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Aquaris E4.5 Ubuntu Edition

bq.com

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Re: Aquaris E4.5 Ubuntu Edition

#71

Post by qrmn »

bonsai80 wrote: post #50
maelito wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The website says no, but offers Telegram as an alternative

I too was looking for what was available for IM and hadn't heard about Telegram until I saw it works on Ubuntu phone. Terrific system and now I kind of feel bad for not using it all along!

That it's compatible is nice, but Telegram cannot be recommended as a secure messenger. Knowledgeable people have reviewed its cryptography and found it wanting, even "bizarre and nonsensical". You may want to look into other alternatives?

Re: Aquaris E4.5 Ubuntu Edition

#74

Post by qrmn »

vidarh wrote: post #58
mahouse wrote: post #12

MediaTek? No, thanks.

Why? They're not the highest end, but then again the price and other specs makes it clear that this is not intended as a high end phone. For a mid range phone MediaTek CPU's are easily powerful enough. Unless you have other objections?

MediaTek have not been historically known for engaging with the open-source community, documenting their chipsets, and complying with the GPL, to put it mildly.

Unless anyone knows that's changed in recent years?

Re: Aquaris E4.5 Ubuntu Edition

#75

Post by gbl08ma »

The technical specs look very, very similar to the Zopo ZP910 I own and which I bought about two years ago, for about 200€. The CPU unfortunately isn't the same (MTK 6589 versus MTK 6582), otherwise it would be easy to port Ubuntu to it based on bq's builds. I don't really have much dependency on Android apps (just give me a browser, a media player and a way to make phone calls/texting), so Ubuntu Phone fits my bill. I would not buy a new phone just to run it, but I'd happily "upgrade" my current phone to it, because the new versions of Google's apps are quite heavy (material design and all that) and the hardware is starting not to cut it.

Re: Aquaris E4.5 Ubuntu Edition

#76

Post by kriro »

maelito wrote: post #21

What is the status of connecting the ubuntu phone to a screen to get a personal computer running ubuntu desktop ?

Yeah the demo/description was pretty inspiring. Phone->dock+monitor+storage->computer (for everyday stuff). The linked tablet video seems close enough but I'd love a phone version to theoretically have one device for everything. This is still my "tech wish for the year" :D

Re: Aquaris E4.5 Ubuntu Edition

#77

Post by paufernandez »

bitg wrote: post #70
chainsaw10 wrote: post #61

Anyone know whether there's an easy way to get root? Is there a Terminal app with a local shell? I'm in the US, so I can't get this one, but these are what I'm hoping for when it gets here.

Can we install regular Ubuntu packages on this phone? If we can then I guess you could install terminator, gnome-terminal or something.

I saw a video in Spanish of Obijuan installing stuff with apt-get after some configuration, so you can install Ubuntu packages. He showed python.

Re: Aquaris E4.5 Ubuntu Edition

#78

Post by tummybug »

The battery being a LiPo (lithium polymer) could be a concern (they are quite unstable and explode on contact with water) and IIRC are not allowed to be brought on planes. They can also be permanently damaged if you allow the voltage per cell to get too low and do not have a huge amount of recharge cycles.

Re: Aquaris E4.5 Ubuntu Edition

#79

Post by rlpb »

chainsaw10 wrote: post #61

Anyone know whether there's an easy way to get root? Is there a Terminal app with a local shell? I'm in the US, so I can't get this one, but these are what I'm hoping for when it gets here.

Yes. Just install the Terminal app. If you have a screen lock configured you're asked again to get to a shell prompt. You get a regular prompt as the "phablet" user but have unrestricted sudo access. It's easier to use ssh though: http://askubuntu.com/q/348714/7808

What's nice is that it's just a regular Ubuntu shell prompt, not a hacked up one like you get on Android. All the usual stuff you expect to have is there. The Terminal app integrates nicely too - for example if you use less, then swiping up and down scrolls up and down.

Note though that by default the root filesystem is read-only. You can make it read-write, but then the image-based OTA updates aren't expected to work and of course if you break things you get to keep all the pieces. For this reason I've avoided doing this for now, but it's nice to know that I can do it. I expect I'll probably end up rolling my own customized images instead in order to keep my phone more reliable.

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