2015. május 18.

Welcome to the Ubuntu Phone

I got my hands on a BQ Aquaris E4.5 Ubuntu Edition.

This is the hardware specification:

Screen
  • Screen size: 4,5"
  • Screen Technology: Capacitive IPS multi-touch screen with 5 simultaneous-detection points
  • Screen resolution: qHD 540 x 960 px, 220 HDPI
  • Aspect ratio: 16:9
  • Viewing angle: 178º
  • Others: Dragontrail Protection Glass
Memory
  • Internal mechanics: 8 GB eMMC
  • Expandable memory: Via microSD™ card (up to 32 GB)
Battery
  • Battery: LiPo 2150 mAh
Supported Formats
  • Video formats: .avi, .mkv, .mov, .mp4
  • Audio formats: .mp3, .ogg, .wav
  • Image formats: .bmp, .gif, .jpeg, .png
  • Text formats: .pdf, .txt
Dimensions and weight
  • Weight: 0.1230
  • Dimensions: 137 x 67 x 9 mm
Operating System
  • OS: Ubuntu
Connections
  • Connections: 3.5 mm headphone jack, Dual Micro-SIM
Functions
  • Functions: Ambient noise cancellation, FM radio, Microphone, Notification LED, Proximity sensor
Processor
  • RAM: 1 GB
  • CPU: Quad Core Cortex A7 up to 1.3 GHz
  • GPU: Mali 400-MP2 up to 500 Mhz
Camera
  • Front camera: 5 Mp
  • Rear camera: 8 MP with autofocus and flash
Connectivity
  • Bluetooth: Bluetooth®
  • Wi-Fi: Wi-Fi™ 802.11 b/g/n
  • 3G: 3G + (HSPA+/UMTS/GSM)
It has 2 Micro SIM slots, so the first thing to do was to cut down my regular sized SIM card to a MicroSim.
Here's how: http://smartphones.wonderhowto.com/how-to/cut-your-sim-card-down-mini-micro-nano-size-0149154/

I changed from using Android, and everything is looking good so far:
  •  I could set up Google accounts for Mail and Contacts sync
Here's the problems I ran into:
  • Q: Google Calendar is not present to sync. How to change this?
    this post shows that there could be a checkbox for Calendar, but I see none.
    • A: Have to install Calendar Application from Store first. Then it is possible.
  • Q: GPS location is off by 30 km. How to make it more exact? GPS is not really working, i.e. 'Here' cannot find my location.
    • A: this solved itself after some time.
  • Bluetooth is either turned off or discoverable. How to set it hidden, while keeping it turned on?
  • Q: How to set the Weather measurements to Celsius and meter on the Today scope? Why is it in Fahrenheit?
    • A: This depends on the Region you set for your phone. English (US) will use imperial and Fahrenheit, and English (UK) will use metric and Celsius.
    • This probably changes the Spelling auto-correction too, but I will not use it anyway.
Some of my essential apps I would want to use on Ubuntu Phone too:
  • Facebook messenger
    • opening m.facebook.com/messages in the browser is a huge help
  • Google Tasks
  • Google Keep
After the first afternoon with the dual SIM UbuntuPhone I quickly went back to using the previous Android device for The Phone For Work, as my professional life requires the usage of a variety of stable Android apps, which UbuntuPhone currently cannot provide.

However, as my private phone, Ubuntuphone will probably be a lot of fun :)

Ideas to check out:
  • Android emulator for UbuntuPhone
  • Python and Bash: what is possible on the phone with scripts?
  • General knowledge on the dev possibilities
  • Installing desktop apps like Facebook Messenger
  • Creating Web Apps like Facebook Messenger
Some interesting links on development and dev tools and so on:

Nincsenek megjegyzések: