@peter-gamma

BTW, I wasn't succesful installing UB Touch with UBports Installer on my Mi A2. The installation was stuck on the point where you boot into the UB Touch Recovery and the UBports Installer should be copying the UB Touch image file to the phone. I waited 2 hours and nothing happened.
Maybe I should install it manually using TWRP like I saw it in a video.

@arubislander
With ROM some people mean the flash memory. Yes, it is not correct but it is shorter.

@peter-gamma

here are my pros and cons of the Mi A2 and the Pocophone.

Pros Mi A2:

• lays better in the hand because phone is slightly smaller
• display seems to be a little bit better than on the Pocophone
• supported by the UBports Installer
• 4GB or 6GB of RAM, 32GB/64GB/128GB of ROM
• easy to open, 2 screws close to the USB port, case is not glued
• replacement parts available on ebay
• got a used Mi A2 with 6GB of RAM and 128GB ROM that is in a pretty good shape for 85 Euro on Ebay. I was very lucky. Good used ones are available for around 100 Euro and upwards as of now.
• Unlock process more straight forward over fastboot and ADB. No regristration is necessary.

Cons Mi A2:

• no Micro SD card Slot
• no headphone jack, USB-C to headphone jack adapter comes with the phone
• Snapdragon 660 is ok

Pros Pocophone F1:

• Micro SD card slot(shared with second SIM slot), headphone jack
• Pocophone is still a fast phone with the Snapdragon 845
• 6GB or 8GB RAM, 64GB or 128GB or 256GB ROM
• easy to open, 2 screws close to the USB port, case is not glued
• replacement parts available on ebay
• very good support for alot of custom ROMs (crdroid was my favorite so far)

Cons Pocophone F1:

• display is not bad but the one on the Mi A2 seems to be slightly better
• Phone is a little bit bigger
• Unlock process is much more complicated because you need to use the Mi Unlock Tool to do it. For that you need a Mi account, a SIM-card and an email adress. In the past it worked best with an Gmail account. There were problems with other mail providers! When you 'apply' for the unlock you have to wait 3 days to actually unlock the phone.
• price for a used phone seems to be higher for a used pocophone. Once I was lucky I got one in a nearly perfect shape for 100 Euro. But prices for used pocophones vary between 120 and 200 Euro. The 8GB RAM / 256GB ROM version is much more seldom and also more expensive.

Hello,

so I went through the installion process on the UBports Installer until it says boot to recovery. The phone does boot to the Ubuntu Touch recovery but the UBports Installer can't find the device anymore.

What am I doing now?

BTW, it is the second time I'm landing at the same point.

OK, after rebooting I had to reinstall the ADB driver in Windows.
The UBports Installer now recognized the phone and started sending files to the device. But it takes very long, already over 30 minutes.

@peter-gamma
Although the support for the Redmi (Note) 7 seems better, the Pocophone F1 is a much better phone.
I just unlocked my Mi A2 and I'm still unsure whether I'm installing Ubuntu Touch or crdroid.
According to the UBports Installer I have to downgrade my phone first before I can install UB Touch.

One think I want to add is that the Pocophone supports micro SD-Cards while the Mi A2 does not.

Hi,

got myself a used Mi A2 and I was thinking about giving Ubuntu Touch a try. I had a Pocophone before that I rooted and where I also installed alot of different Custom ROMs. So I'm not a total newbie but what I'm unsure about is the possible loss of 'keys' when rooting an Android device.

Is there a way to secure everything before rooting an Android device to have a backup of system relevant stuff? I would like to be able to go back to the stock state that the phone came in!

Thanks in advance

@mito77

I just got my Mi A2. I would also suggest the Pocophone F1 which is supported by alot of Custom ROMs and according to a thread I found through googling the support of Ubuntu Touch is getting better.

These two devices are pretty well equipped and you can pretty easily replace the battery because the case is not glued together.