I'll answer any basic questions anyone has about using the Ubuntu phone - been using it for over 18 months now. Never have actually owned an Android/iOS phone and hope to keep it that way. It does everything I want it to. Not 'beautifully', but it does it. It's cheap, open and supports free software.
Ideally I'm still looking for some alternative device that matches or surpasses the N900 in terms of functionality and openness. But I'm of course not holding my breath. With UT I get SSH and terminal access, but it is slightly hamstrung in terms of what can be installed from repos, unless I forego the OTA updates.
A quick ideal-world scenario: a phone/mobile PC store on the highstreet where you can browse great hardware running Red Hat, Debian and the BSDs. All dirt simple to use with the ability to pop the hood (terminal, repos) whenever you needed a little more tooling. Devices perhaps in two parts, one pocket-size and one bag/large-pocket size, slotting together for storage and charging.
UT is still working on convergence, and has made great strides from what I can tell, but it's still some way off being a useful reality for any more than a handful of devs.
How often do you use the terminal and/or SSH, and what for?
I kept hearing for a long time how great $this or $that android ssh-client or terminal was, but they were all terrible IME. I am quite picky though, and spend >1/2 my day in terminal. All I want is a good terminal session, with ssh, on my phone.
I actually use it for personal more than work stuff. Connecting to the pi@home to restart kodi, set up a torrent, check IMs/IRC.
Changed a shortcut in tmux to get around the quirks with not having a keyboard (it offers a menu for Esc and common Ctrl+ shortcuts).
I won't tell you it's perfect, sure you're not expecting that. Serviceable though. Setting it up in 'convergence mode' could actually work for you, perhaps with a tablet instead of phone, if you're so terminal-based. Reminder: the phone cost ~£100.
- No email notifications - a blessing and a curse. The Dekko client is/was third party, but being the best available has become the de facto default (not a bad name for a band...).
- Inability to make use of the package repos. Mentioned this above - I only want some CLI apps and still may do it, I just have to find out if when I enable r+w mode that I can subsequently disable it when mutt/irssi/newsbeuter etc. are installed. Enabling it disables OTA updates, you see, which have proven massively useful. The browser has gone from awkward to extremely usable via the updates, convergence support has been added, 100s/1000s of bugs fixed - they are a must-have on a phone like this.
- Being Ubuntu, they had "agreements" in place with a few third-party providers that I quickly disabled on setting up. The always-on stuff might be convenient for some, but it's not for me.
- My particular model of phone, the BQ Aquaris 4.5, struggles with location data, usually placing me at the ISPs location for Wikipedia nearest article suggestions, etc. It does work for the uNav mapping app just fine, however.
Upsides: I can (and have) reported bugs and chatted to devs on IRC and the central mailing list.
Downsides: There aren't many devs knocking around!
Started off playing through a few of the recommended games, but to be honest that isn't what I do with a phone. I mostly read or communicate. Literally no games on there at the moment.
To answer the question though, I did try tuxracer, obligatory, and pandolove (iirc) and a few of the abstract physics-type ones. Nothing stood out as massively replayable.
Ideally I'm still looking for some alternative device that matches or surpasses the N900 in terms of functionality and openness. But I'm of course not holding my breath. With UT I get SSH and terminal access, but it is slightly hamstrung in terms of what can be installed from repos, unless I forego the OTA updates.
A quick ideal-world scenario: a phone/mobile PC store on the highstreet where you can browse great hardware running Red Hat, Debian and the BSDs. All dirt simple to use with the ability to pop the hood (terminal, repos) whenever you needed a little more tooling. Devices perhaps in two parts, one pocket-size and one bag/large-pocket size, slotting together for storage and charging.
UT is still working on convergence, and has made great strides from what I can tell, but it's still some way off being a useful reality for any more than a handful of devs.