Ubuntu Touch on Google Pixel 3a. Is it better than Android?

[@pimodzzz]

I have noticed that there are questions piling up in the comments, about the phone, that I can't answer because I haven't used it as an actual phone so I am going to let them pile up and try to answer them in a future video. I have another video planned for my next upload but after that one I will make a video just about how feasible it is to use the Ubuntu Touch phone as a daily driver. I gotta give myself enough time to use it so I have enough content for the video.

[@fredldotme]

Ubuntu Touch developer and Pixel 3a maintainer here. Glad to see this here!

[@sharashchandraudupa5241]

Gald to see, you are doing a good job😊

[@tian_wijaya]

really? is it still on active maintain for ubuntu touch?

[@adam-u5i6c]

ty for your work

[@JesviJonathan]

is it still being developed ?

[@naturegreene9579]

You guys need to a make it fast responsive system with a good camera app. Obviously apps. It has some potential. With upcoming snapdragon desktop system, after linux support it should be possoble create a hybrid system which is usable as full linux desktop system with a hdmi cable ofr e.g.. and mobile ui on smartphone mode. 😮 That could be amazing

[@STONE69_]

I'm surprised at how good this is working. All I need is calling, texting, Mail, Map, and Camera, odd browser search. This seams a lot more private than a ROM.

[@tamino3777]

How is it more private than just getting a degoogled ROM? Way smoother, more apps support,...

[@KadekGadget]

7:50 you need to type *cd Pictures* (capital P), linux is case sensitive, to go up directory type cd ..

[@pimodzzz]

Thanks bro!

[@bieragaino440]

Hehe , i wrote same comment ..hihi

[@adambester3673]

"a lot of linux users are doomers, so they smoke a lot" lol I feel so called out.

[@sazisoddD]

this video is so goooooooood. I haven't quite seen a video on someone using ubuntu touch in 2024 thanks for vid

[@pimodzzz]

Thank you!😁

[@macjim]

I had been following the progress of the Ubuntu phone and its OS and was going to buy one when they made the decision to drop it all. I’m surprised you can still get it for a mobile phone now…

[@pimodzzz]

From what I know, a 3rd party company has picked the project up so I don’t think it’s abandoned 🤷‍♂️

[@PodcastUbuntuPortugal]

@@pimodzzz UBports is not a company, or a business, it's a foundation, that serves the UBports community, which existed before the foundation itself. The foundation is there mostly to facilitate bureaucracy when needed, and to promote the project and community goals, this is a community project.

[@viro-de-graphe-matician]

Canonical dropped it. But UBPorts Foundation took over, so there's quite some work going on. Check out the German Volla Phones. They come with an AOSP based OS that uniquely allows for multi-bott, and thus you can run for instance UT in parallel. Quite cool, and definitely very useful.

[@AninoNiKugi]

In the camera app, you'll have to swipe from the middle area since the left and right edge are reserved for the system gestures. You kinda have to train yourself for that since in other OS, except maybe the gestures system on Android, you can usually swipe from anywhere and it's fine 😄 The restricted contents in the file manager also includes the hidden folders which you can set to show in the settings of the app. As for the terminal, just a heads up that Ubuntu Touch is an immutable system which means the system is read-only so you won't be able to do all stuffs you can do in regular Linux desktops. In any case, nice video to showcase Ubuntu Touch. Surprised how snappy and smooth it looks on a Pixel 3a. Kudos to the porter of that device 😄

[@pimodzzz]

Thank you for the info sir! I am in no way experienced with Linux so everything looks a bit like magic to me😂

[@bjiru_]

cool vid man, never knew about Ubuntu Touch, keep making stuff

[@jeremyacore]

Just subscribed, such a high quality video, it's a super interesting topic, I hope Linux becomes an option for low end phones haha.

[@nonetrix3066]

I have one but it's Verizon locked, hopefully we get Pixel 6a port one day but might be harder due to SoC :(

[@apoorvchaturvedi962]

Can we use apps like atleast whatsapp or KZbin?

[@marintonn]

web apps probably, there are no native linux apps

[@stevekueffer4739]

@@marintonn Yes you can with "WayDroid", it's a LineageOS container which is already preinstalled on all Ubuntu Touch devices based on Android 9 and above. Although quite some limitations, you can run most Android apps on Ubuntu Touch.

[@Cazon1]

I used to have my Pixel 3A in 2021, and I was a Ubuntu Touch user for 2 years until I dropped the phone and ended up breaking the screen. I bought a iPhone 15 Pro as a new phone, and I hate it.. 😅

[@DanaStrong-e8l]

Have you tried to make phone calls using a simcard?

[@mohamedsakhiri6583]

there is an android layer that you can install on top of ubuntu touch to run android apps

[@CarlosLima80]

I can make a call, check my contacts, watch videos, and then put my Ubuntu phone in my pocket... Wow, that's incredible

[@pessimistic_optimism]

indian customer support 😂😂😂 good one. this is coming from indian btw

[@pimodzzz]

@@pessimistic_optimism Thank you!😂

[@mdjjamm]

I'm also Indian. This cracked me up 😂

[@bieragaino440]

Linux directories and names are case sensitive (P is p) . you write cd .. in terminal to go back one directory, and just cd if you want to go home directory or the name of user

[@WolfiiDog13]

Great channeI, subscribed. I love the idea of having traditional linux on a phone. Too bad in my country many banks and essential government services get very inconveninet without Android or iOS devices. You're quite handsome btw

[@pimodzzz]

@@WolfiiDog13 Thank you bro!😄

[@godnyx117]

Thanks for sharing! Your style is great!

[@pimodzzz]

Thanks for watching!😁

[@who_is_arnob]

That was an amazing video dude!

[@pimodzzz]

Thank you bro!❤️

[@HemanSuperman]

Watched this a bit late, content was short and sweet. BTW, The 1k like is mine..haha!! 999-->1k

[@mashqlique6039]

Bro, can you try doing a Sailfish OS vid, will appreciate, great content.

[@sarpersaridal5396]

sorry this is my first time asking about ubuntu but the empty purple part when idle could show up some notifications why its empty until you touch an icon on the left. it looks like a wallpaper standing still doing nothing when unlocked sorry maybe its useful somehow

[@vulpo]

But does it work as a phone? Can you call other people and receive calls? Can you send and receive SMS text messages? Messages with pictures?

[@stephensumpter5311]

On the Ubuntu touch device list, sms and calling all work

[@tymmiara5967]

Can you use Bluetooth headphones?

[@composimple364]

Amazing combination of tech geeky, handsomely and deep voice

[@raulbustamante8337]

how's the keyboard? Is it like a real keyboard but on screen? I mean, no smart features

[@PodcastUbuntuPortugal]

You can enable and disable auto-complete and autocorrect. It doesn't have more smarts other than that.

[@nikolayp5811]

Looking forward to postmarketos review

[@pimodzzz]

I will look into it!

[@BlackCat-b6i]

Is telegram app still support ubuntu torch

[@barcidstudios]

No calls or texts?

[@ogdan1173]

You can try waydroid and box86/64 to run steam or other games?

[@pimodzzz]

I will look into it!

[@kressckerl]

I love open-source, but it obviously fails in UX. Swiping actions being based on speed seems terrible, and all the wasted background space in the easily accessible space for right thumb, and the home button being in the most difficult corner to reach with thumb, seems like a failed attempt at Ubuntu branding by just copying the 'iconic' desktop layout :/

[@PodcastUbuntuPortugal]

I use it every day since 2015. While there's some room for improvement, based on my experience, I don't agree that those choices have as big impact as you believe.

[@homosapiens...]

@@PodcastUbuntuPortugal what extra can you do with this that you were unable to do with the stock rom ? if we remove privacy aspect , how is it compared to android os ?

[@brownGoy]

Can we develop flutter apps for Ubuntu touch?

[@sinatraforeign]

I think so, at least a web based app

[@PodcastUbuntuPortugal]

Flutter is not supported at this point. It's a goal for the future.

[@ionelmarianstefancu8170]

Please tell us if I can use such device for navigation. Is verry important for me, because I intend to buy a Lenovo Tab M10 HD 2. Generation to use it with Ubuntu touch for navigation.

[@PodcastUbuntuPortugal]

You mean GPS navigation? If so, than yes, there are several GPS navigation apps, I personally like uNav. However I'm not sure your tablet is supported (some versions of it are), and Ubuntu Touch doesn't have natively AGPS on most devices (just on Volla devices), which means that navigation is purely made by GPS, which is slower than most people are used to get an initial GPS position. I've visited many countries in Europe and navigated using an Ubuntu Touch device, and even crossed some very wide extensions (multiple thousands of km) using it.

[@wiredmind]

Awesome video but "ph Ablet" almost killed me XD

[@tymmiara5967]

Does WhatsApp work in any way?

[@lxdzii]

What programming language is used to build apps on this ubuntu platform? Is it same as android? i.e Java/kotlin

[@lxdzii]

If they want a huge ecosystem of apps, those are the languages they should pick

[@plumcakey]

Probably QML + python / Cpp since it uses QT, but any desktop app runs

[@PodcastUbuntuPortugal]

It's not at all the same as android. The UI is called Lomiri (previously called Unity 8), which is built using the QT Framework. Large portions of the UI are made with C++, but also some Python. You can also make apps with QML, HTML, Javascript, Go, and Rust.

[@khoirulanam7235]

I have motorola one power, can i install it with ubuntu touch? It has same spesification with max pro m1 and max pro m1 support UT.

[@dimii27]

looks like it has potential, but it's clearly not polished. perhaps figuring out how to run .apks directly into linux at native performance would be the game changer. And making sure the battery performance is better or equal to Android. Android is also open source so there is no reason to switch to linux at the moment. They need a game changing feature

[@PodcastUbuntuPortugal]

Running APKs is not a goal, the goal is to do different. However, you can install Waydroid and run android apps there. Ubuntu Touch main feature is convergence, and not spying on users, and allow people who participate on the project to contribute to the definition of its future.

[@MattKsomething]

Q) Does it run apps OR software ? ( As in Linux software ) I wanted to try touch but , if it only runs apps ? What's the point ?

[@Darkest_matter]

bruh apps are software

[@MattKsomething]

Ahhhh , Apps as in designed to run on specific OS such as Android or Win Mobile . These apps are not for desktop OS .. Why I tried to differentiate . Does Touch run Software for linux or specific designed software for touch .. Did I make the question too hard to understand ? Whats to point ? If it does not run DESKTOP software ? Why Windows phones failed !

[@Darkest_matter]

@@MattKsomething bruh it will need to emulate X86... and besides, phones are getting really powerful now.

[@MattKsomething]

@@Darkest_matter If it dont run the software U want , what's the point ? If security is the issue = Dumb phone ! Bottom line - everything and everyone spies on you ( Software developers ) . And modern phones can be tracked / spied on even when turned off . ( Phones Chipset ) - As U said = Phones are getting more powerful !

[@Darkest_matter]

@@MattKsomething yes. That's a tradeoff that even the are willing to make. Even your TV spies on you unless you have one without a microphone and even then, the companies know what you watch

[@PercyPanleo]

With the KZbin Music app that is probably just a webapp.

[@saintsaint8482]

Can I install telegram or APK files on it?

[@pimodzzz]

Good question! Stay tuned for my future video!

[@starfoxdelta]

If you use Waydroid, you should be able to run most apps on UT. However from what I understand, how well it works may differ from device to device

[@pokewayamv9950]

I think it's essentially Ubuntu so you should to able to install telegram desktop package but Idk it will work or not

[@starfoxdelta]

@@pokewayamv9950 If I recall correctly, in the app market for UT there should be a client for Telegram there

[@retarded_rabbit]

Apk is android native file, it won't work on Linux without translation/emulation layer.

[@Vitrianna]

I like the ui. I would love to install one once it has lots of downloadable apps.

[@PodcastUbuntuPortugal]

It would be even cooler if you made some of those apps ;)

[@ON3PLZ]

Is the device encrypted? Or does the option exist?

[@PodcastUbuntuPortugal]

That's a great question: currently it doesn't support natively file system encryption. But if you know how to use GPG, you can encrypt some files on your home directory.

[@GraDays]

I invite you to test Replicant OS.

[@tamino3777]

Of course not better, if you want it for privacy reasons, just get a degoogled android phone. You're gonna have a way better experience

[@gabryan]

Can i ssh into it?

[@PodcastUbuntuPortugal]

If you enable sshd. However, that's not a good idea in most cases.

[@bj0urne]

Until it has proper app support it's just wasted resources

[@pimodzzz]

That is true!

[@mgord9518]

"Until it has proper app support it's just wasted resources" "Until it's good enough for people to want to develop for it'll never catch on" People don't seem to understand the chicken and the egg problem.

[@RHTORAS]

Ubuntu, redhat and novell are 100% sold to google and microsoft... it's funny you think it is 100% google free. Can you audit systemD ? No you can't because it is tight on microsoft ideas with a ms employee. I prefer maemo leste for mobiles.

[@PodcastUbuntuPortugal]

None of the things you said are true.

[@BharathKumar-th9dh]

Ubuntu touch is promising

[@pimodzzz]

It’s not bad tbh!

[@sharifukitori]

Can i play games?? PUBG & football manager smoothly??

[@PodcastUbuntuPortugal]

You can play some games, you can't play those.

[@GSXSF1k]

Android is developed and owned by Google.

[@pimodzzz]

Yes it is!

[@Mongolicious]

How hard is it yo swipe from the other side??

[@keithmcneill1]

I think you have no choice but to swipe from the front of the phone.

[@Mongolicious]

@keithmcneill1 unless you get touch sensors in the back of the phone 🤣

[@Hakutara]

Ummm.. android is technically Linux but some of it are closed source 🤓 👆

[@Elegant-Capybara]

Running Linux on top of android as Proot or using termux is faster and more usable than the buggy hell that is Ubuntu touch. Edit - Resolved the issues, it's now running great.

[@PodcastUbuntuPortugal]

Using Ubuntu Touch since 2015, can't agree with that opion.

[@stevekueffer4739]

I invite you to retry with a more recent version of Ubuntu Touch (maybe didn't you have a well ported device))

[@Elegant-Capybara]

Hey Steve, since my comment I have joined the Ubuntu Ports forum and have followed their device recommendations and it's been working pretty great since. Following some debugging guides I found out that the Asian models for the Pixels sometimes have different binary blobs and firmware which was causing the issue, there have been unofficial patches for this and ever since, it's pretty stable, and I only had to force restart once during the past three months, which is excellent. Waydroid is also way more stable now. It's been a good experience since.

[@stevekueffer4739]

@@Elegant-Capybara Happy that you could solve your issues ;-)

[@MobileDecay]

You bought a phone made by Google, searched Google, and uploaded this video to a platform owned by Google. Mission failed, we'll get em next time. 😂

[@sadigyara]

Cringe

[@barry5]

Yes, google owns everything. That doesn't mean we shouldn't try to reclaim the little bits of privacy that we can from them instead of just being lazy like you and not doing anything.

[@AntiWeebPenguin]

npc

[@mypersonaldata846]

this video got 40k plus views and 1k likes even if those 1k people could humbly subscribe this dude his channel could be monetise.

[@Necessarius]

I thought it was a video from 2014 lol

[@pimodzzz]

Only the quality 😂

[@clydegriffiths4085]

Wow, it doesn’t look like it was stolen from apple, definitely step forward

[@MysteriousRival]

Next time review it soley as a device and not as if it's a linux pc. Nobody is or wants to use their phone for HTML files or JSON, it's a mobile operating system. Reviewing it like this doesn't help anyone become interested in supporting the OS.

[@Darkest_matter]

i'm shocked by how ubuntu touch hasn't chnged much since 2013

[@PodcastUbuntuPortugal]

it depends on how you define much. Some things went away, some improvements Canonical didn't finish were finished and integrated, new ways of supporting more hardware were developed, way more hardware is supported, more apps exist, a new app store run by the community exists, it's based on 20.04 (huge change from being based on an OS that used a different init system), etc...

[@Armando-dk7wc]

Linux on a Google phone! Is that safe? I think the "sniffer chips" are already built into a Google phone! 😮😅

[@pimodzzz]

I think it’s more of a software issue with them, I don’t know if they can build chips that track what you do on the phone. 🤷‍♂️

[@os2171]

Anything is better than android.

[@pimodzzz]

Idk about that

[@v-14415]

No

[@IndigoVoltage]

The phone is still Google's

[@jondo7680]

Android is the best Linux, it does everything right what Linux does wrong, all what's missing is software (apps) which can replace desktop software, once that's the case you can plug your phone to a monitor and keyboard and mouse and use it as a better desktop os than Linux or Windows.

[@stephensumpter5311]

What does Android do that Linux doesn't? 😅

[@jondo7680]

@@stephensumpter5311 your question already starts wrong. First you should ask what Android doesn't which Linux does. For one it doesn't force you to open the terminal to do your work. It doesn't force you to compile your software you simply get your apk and run it. And if you uninstall it you can be sure that it's gone, no bullshit left on the device only exception is a single folder, the downloads folder, and other folders only if you gave the permission. Which is what Android does great which Linux doesn't. Permission management. It's easier than beating the first level of Mario Bros, which even 3 year old children manage to do. It also has awesome sandboxing, programm x wants to steal data from y? Well only if I give them both the permission to access the same folder. Well my file manager has access to all files that's not good. Well luckily I can deny Internet access with 4-5 touches. And I can even teach my dad how to do it. He will forget it in a month but at least not in 10 minutes.

[@stephensumpter5311]

@@jondo7680 Your response already starts wrong. Linux doesn't do a single one of those things. Android is a distro of Linux, other distros of Linux don't have Google behind them to pin all of the support on. Also my question was phrased to match your statement, not some lack of understanding.

[@jondo7680]

@@stephensumpter5311 lol

[@myown1316]

lazy video, 10 minutes with barely any information

[@pimodzzz]

@@myown1316 You are lazy as well! Why are you looking for videos when there is a perfectly good website you can go read?

[@myown1316]

@@pimodzzz haha if my comment insulted you then good, I hope it did a lot. This video is 10 minutes long and it barely scratches the surface of the topic, and I cannot even tell after watching the video if Ubuntu Touch is better than Android. Why waste people's 10 minutes if you haven't even "given yourself enough time to use it so you have enough content for the video"? As I said, lazy video. And you attacking me personally for saying this just further shows that you're an a-hole.

[@pokewayamv9950]

As an arch user I should just say this is bloated and move on...