The modular smartphone Fairphone 2

Ubuntu

Canonical has pulled the plug on Ubuntu Touch, despite the company showcasing the Bq Aquaris M10 [15] and the Meizu PRO 5 Ubuntu Edition [16], which both use Ubuntu Touch, at the most recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. That said, this year, in tandem with the Dutch IT specialist Smoose, they plan to present Ubuntu Touch for the Fairphone [17].

Work on the Ubuntu port is now coordinated by the UBports project [18]. Currently the OnePlus One, the Nexus 5, and the Fairphone 2 are at the top of their priority list. Except for GPS, Ubuntu Touch supports the Fairphone 2's hardware completely [19]. All three devices are therefore suitable for everyday use.

In order to install Ubuntu Touch on the Fairphone 2, download the developer tools on an Ubuntu-equipped computer and then flash the smartphone with the Ubuntu system (Listing 1). First, you should back up all data on the mobile phone, as the installer erases the device memory and automatically downloads the approximately 400MB Ubuntu image from the Internet – at least in theory.

Listing 1

Flashing Ubuntu onto the Fairphone 2 (I)

$ sudo apt-get install ubuntu-device-flash phable-tools
$ sudo ubuntu-device-flash --server=http://system-image.ubports.com touch --channel=ubuntu-touch/stable --device=FP2 --bootstrap

In practice, however, this simply doesn't work. The description on the download page for booting the device to the fastboot mode is incorrect (see the Fastboot Mode box). You can't do this by pressing Volume Up and the Power button when booting, but instead by pressing Volume Up and Power Down.

Fastboot Mode

In the fastboot mode, the mobile phone looks as if it's crashed. The display shows only the Fairphone logo, and the controls are missing. Use the command sudo fastboot devices to check if the mobile phone is in the correct mode and if the computer can see it.

Next, execute the second command from Listing 1. At the end of the test, it may fail with the message Cannot boot recovery image . Temporarily disconnect the device from the USB cable and take the battery out. Switch the phone on again holding Volume Up and Power Down.

In recovery mode (Figure 2), you can check the Fairphone 2 using the touch screen. The computer should automatically find the phone in this mode using sudo adb devices . For further flashing, set the missing directory /cache/recovery on the telephone and repeat the command ubuntu-device-flash . Finally use the command-line option --bootstrap . The order of commands, including outputs, is shown in Listing 2.

Listing 2

Flashing Ubuntu onto the Fairphone 2 (II)

### Switch off the mobile phone and connect it to the computer via USB
### and [Volume Down] + [Power] to Fastboot mode.
### The Fairphone logo on the display.
$ sudo fastboot devices
Fbecf69e fastboot
$ sudo ubuntu-device-flash --server=http://system-image.ubports.com touch --channel=ubuntu-touch/stable --device=FP2 --bootstrap
2017/02/09 19:53:28 Device is | FP2 |
2017/02/09 19:53:28 Flashing version 15 from ubuntu-touch/stable channel and server http://system-image.ubports.com to device FP2
Can not boot recovery image
### Unplug the mobile phone from the USB connector and remove the battery.
### Then insert the battery, plug in the USB and press
### [Volume Up] + [Power] to recovery mode.
$ sudo adb devices
List of devices attached
Fbecf69e recovery
$ sudo adb shell mkdir /cache/recovery
$ sudo ubuntu-device-flash --server = http://system-image.ubports.com touch --channel = ubuntu-touch/stable --device=FP2

Figure 2: Use recovery mode to install Ubuntu Touch.

During testing, flashing the Fairphone 2 with Ubuntu Touch ran without any recognizable errors, but when the device restarted it was still using Android. To this end, we hit upon magic-device-tool [20], which facilitates the flashing of Ubuntu Touch on a number of compatible devices (including the Fairphone 2).

As shown in Listing 3, download the script to the Ubuntu system from the GitHub repository, run it, and then select the installation of Ubuntu Touch on the Fairphone using 12 (Figure 3). Next, follow the instructions in the window. You can enter fastboot mode with the Volume Down + Power buttons. Enter recovery mode with Volume Up + Power.

Listing 3

Using magic-device-tool

$ sudo apt install git
$ git clone https://github.com/MariusQuabeck/magic-device-tool.git
$ cd magic-device-tool
$ ./launcher.sh

Figure 3: Magic-device-tool theoretically makes Ubuntu Touch installation easier.

This also didn't work. The Fairphone didn't boot to Android this time, but hung on startup.

To make a long story short, installing Ubuntu Touch on the Fairphone 2 is anything but an automated process. In theory, the process will get easier over time. That said, Smoose [17], the company behind UBports, was kind enough to send us a phone with Ubuntu preinstalled for testing purposes, and it worked well.

Conclusion

The Fairphone 2 cannot be described as eye candy. The materials and haptics fall far behind brand-name devices. However, when used intensively, this becomes rather superficial. Unlike fancy brand-name smartphones, any dented metal frames or cracked glass can be repaired cost-effectively on the Fairphone.

Even the choice of software affords you greater freedom than Samsung, Sony, and others. The preinstalled Android image does not include built-in bloatware like Facebook or other vendor-specific services. If necessary, use Fairphone Open to eliminate all Google services from your mobile phone.

We did have a fairly rough time installing Ubuntu Touch. But since Canonical touts the Fairphone as being officially compatible with their OS, this state is hopefully only temporary. Watch this space.

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