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Ask HN: All I want for Christmas is a Linux phone

9 points by sysdumb ↗ HN
Has anyone tried or is anyone currently using a Linux-based operating system such as Plasma Mobile or Ubuntu Touch?

Based off of articles like this https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/linux-smartphone-operating-systems/ the best one, to me, looks like Plasma Mobile (which requires a Nexus 5).

Is anyone using a Linux-based mobile operating system? Do you have any advice?

12 comments

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wartakode
And I want Linux ncurses based phone, with long battery life.
[dead] snrji
Unfortunately Ubuntu Touch was discontinued. Although I didn't like Unity, I was very keen on Shuttleworth's vision.
jamieweb
I bought a Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Phone in 2015 for €300. This was quite early on in the development of Ubuntu Touch, and overall it was pretty good.

The operating system was pretty solid, and I really liked the lock screen design and pull-out Unity sidebar. It was fast and sleek, but didn't quite yet have the polish of something like iOS - which of course is to be expected for something early in development.

As usual with less well-known mobile operating systems, there were very few apps available. You could get many of the hacker-y/privacy ones that us HN lot probably use, but if you wanted a 'mainstream' social app then you probably couldn't.

After a few months I did end up flashing Android onto the phone, mainly because of the early Ubuntu Touch versions lacking features.

Hardware wise, I still have the handset today and it's great - performance wise the phone was ahead of its time when it was released in 2014, and it still performs well.

rchaud
How is the battery life now? I'm considering buying a used one online if I can find it and trying out the Ubuntu builds available now.

Also, did Ubuntu come as the default OS, or was it an Android phone onto which you installed Ubuntu?

jamieweb
The battery life is still good, although I switched to a different phone in early 2017 and have only used the Meizu as a secondary handset since then.

It came with Ubuntu pre-installed. I believe that the pre-installed Ubuntu ones have an unlocked bootloader, so you can put whatever you want on it as long as it's compatible. I know that a few people got CyanogenMod working.

I currently have Android Flyme on it, which is the standard Meizu OS that comes with the normal version of the phone. It's really good, but I would say lacking in security. I use it as a 'dirty' phone, for connecting to public Wi-Fi and insecure stuff like that, so I don't have anything confidential or important on there, and I never sign-in to things in the browser or apps.