Can the UBports recovery install custom Android ROMs?

@ikoz said in Is there a better browser somewhere?:

Install a browser in Waydroid:
Install Waydroid from the Waydroid helper app. Then inside the android container install fennec (Firefox) from F-Droid or a chromium APK. Just use the browser you just installed.
It is really straightforward to install.

Thank you, I will try! And also thank you for the context and background. I was puzzled when the Jade Browser also had the same font problems.

Much aloha!

@messayisto said in Is there a better browser somewhere?:

@rogue_ronin There is a new browser in development:
https://ubports.com/de/blog/ubports-blogs-nachrichten-1/post/ubuntu-touch-q-a-144-3931, but it`ll take a while..

Thank you! I will read up on it.

It's a really snappy and beautiful OS. Installed easily with the installer.

Browsers are a problem, as I've delineated a bit on another post in Support.

It would not update from r128 - I would click install and it would reboot to the recovery, but no update just a reboot option.

I had to wipe to factory, then it would update - now finally on r133. Fortunately I'd only installed a few apps and some minor configuration (dark mode, pinned apps, etc - nothing major.

Gonna give it a drive and see if the browsers, etc are better now.

Big thanks to the team, this is how a tablet OS should work.

EDIT: browser font is still weird - same in Jade Browser which I tried hoping it would work better but is probably based on the same source.

I've installed UBports to my Lenovo M10 HD and it is snappy and I absolutely love the configuration options - the columnated menu upper right is fantastic and the Tweak app is super too.

I bought this tablet to install UBports on and to use 5e.tools and dungeonmastersvault.com. Both of these are browser-based apps for D&D.

But the two available browsers (Morph and Sapot) are weak sauce, laggy, and there is a terrible misalignment with the fonts over popup dialogs for instance. The font is some old over-sized terminal font or something. Is there a fix for this? Page elements are also misaligned, making it hard to use the widgets.

UBP installed beautifully and, as I wrote, the system itself is snappy and superbly laid out, design-wise. It's not so good on the suspend/battery thing but it's alright. No terminal-font issues anywhere but in the browser (that I've noticed so far.) Love the store.

New to UBP, so I'm unfamiliar with how to run android apps and if they're slow or too alien to the system. Particularly a browser? Getting Chromium or UnGoogled Chromium would be fantastic.

Advice welcomed.

@MrT10001 Very good, I will await updates. Thanks for your guidance!

First impression of UT on the x306f is excellent. Gotta try out some browsers - is Firefox or IceWeasel available somewhere? Or, dare I hope, Ungoogled Chromium?

Been searching for an open-source tablet to use with my D&D game (5e.tools, DungeonMastersVault, etc).

@MrT10001 Thanks for the reply!

Been busy, just got back to this as the new tablet arrived yesterday - I used the installer for the x306f and it seems to have gone very well.

Does do this weird thing where I power it off and when I place it down it comes back on. I am absolutely not touching the edge of the screen - my hand is completely on the underside. I had double-tap to turn on enabled, but even with that disabled it still does it. Is there another setting somewhere?

Also, is there a reliable guide somewhere to try UT on the HD Plus?

If not, would a tablet donation contribute to adding it to the installer? I can't use it as-is with standard Android.

@kugiigi

I was trying to buy an M10 HD and accidentally bought this instead...

Gonna give this a try, hope it works.

Assuming I properly downgrade to Android 9, will the installer work or do I have to manually install?

@robthebold look at CalyxOS. I'm thinking it's a good two to four year bunker, if I buy a 5g version of the Pixel.

Limited choices, but excellent privacy. It's not Linux, yeah? But better than anything I've had in years.

Still waffling. Might do CalyxOS, and then get the Xperia for fun and experimentation.

@robthebold said in Thinking to buy an F8132, can it daily drive?:

@totalrando And when you say "optimized," it's optimized for the carrier to be more bandwidth efficient to save them money, at the expense of not being channel agnostic like plain ordinary VOIP (packet-switched voice) would be. So the phone's h/w and s/w has got to dive deeper in the ISO stack for benefit of the phone company, and to the detriment of smaller players like, well, every phone OS other than the Big 2.

That is undoubtedly true. We have to take these companies apart.

It might be a good time for everyone facing a 3G phase-out to consider a plan B, e.g. a VOIP service that provides a local phone number.

One thought is just to give up phone calls altogether and move to ip calling or whatever the term is. I really only talk to maybe 10 people, I can set up amazing peer-to-peer calls using vdo.ninja, or whatever I want to do that involves speech, including simple voice connections up to 256Kbps. Maybe something like Matrix?

@totalrando thanks for the superb explanation, really assuaged my confusion.

I'm super-tempted now. But I also just found CalyxOS, and that is a very good compromise, too.

My only worry is having to do this all again next year or something...

@totalrando Yeah? The marketing on this stuff is doing its usual job of confusing the uninitiated.

So calls and data already go over 4g? Then what is VoLTE for? Is it a frequency-band thing, where they're trying to move everyone to a particular one so they can re-use other bands?

I've read around this stuff over the years, but I only care about the details when it's time to get another one so I forget everything. And nowadays, corporate weasel-speak is the common tongue so it's very hard to parse.

@lakotaubp said in Thinking to buy an F8132, can it daily drive?:

@rogue_ronin I don't have this device or know that much about sims that work in the USA others however do and are using them. From what I have seen the X is a popular choice as a daily driver but you really need someone who use it for the full picture. Have a look through the other threads to do with the X and on the forum for more info especially on sims and providers that work in the US.

Thanks for the advice!

@totalrando said in Thinking to buy an F8132, can it daily drive?:

@rogue_ronin VoLTE is a form of device-enabled enhanced calling on certain 4G networks as an additional improvement over 3G. (To be clear, it's not 4G itself. 4G works, so calls in the US are still nice and clear.)

Texts work fine, but MMS (picture texts) have issues with some carriers.

So the current state of things is workable; I haven't used MMS for years, but maybe I will try with this device. Thank you!

@totalsonic said in Thinking to buy an F8132, can it daily drive?:

@rogue_ronin - lack of VoLTE support is acknowledged as a major hurdle that the core UT team wants to make a big priority in fixing - but it likely will involve a ton of work so there is no firm timeline as to when a fix will appear for it at this point. I am able to make calls on T-mobile via 2G no problem with UT running on my Volla Phone though, and apparently T-mobile will continue to support calling over 2G until around April 2022. So, fingers crossed for VoLTE support to get added before that point, but for now, you can make and receive calls on T-mobile network without VoLTE support.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

Okay, 2g for calls, 4g for data, 3g is the walking dead, right? and most of a year to hope for VoLTE. That's good context. Thanks!

@lakotaubp I may not understand what's going on, honestly.

If I were to move to this device, using ubports, what would happen over the next year in terms of functionality?

I may have overstated my need for VoLTE, but I was under the impression that I wouldn't be able to make calls at some point.

Cellular data is something I have avoided using for years, to mitigate tracking and data leaks, but it would be convenient if I could use it on a Linux device that I trust...

Aloha, and thanks for any advice.

PS: if there is a reasonably available dual-sim phone that ubports supports that works with T-mobile in the US, please point me to it.

Long-time Linux user. Been wanting to move to a Librem 5 for a couple of years, and have held onto my somewhat debloated, de-googled Xperia M dual-sim forever while waiting. I have to move to something with VoLTE soon, and I want to get away from Google. It doesn't look like the Librem 5 is gonna be ready in the next couple months, so I'll have to wait longer for it. But I have to switch phones soon, mine is becoming increasingly less functional.

I'm writing to ask if anyone with experience using an F8132 dual-sim Xperia X Performance can tell me if it can meet the following minimums?

1. Calls over VoLTE with both sim-slots via T-mobile in the US?
2. text messages, MMS as a bonus
3. WiFi, cellular data would be a bonus
   (it probably works if VoLTE works, yeah?)
4. camera takes photos, with flash. Torch would be a very nice bonus.
   (Video not required, but sure I'll take it)
5. a decent email client and a decent web browser
6. has Contacts and Calendar apps that can sync via webdav (Nextcloud)

I don't really use my phone for apps/games, nothing more serious than an occasional game of FreeCell. Mostly just communication, and I need to keep my work and personal numbers separate.

Other suggestions are welcome, I'm not really up on recent tech with phones.

Aloha!