changed bit ?
Otherwise, how would I know which bit to change on a BE2028 ?

@rocket2nfinity said

@oldbutndy The one from the Devices page, or the manual instructions from his page

https://onepluscommunityserver.com/list/Unbrick_Tools/OnePlus_Nord_N10_5G/Global_BE86AA/Q/OnePlus_Nord_N10_5G_Global_OxygenOS_10.5.7.zip

Yes, that is the one I had found & merged the OEM T-Mobile BE2028 info into, then renamed it from global to the T-mobile name, and installed it (No more T-mobile logo at boot) & booted OK, but still boot loader locked, and requesting token.