I was very exited to hear that Ubuntu is releasing an operating system for phones. Being a daily user of Ubuntu Server and Desktop, I could not wait to experience the new product first hand.
As it appears, the only place I could purchase the phone is from joybuy.com. The shipment took about three weeks without the seller providing any information like tracking number and status.
I did not know what to expect from the device and the functionality of the OS, since Ubuntu has published very limited information about how the phone actually functions.
Phone Packaging and Appearance
The packaging was pretty nice. It included an USB type C cable and a charger. The charger is European standard, so not much use for it in USA. There is also a SIM card removal pin and the phone itself. The phone is very elegant and nice. 1080p 5.7 inch AMOLED display, octacore Exynos 7420CPU at 2.1 GHz, 3GB of RAM, 32 GB of storage expandable by use of a Micro SD card to 128GB.
It can support two SIM cards (two carriers), or one SIM and one Micro SD card. The device has a finger print scanner, but unfortunately cannot be used with the Ubuntu version of the phone.
The rear facing camera packs impressive 21 MP and 5 MP for the front camera.
Several Issues
After testing the phone, I came to the realization that there were very few applications supported by the OS and almost none of the ones I use on daily basis to run my business. Skype for example can support only chat and IM, no voice and video calls. Viber and WhatsApp are not supported at all. Not to mention apps like Craigslist, Square’s Register, Paymo and Amazon Music. I understand the new concept does not use apps, but Scopes. That means all is pretty much web based now. Well, and what is where the issue is. You are presented with a lot of options to check the whiter, the news, some online videos and music. But if you need to do something productive, well not so fast.
The list of issues does not end here. I have discovered a problem with the Bluetooth. I had no problem paring the phone with a Bluetoth headset and my car. But when I try to make a call, there is white noise like sound that is so bad, that makes a call impossible. Another issue is the built in navigation app – uNav. I tested the GPS navigation by entering my home address. It found the street, but not the house number. Then I tried my office address, the address simply could not be found. The addresses can be easily found using other GPS capable devices.
The built in Contacts and Calendar applications do not provide synchronization of items unless they are used with Gmail. The only way I can make Contacts work was to export my contacts from my old phone to the SIM and then import them to the Ubuntu phone. This causes problems because contacts with more than one phone number show only as “other” instead of mobile or office.
The Dekko mail client has an issue as well. I managed to get it to connect to Microsoft 365 email account I use for my business. As it seems, there are no notifications if a new email comes in. Also, in order for me to send an email out, I have to create an SMTP account. Not just an IMAP account for receiving email.
Fingerprint scanner does not work. It is not a deal breaker, but it is worth mentioning it.
The camera on the phone seems to be great, but the functions that it can support are very, very basic. Again, to me it wouldn’t be a deal breaker if I could use everything else on the phone as a normal modern “smart phone”.
The Worst Issue
And that is not close to being the worst. The worst part of my experience with the Ubuntu flagship phone is the customer service of joybuy.com personnel. I have exchanged a lengthy conversation with them, trying to return the device as it proves to be useless to me at this point. I have sent them pictures of the GPS issues, I took the phone to a repair shop per their request to have it tested. Even the tech could not get the GPS to work correctly. Not to mention the fingerprint scanner. I received a tech report clearly showing the results and the issues the device had. But that is not enough for joybuy.com. Now they want an official seal of the technician. Well, in US there are very few companies that actually have these.
Needless to say, I would not be purchasing anything from that company again.
I believe in the Canonical and Ubuntu’s vision and I will continue using the Server and Desktop version as my go to operating systems. As far as the phone OS is concerned, I am sure that it has a tremendous potential, but just not there yet.