Feature request - it would be nice to have this to reduce the strain on my eyes at night

Would it be possible to incorporate a Swype style keyboard action or hand writing recognition into Ubuntu Touch?

@Mic_ Also check out Lune OS. It is the direct descendant of Palm which was a wonderfully simple interface

@Mic_ I'm pretty sure I read the plan is to bring scopes back as an option later on, not mandatory as it was. So, just give it time. Personally, I like the new way - especially the swipe right and all the apps just roll out. It won't appear so empty when the desktop becomes usable.

I find the lock screen circles extraneous myself. Never quite understood the design purpose of all the little circles that pop up when you click, click, click the big circle

@jjconstr That is a common trick that may or may not be worth it to recondition old batteries that have been sitting on a shelf (or in a device) for a long time. The problem with that though is that the chemicals degrade and dendrites form as the batteries age. That drain, charge, drain can help to coax a battery back to life, but how long it lasts after that is highly variable.

It's always best to get as new a battery as possible.

@Lakotaubp I did the Nexus 5X battery mod and that worked really well - until the wife dropped the phone and broke the screen. I didn't want to have to go through all that effort again to modify a new screen. And I've tried many OEM and Chinese after market batteries to find them disappointing and short lived.

But I've been very happy with the Polar Cell one.

@jjconstr The Nexus 5 is a great phone, soon to be better with a halium upgrade. The main complaint about it is finding a good replacement battery. I've tried a couple and found the best battery is from a German company - PolarCell Battery for LG Google Nexus 5 D821 D820 BL-T9 EAC62078701 2450mAh. It is available on eBay if you are not in the EU.

It's a good quality after market - which means new, not old stock sitting on a shelf for half a decade, nor is it a cheap knock off rebranded. I've had it for a year now and still holds a full charge just like it used to when I bought the phone from Google.

@jjconstr If you don't know a lot about technology, very important. Otherwise, you'll not know what to do when something does not work right. With the unsupported devices, you are the mechanic.

With the supported devices, you only have to wait for a fix and maybe file a bug report. So, it's an easier way to get your feet wet and start learning what you can and want to do with your devices and how far you want to go down the rabbits hole.

@jjconstr Nexus 5X does not have a working Halium port yet. Not sure if it ever will. Nexus 5 works well. You' might be better off getting a Nexus 6P. It Mostly works except cameras and call audio at the moment. UbPorts god of programming is working on that. Otherwise it works really well.

Or try another device. Here's the list of currently working ports other than the officially supported devices:

https://devices.ubuntu-touch.io/

Maybe a possibility? Written in QT for sailfish. Supposedly as good as swype.

youtube.com/watch?v=_HHNboAGOck

openrepos.net/content/eber42/okboard

source code on git. Link in the above post

@poVoq Then you may have a component failing either in the battery or phone. Does it do the same with another battery installed?

@poVoq Had that happen twice. The second time, I noticed the phone had hung in the shut down process - black screen, but still power to the screen (the LED at the edge was still lit). I manually powered off by holding the power button for 10 seconds or so.

Was waiting to see if it was just a random error before trying to figure out what's going on and file a bug report. The fact it happened to a Pinephone tells me it's not a problem specific to the N5. Now I'm wondering how often it's happening to others.

@jjconstr Forgot to mention - when looking for battery replacements, always compare to the original battery specs. A lot of knock-offs will either have incorrect current ratings, or lack the proper thermal sensor circuitry. Those batteries will error out on your phone, or under/over charge leading to problems. Others, just white out an old date and put in a new one. Stay clear of those.

So read the advertiser's specs, and ask the seller if you don't see where it says it is an electrical match and the manufacture date. The PolarCell one specifically mentions the thermal sensor and describes how they match the OEM battery with their design. A reputable battery seller will address any discrepancies between their and the OEM battery. PolarCell does for instance explain why their battery has more current capacity than the OEM.

And read the buyer comments! You can often flag a bad battery just from the comments of previous buyers.

@jjconstr And occasionally, even new batteries can have a defect out of the gate. Chances are, it was just defective.

@jjconstr The batteries all have manufacture dates on them. Newer is better.

But even a new battery will need to be cycle charged like that if it's been on the shelf in a warehouse for a year or more. It's getting less and less of a problem with each new generation of battery, and you generally don't have to worry about dendrites in a new battery. So less chemical settling or fires these days. But lithium ion batteries still have a settling/dendrite problem. At least they don't have a memory like the NiCads did.

@jjconstr That is a common trick that may or may not be worth it to recondition old batteries that have been sitting on a shelf (or in a device) for a long time. The problem with that though is that the chemicals degrade and dendrites form as the batteries age. That drain, charge, drain can help to coax a battery back to life, but how long it lasts after that is highly variable.

It's always best to get as new a battery as possible.

@jjconstr

https://www.ebay.com/c/1239828136

Other sellers have it at different prices. But that's about right when international shipping and tax is included.

@Lakotaubp I did the Nexus 5X battery mod and that worked really well - until the wife dropped the phone and broke the screen. I didn't want to have to go through all that effort again to modify a new screen. And I've tried many OEM and Chinese after market batteries to find them disappointing and short lived.

But I've been very happy with the Polar Cell one.

@jjconstr The Nexus 5 is a great phone, soon to be better with a halium upgrade. The main complaint about it is finding a good replacement battery. I've tried a couple and found the best battery is from a German company - PolarCell Battery for LG Google Nexus 5 D821 D820 BL-T9 EAC62078701 2450mAh. It is available on eBay if you are not in the EU.

It's a good quality after market - which means new, not old stock sitting on a shelf for half a decade, nor is it a cheap knock off rebranded. I've had it for a year now and still holds a full charge just like it used to when I bought the phone from Google.

@jjconstr You also probably only want to go with one of the devices that runs the installer, unless you know your way around the command line.