Volla plus Ubuntu Touch
The phone feels really snappy, the browser works (se Sailfish OS), the app support is improved from my last Fairphone 2 post and basically this device just works!
It runs a octa core cpu @ 2GHz, 4 Gigs memory, 4700mah of battery, for ~350€. (Bought mine through Indiegogo )
Use of Ubuntu Touch & Apps
Well, the issues are way less in number, generally, everything worked butter smooth. However, I had one game breaking issue when I got this phone. After a while, without notice, my phone calls, sms would stop working, both in and out. There where even a situation where my work place had to get in touch with me on the weekend and had to call my sister to physically come tell me to fix my phone. Kinda bad in my opinion. However, this seems to have been fixed for OTA-16, Volla Phone came with OTA-14, so if your running a older version of the OS you should update asap. With this bug ironed out, Volla Phone is a daily driver in my opinion and I use it as such. For more information
There is a decent amount of apps, though many of them are web apps. Some apps don’t work, while other do work perfectly. I use WhatsApp, PodBird (podcasts), EPubViever etc. which do work for their intended purposes. It’s essentially possible to do what you need on this device. However, there are some “nice to haves” that don’t work properly, like the steam app that doesn’t work. My Workflow (se Ubuntu Phone in 2019) makes it so that I don’t need a lot of apps to start with, since I’m running my own cloud that has a bunch of stuff integrated at this point. Compared to my earlier run with UT, there is now a lot more apps and less of them are broken or bugged. There is a noticeable quality of Life increase since 2019. The reviews on the app store are also more useful now in determining if an app is any good. The GPS seems to work when using it with my Nextcloud.
To be honest, for me, the biggest quality of life impact, when it comes to apps, is if the web-browser works or not. My experience on Sailfish was horrible in this regard. The UT “Morph” browser works really really well. With the one exception that it still can’t stream music/sound if the screen is turned off. This was a big issue on Farephone 2, now with a better battery it isn’t that much. Except if there is bad weather outside and the screen become wet.
Battery life
OMG! This is the biggest thing for me to be honest. the Farephone 2 was awful on this front and overheated frequently. I can actually get through a day just fine without any problems. The device does not overheat and it can stay powered even with heavy use and the screen being on for long periods.
Summary
Do I recommend you run out to and buy one? If you want an Ubuntu touch phone, then yes. It’s really a capable device with a sizable screen and good battery, as long as you remember to update the device once you get it to it’s latest version. If you have questions you can hit me up on Mastodon.