Ah, tech journos…
Ubuntu Touch [is] a great choice if you seek an alternative that prioritizes privacy and open-source ideals.
But
One area that has improved is Google account synchronization. While it’s not flawless, it’s easier to sync services like Gmail and Calendar than it was before.
🤦 I don’t think he fully grasps that Google is the main reason to use a more private OS than (stock) Android.
I think they did a decent job. They report on compatibility for those that want it, but demonstrate it can be a Google-free experience. The fact that they also recognize they tested on an older device vs glossing over that was appreciated, too. Any journalist willing to install Ubuntu on their phone is probably going to be a bit more reliable to begin with, too.
While true, in order to get Linux mobile more mainstream, you have to have great google compatibility just because of the sheer volume of people that have to use google calendar for sync with family and friends and/or have gmail as a primary email. That’s just a shitty fact of life. Baby steps.
However, indeed you are completely right that at the current time there are probably a very low amount of people wanting to use it right now that are completely reliant on google.
“For instance, I often had to rely on the web browser to access services like Reddit, Telegram, and Discord since native apps weren’t available. Web apps work for primary use but can’t always replace dedicated apps, especially for banking or fitness tracking.”
That’s the core of the problem these days. Nowadays, there’s so much that requires an app to work.
Avoiding mobile apps was entirely realistic in the 2010s, but it’s too late for that now. The world has changed, that ship has sailed etc.
If you can isolate yourself from certain realities of the outside worlds, using a fully FOSS system can be done. The technology is there. It’s just that most people can’t isolate themselves to that degree.
It’s really just banking, I can still use the browser for most other things.
I don’t understand the banking comment, and I’ve seen it several times. Don’t other people’s banks have web portals? Other than maybe depositing a check remotely, are there features you actually need a native banking app for?
My bank warned that they are planning to phase out the code booklet and replace it with a mobile app. Sure, you can continue to use a web browser, but how do you verify anything without a mobile app?
Also, some apps are very picky and refuse to work properly unless your android has GAPPS and is in the in an unmodified state just like the OEM intended. That’s bad news for privacy oriented Android users, let alone anyone who wants to run something even more FOSS.
Don’t other people’s banks have web portals?
Sadly, some finance services are app only, app-that-don’t-run-without-Play-Store only.
Mine does but there’s 2fa using a dedicated app. Although a 2fa machine is available and sent out also.
My bank offers both an app and a website which is nice, but the app is mandatory for doing any kind of operation involving money (which is not that uncommon when logged-in in your bank accounts ;) even when connecting through their website, as the app is used for some ID-ing process.
Then, there are a few not-mandatory but such-an-effing-pain-to-not-use apps, say to ID oneself with some (public) services.
I use a dumbed down iPhone (like, really: no social, no games, no whatever not even email is configured on it) just so I can access those few apps.
I’m pretty sure my bank’s android app is just webview considering it has a cookie banner when starting it and it looks almost identical to the actual bank website. The biggest feature of the bank app is for 2FA, but it’s not like it’s much more convenient than SMS and they really should be supporting FIDO2 and TOTP codes for actually secure 2FA.
Another FYI: Ubuntu Touch does not support VoLTE at all, thus it might be more difficult to use it in some networks and countries (for example, USA shut down 3G some years ago)
However, I was pleasantly surprised by the responsive UI, the browser, and Cinny (the Matrix Client)
Are there any other useful touch distros? Ubuntu is not very renowned in the privacy realm at the moment.
I wonder why test this on an 11 year old phone?
I have it running on a Pixel 3a and it’s definitely smooth, but it still stutters once in a while. It feels slower than Android to me, but not much.
Battery life is indeed excellent, though mine doesnt seem to fast charge.
The camera app was the standout feature to me. The pictures i take look every bit as good as those from Android. I expected the app to be clunky or to have bad colors, but that is not the case at all.
Edit: Pixel 3a not 3
Ubuntu Touch is optimized to reduce unnecessary background processes, making your phone last longer on a single charge.
Wait… did he just say that Ubuntu runs faster than Android on an Android phone?
Nope. He explicitly only praises battery life in that parapgraph. He experienced some performance issues in his (old) test device:
Ubuntu Touch shines in battery life (at least in my experience). Since the OS is lighter and uses fewer system resources, many users report better battery performance than on Android. Ubuntu Touch is optimized to reduce unnecessary background processes, making your phone last longer on a single charge. However, if you push the OS with more demanding tasks, you may still run into performance issues, especially on older hardware.
This is about installing on a Nexus 5 which is from 2013. Sounds painful.
And it will not get upgraded to 20.04, it will stay on 16.04. My biggest issue was that I could not do much with it. It was only a bit better than a dumbphone. Without apps, every mobile OS dies and back in the day I could not even get Signal working. It was a pain to set up webdav for contacts sync and when I gave up and wanted to use my own nextcloud, it refused to work because of my https cert…
