I would like a feature implemented that allows you to have 2 background images. Select one for portrait mode and another for landscape mode. For example now I have a picture set as background which looks fine vertically, but when I flip the phone horizontally the image gets cropped and doesn't look right so it would be nice to to have an alternate image display for landscape.

@kugiigi Thank you for your responses. I gave SteamOS a try & I do think it is a great experience and I like it very much just like scrolling the TV with a game console which is basically what I wanted as to avoid the Xbox. My goal was to get away from big-tech. I had a chromebook which I done away with and now use a laptop with Linux Mint. Now have a phone with Ubuntu Touch. Already had a desktop with Linux Mint but now also have SteamOS so I can spend less time with big-tech devices/software.

The only issue I have with SteamOS(would have had same issues with Ubuntu TV) is that there aren't any desktop apps for TV streaming services. Trying to avoid Netflix anyway, but Netflix and Hulu I think both used to have desktop apps for Linux and each discontinued the apps. I would be happy though with Crackle or Popcornflix but there aren't any apps there either. SlingTV has a desktop app for Windows 10, but not Linux. This is the only drawback so far as I am trying to have a solution like what I had on Xbox, but using Linux instead. I did manage to get Kodi installed in SteamOS but I would much rather have apps from the actual companies than to use Kodi, but atleast I can scroll through Kodi with my gamepad just like I would the streaming services apps, because trying to do this with a browser sucks. Hopefully these companies will go back to making Linux apps in the future.

I think I will download and install SteamOS on my desktop alongside Linux Mint and Windows this weekend and give that a try. I don't know what I was thinking, but that is probably the best solution for me and is probably exactly what I have been looking for all along.

@kugiigi https://plasma-bigscreen.org/ seems like a great option but I'm actually more turned off by the voice controls but I guess that can be disabled hopefully. Also it appears to be for ARM processors only, but I guess I would still be able to game with steam because isn't the Nvidia Shield ARM based? If so I wonder if it would be possible to put plasma bigscreen on an Nvidia Shield as I would guess it has better CPU & GPU than Raspberry Pi. Then my next question though would be whether or not Steam would be available on plasma bigscreen. I really wish someone would just develop a shell for Ubuntu that has a nice TV interface, so that way I can just use everything available on my computer, the applications, the processing power, GPU, tuner cards, steam app, etc. that already work with Ubuntu, but have a nice TV user interface to scroll around the TV on.

@kugiigi I just got done looking at it, and I think this would be great. You are talking about KDE Plasma Bigscreen correct? I am a bit confused as to whether this is an OS or a shell for an OS as when I first started searching about it I just typed in KDE plasma and results came up for installing it in ubuntu and I thought that would be terrific, but then saw the screenshots which looked like a desktop computer shell, not for TVs. So kept digging until I saw Plasma Bigscreen but still looking around at different articles about it, but so far looks great.

@kugiigi Thank you for your reply. Where do I find this KDE TV UI?

I put this in Off Topic because it isn't about phones or Ubuntu Touch.

Does the UBports team only work with Ubuntu Touch? The reason I ask is I'm trying to eliminate as much big-tech from my life as possible. So far I have a phone with Ubuntu Touch, and Linux Mint on my laptop. I went away from android phone and chromebook for my daily drivers.

Usually after getting home from work I'd spend about half my evening on my laptop and the other half on my Xbox. I'm really trying to get away from the Xbox. My desktop has Linux Mint as well along with Steam and I have HDMI hooked to the TV but I don't use it much as trying to scroll around and seeing the little icons from the couch just doesn't work for me, nor do I think Ubuntu desktop would if I had that instead.

I see the answer to my solution right here https://www.ubuntufree.com/how-to-install-ubuntu-tv/
but it looks as though development has stopped on this, and I tried to put it on a laptop and had the same issues the guy had who commented at the bottom. Even though it is an unfinished product I'd be happy with this if it were halfway working, and was able to use a bluetooth gamepad to scroll through the Ubuntu TV shell on my TV as it looks as though scrolling would be nice and easy just like a game console.

Are there any plans to bring this back? Is there anyway to still get this however unfinished it is(as the information provided on that webpage doesn't work)? Is this something UBports would consider working on in the future? This seems like the only good solution for TV out there for anyone wanting the capabilities of a smart TV, without Google, Microsoft, or Sony. Would really like to try this out on my desktop.

I would like a feature implemented that allows you to have 2 background images. Select one for portrait mode and another for landscape mode. For example now I have a picture set as background which looks fine vertically, but when I flip the phone horizontally the image gets cropped and doesn't look right so it would be nice to to have an alternate image display for landscape.

@rocket2nfinity Thank you both for your replies you've both been a great help. But when you say RCS is that referring to the Chats in messaging issue I was having(not really an issue after had wife change to send sms or mms only) or is that referring to the other issue I am having with not being able to send a text to an email address?

@ubuntutouchfan If you really want to stay away from google I would use another service than youtube. BitChute, odysee, etc. But if you must use youtube(or any other video platform for that matter) you can avoid signing in and instead add each of your favorite channels to a bookmarks folder for easy access. For example on my browser I have a bookmarks folder named "BitChute Channels" where I add all channels that I like. I try to always avoid signing into sites I do not have to unless it is absolutely necessary.

I recently bought two cheap Oneplus One phones off ebay listed as parts hoping to make 1 good one out of two. Both were listed as no power, but one was listed as having a cracked lcd.

Well, the one I bought that was listed as having a cracked lcd actually didn't have a cracked screen at all and it is the phone I'm using now after putting Ubuntu Touch on it.

The other phone however is hard bricked as holding either volume and power at the same time does absolutely nothing. The only way to get any response from the phone at all is to plug it in and the only thing you see is the charge indicator come on the screen(well also the charge LED comes on I think so both the screen animation of the battery charging plus the LED). Holding down power alone does nothing, nor doing it along with volume buttons.

So my question is this. I've watched a few tutorial online explaining how to unbrick in this situation where they advise you to download some files on the internet, one called "color.zip" I think and a couple others. And run a program on a windows machine. Is this method legit or will I be putting malware on my computer if I do this? And if so what is the trusted site I should use for this?