Hi

I'm trying to ditch Google/Android, and have been testing-out both Ubuntu Touch 24.04 (on a Poco X3 NFC) & Sailfish OS (on an Xperia 10 III). What UT has implemented is really impressive for a non-commercial community effort, but most of the problems below are issues that Sailfish OS doesn't have (and hence I'm strongly leaning towards that, despite really favouring UT as an Ubuntu geek & finding the battery life of Sailfish OS to be unreliable).

Priority 1: Core System Stuff

Priority 2: Basic Phone Features

• Waydroid cannot be installed, as it ALWAYS fails to download Android images (at least on my Poco X3 NFC), both from the Terminal & using Waydroid Helper. If I Ctrl-C the Terminal, I see that Python has been stuck on connect(), i.e. the download never even starts. The only way I can get it to install is manually download the needed images to the right place & then run "waydroid init -f". No idea why, as Android apps can access the network just fine, and sourceforge.net doesn't block me from accessing it (but maybe it blocks Python's default user agent?).

Priority 3: Daily Use

• Waydroid randomly glitches or stops working every few days (a real problem if I'm not notified of new messages or events), and using Waydroid Helper to stop & restart it rarely fixes it - the only way is to reboot the whole phone, which is not practical for something I must rely on a daily basis.
  If stopping & restarting Waydroid would fix it, then having a script to restart Waydroid every night at 4am would probably make Waydroid reliable enough to use. Unfortunately I can't currently use UT without many Android apps.
• Waydroid does not have access to GPS, which means I can't use highly polished & reliable Android satnav & related apps. I view them as essential & not something I could live without.

Priority 4: Polish

• I'd like the phone to not lock as soon as I turn the screen off, but to wait for my "Lock when idle" timeout (like Android). It's very cumbersome that I have to enter a PIN (let alone a password!) every time I briefly stop using my phone (and turn off the screen to avoid distractions, for privacy & to save power).
• The status bar at top of screen is obscured by camera cut-out & screen's rounded edges, e.g. I cannot see the full time. (I believe someone is already working on fixing this?)
• The inability to re-order the app grid feels like a major limitation you'd only get on a toy OS (sorry!). Pinning apps to the sidebar isn't sufficient, as I have more than 15 commonly used apps. If manual reordering isn't easy to add, then what about having custom 'folders' that you can move apps into? (Would allow me to hide apps I rarely need, as well as grouping apps I am most interested in or that have similar purposes.)
• '3D' task switching feels somehow back-to-front & clumsy. On Android the most recently-used app appears at the front & close the right side (where my hand is), where-as on Ubuntu Touch it appears at the back (behind all the other apps), and on the left side (furthest from my right hand). I'm not sure if I will ever get used to this! A setting to swap the order would be great; at least have the most recent app on the right side, but preferably also in front of the other apps.
• Add an option for the 'app grid' to appear as soon as you drag from the left to show the 'task bar'. The two-step process of revealing the task bar & only then being able to tap the 'start button' makes switching to a new app feel much slower & clumsier than on Android (where I can just tap the Home button to see everything).
• Controlling the Terminal seems very difficult (compared to say Termux on Android).
  • Scrolling up/down through the command output is very difficult to initiate reliably, and usually scrolls through my command history before I've even activated the hidden scrollbars (which IMHO should either be wider & permanently visible, or else I should be able to stop dragging from scrolling the cmd history at all). In Termux I can just drag to scroll the display & it's wonderful. Maybe scrolling through the command history should be done by dragging left/right instead? (Although that might still be too easy to trigger accidentally.)
  • Common controls are spread through different Scr/Fn/Ctrl sections (clumsy & slow to switch between), rather than just having one section that contains Arrows (U/D/L/R), Tab, Esc, Ctrl+C (maybe followed by Page Up/Down, Home/End, Del).
  • Selecting text to copy/paste is inaccurate & a bit slow. I have to press the screen for far too long before the menu options (not customisable). I can get the menu immediately by tapping the top-right icon, but after I click on Select, why is there no icon in the top-right to cancel selection mode? (Going all the way to the bottom of the screen feels harder than going to the top right.) Accurately selecting characters is almost impossible as my finger hides what I am selecting (unlike Termux which has selection handles I can drag).

Priority 5: Nice to Have

• Morph Browser & Waydroid not supporting USB or NFC access to "physical passkeys" aka FIDO2 devices (e.g. Yubico security keys) will likely become a show-stopper for me in the future, as my most important accounts (e.g. ProtonMail) will become ONLY accessible using a FIDO2 key. This may seem niche to you now, but they are rapidly gaining in popularity, and anyone really worried about their online security will be using them.
• Android apps all appear on one Waydroid 'virtual phone' rather than with native apps in the main task switcher. (I believe there are plans to eventually fix this, but it's waiting on QT to accept a pull request or something??)
• Ubuntu Touch's display only appears to be 30fps, at least on a Poco X3 (where-as Sailfish OS looks like 60fps). Doesn't really bother me, but a friend would find Ubuntu Touch unusable.
• Lack of easy access to Waydroid files (and Waydroid not having easy access to any UT files) is kind of a big issue. I've created a SystemD service to auto-mount the Waydroid folder on UT side, but most people won't be able to do that.
• Unlocking UT using the fingerprint sensor doesn't seem to be supported? At least not on my Xiaomi Poco X3, even though devices.ubuntu-touch.io lists it as working.

Thanks for listening, and sorry my list is so long! Despite all the above, UT feels like it is pretty close to being a usable phone for many people (e.g. with VoLTE now working).

Hi

I'm trying to ditch Google/Android, and have been testing-out both Ubuntu Touch 24.04 (on a Poco X3 NFC) & Sailfish OS (on an Xperia 10 III). What UT has implemented is really impressive for a non-commercial community effort, but most of the problems below are issues that Sailfish OS doesn't have (and hence I'm strongly leaning towards that, despite really favouring UT as an Ubuntu geek & finding the battery life of Sailfish OS to be unreliable).

Priority 1: Core System Stuff

Priority 2: Basic Phone Features

• Waydroid cannot be installed, as it ALWAYS fails to download Android images (at least on my Poco X3 NFC), both from the Terminal & using Waydroid Helper. If I Ctrl-C the Terminal, I see that Python has been stuck on connect(), i.e. the download never even starts. The only way I can get it to install is manually download the needed images to the right place & then run "waydroid init -f". No idea why, as Android apps can access the network just fine, and sourceforge.net doesn't block me from accessing it (but maybe it blocks Python's default user agent?).

Priority 3: Daily Use

• Waydroid randomly glitches or stops working every few days (a real problem if I'm not notified of new messages or events), and using Waydroid Helper to stop & restart it rarely fixes it - the only way is to reboot the whole phone, which is not practical for something I must rely on a daily basis.
  If stopping & restarting Waydroid would fix it, then having a script to restart Waydroid every night at 4am would probably make Waydroid reliable enough to use. Unfortunately I can't currently use UT without many Android apps.
• Waydroid does not have access to GPS, which means I can't use highly polished & reliable Android satnav & related apps. I view them as essential & not something I could live without.

Priority 4: Polish

• I'd like the phone to not lock as soon as I turn the screen off, but to wait for my "Lock when idle" timeout (like Android). It's very cumbersome that I have to enter a PIN (let alone a password!) every time I briefly stop using my phone (and turn off the screen to avoid distractions, for privacy & to save power).
• The status bar at top of screen is obscured by camera cut-out & screen's rounded edges, e.g. I cannot see the full time. (I believe someone is already working on fixing this?)
• The inability to re-order the app grid feels like a major limitation you'd only get on a toy OS (sorry!). Pinning apps to the sidebar isn't sufficient, as I have more than 15 commonly used apps. If manual reordering isn't easy to add, then what about having custom 'folders' that you can move apps into? (Would allow me to hide apps I rarely need, as well as grouping apps I am most interested in or that have similar purposes.)
• '3D' task switching feels somehow back-to-front & clumsy. On Android the most recently-used app appears at the front & close the right side (where my hand is), where-as on Ubuntu Touch it appears at the back (behind all the other apps), and on the left side (furthest from my right hand). I'm not sure if I will ever get used to this! A setting to swap the order would be great; at least have the most recent app on the right side, but preferably also in front of the other apps.
• Add an option for the 'app grid' to appear as soon as you drag from the left to show the 'task bar'. The two-step process of revealing the task bar & only then being able to tap the 'start button' makes switching to a new app feel much slower & clumsier than on Android (where I can just tap the Home button to see everything).
• Controlling the Terminal seems very difficult (compared to say Termux on Android).
  • Scrolling up/down through the command output is very difficult to initiate reliably, and usually scrolls through my command history before I've even activated the hidden scrollbars (which IMHO should either be wider & permanently visible, or else I should be able to stop dragging from scrolling the cmd history at all). In Termux I can just drag to scroll the display & it's wonderful. Maybe scrolling through the command history should be done by dragging left/right instead? (Although that might still be too easy to trigger accidentally.)
  • Common controls are spread through different Scr/Fn/Ctrl sections (clumsy & slow to switch between), rather than just having one section that contains Arrows (U/D/L/R), Tab, Esc, Ctrl+C (maybe followed by Page Up/Down, Home/End, Del).
  • Selecting text to copy/paste is inaccurate & a bit slow. I have to press the screen for far too long before the menu options (not customisable). I can get the menu immediately by tapping the top-right icon, but after I click on Select, why is there no icon in the top-right to cancel selection mode? (Going all the way to the bottom of the screen feels harder than going to the top right.) Accurately selecting characters is almost impossible as my finger hides what I am selecting (unlike Termux which has selection handles I can drag).

Priority 5: Nice to Have

• Morph Browser & Waydroid not supporting USB or NFC access to "physical passkeys" aka FIDO2 devices (e.g. Yubico security keys) will likely become a show-stopper for me in the future, as my most important accounts (e.g. ProtonMail) will become ONLY accessible using a FIDO2 key. This may seem niche to you now, but they are rapidly gaining in popularity, and anyone really worried about their online security will be using them.
• Android apps all appear on one Waydroid 'virtual phone' rather than with native apps in the main task switcher. (I believe there are plans to eventually fix this, but it's waiting on QT to accept a pull request or something??)
• Ubuntu Touch's display only appears to be 30fps, at least on a Poco X3 (where-as Sailfish OS looks like 60fps). Doesn't really bother me, but a friend would find Ubuntu Touch unusable.
• Lack of easy access to Waydroid files (and Waydroid not having easy access to any UT files) is kind of a big issue. I've created a SystemD service to auto-mount the Waydroid folder on UT side, but most people won't be able to do that.
• Unlocking UT using the fingerprint sensor doesn't seem to be supported? At least not on my Xiaomi Poco X3, even though devices.ubuntu-touch.io lists it as working.

Thanks for listening, and sorry my list is so long! Despite all the above, UT feels like it is pretty close to being a usable phone for many people (e.g. with VoLTE now working).