I Bought a Linux Phone in 2026

You know, there's been a lot of talk

recently about people installing Linux

on their computers to get away from

Windows and Mac, but is that far enough?

As today we're going to be installing

Linux on our phones, to get away from

Android and iOS. Oh, hi everyone. I'm

Sam Tucker and today we're going to be

trying out Ubuntu OS on the Fairphone 4.

It says fair phone, though. I don't

think this will be a fair fight at all.

I predict I'm going to get my butt

kicked. But yeah, the fair phone was one

of the few phones I could get Linux

pre-installed on. Apparently, you can

technically install Abuntu OS onto a

phone yourself, but I only wanted to

have one aneurysm today. So, let's try

that out. Change is in your hands.

Although change isn't always a good

thing, is it? And there it is.

Sustainable, long-lasting, fair. Well,

let's see how long we last. You know, I

don't feel this guide is thick enough to

get started on Linux. In fact, it

already says new to Android. I don't

think they anticipated anyone would get

Ubuntu Touch on their phones. I'm not

actually sure if Fairphone Phone sold

this with Ubuntu already on it or if the

previous owner did it for me. I hope

they did a good job. All right, this is

my first experience of a Fairphone. It

is a fair bit heavy, but you know, it

seems quite solid. You know, USBC holes.

These are the holes for noise. No noise

holes. Another strange hole on the back

cuz I have to take the back off. Oh, am

I going to break it even before I turn

it on? Ow. So, I can confirm the back is

plastic. But that gives us the advantage

of Ooh, getting in deep here. Removable

battery. Look how easy that is. Oh,

remember when you could do that with a

battery? All right, I'm just postponing

the inevitable. Now, we actually have to

boot into Linux. So, I'm going to run

through a few challenges today. The

first of which will be to turn it on.

And already we're getting some kind of

warning. Are you sure you want to boot

into Linux? You're not going to have a

good time. I think that actually shows

up when you install something other than

Android. See, it still wishes it had

Android on there, but it's not, buddy.

It's something altogether different. And

there it is. Ubuntu touch. It's booting.

Uuntu is Ubooting. All right. English

Australia. That's cool. Ubuntu speaks

Australian.

>> But mate, all I had was me jocks on.

>> Personalize your device. Preferred name?

I prefer to be called Sambuntu. lock

screen. Oh,

break screen. You're ready to use your

device now. Am I ready? Is it would you

touch an OS or is it an SOS? Let's find

out. Swipe from the top edge to access

notifications and quick settings. All

right, so smudge the camera to get

access to settings. Apparently, I don't

have any settings. Long swipe from the

left edge to open the application

drawer. All right, there's my apps.

Sideways mode. Ah, so you can sideways

things now. And look at the carousel.

The 3D carousel of apps. That's

gorgeous. Swipe from the right edge to

view open apps.

Oh wow. Now this is advanced. Ubuntu has

the multi system that Vista had. I love

that. And now it's back with a

vengeance. No one wanted it back, but

it's here for you. Oh, we could change

the background if we wanted. Beautiful.

Tick. Any updates to uh to Linux? Let's

see. Oh, there is no touch. And without

even asking, it's installing. I thought

this was Ubuntu, not not a Windows

machine. Although I hear Ubuntu is uh

basically the Microsoft of Linux

distros. While that's downloading, the

Kai is downloading something of his own

down there. So uh we've each got our

things going on. Hang, let's see if we

get back to the the desktop. Why did it

tell me how to do that? None of the

swipes take me to the desktop. Quit

pinch. Pinch. Five finger pinch. Oh. Oh,

I've just changed 10 settings all at

once. Okay, that was scary. I don't know

how to get to the desktop. So, I guess

you don't need to. You just got to quit

everything. But if we want to master the

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annual plan. All right, let's see what

applications we have here. We have the

butterfly. Oh, the web browser. Let's

just start off by playing a nice YouTube

video.

>> Just as you'd expected kai, check it

out. It's the new abuntu. New tab. I'm

confused. Where am I? What year is it?

Tap to view. What am I viewing? Oh, I'm

I'm swiping. I don't I shouldn't be

here. I've got two two of these now and

a keyboard. Go. A. Let's see if the

calculator works. 5 + 5. It does equal

10. And I am in a good mod. I usually

wait a little while for this, but let's

test out the camera straight away. We

want to get the kit eye to help with

this one. Ah, look. It's quite a simple

looking camera. Hey, buddy. Say hello,

buddy. Who's sweet? Are you being

recorded in Linux? Do you love Linux?

Are you a sweet Linux boy? And check it

out. We're recording a selfie video on

the fair phone in Linux. And I haven't

had to open the terminal yet. Wow. I

thought I'd have to give three pseudo

commands to to get this going. Oh, I

have a little mask mode. I could put the

Zoro mask on. No device info. Save

device info. No device info. I don't

understand what it's trying to tell me.

Although, one thing, I think the

Fairphone seems to have at least two

cameras on the back here. And I don't

remember seeing two camera options.

Yeah. So, Linux does delete one of the

cameras, but the fact that it works at

all is quite impressive. All right,

let's put in a SIM card. Doctor, we're

going to do a SIM transplant. We have

the iPhone here. You know, I want to get

away from this Apple intelligence

because I'm intelligent enough to use my

own phone. Am I intelligent enough to

use a Linux phone though? Well, that's

another question. Open back surgery on

the Linux phone while it is alive and

awake. Oh, it wants to call an

emergency. No. Oh, actually, I do have

to take the battery out. Sorry, Linux.

We're going to have to put you under for

this. Let's install a SIM card. Easy

does it. Difficultly does it. Ow. All

right. SIM card is installed. Pairing

the patient back up again. patient is

having a panic attack. Two videos

recorded today. Stop giving away my

personal information, Linux. Jeez

Louise, just got the telemetry right on

the front screen. Okay. And of course,

to unlock it, you give you a calculator.

Nerdiest thing in the world. Why would

there be a plus? You have to do math

just to log into your phone. Oh, look at

this in the contacts. Import contacts

from vcard file. As we know, most Linux

users do hold a vcard. Although once you

get one of these phones, maybe you'll

meet a lucky someone and you'll hand in

your vcard and uh you'll be having a

happy time from there. All right, then

let's try to call AI.

>> Hello.

>> Hey, Aie. How are you?

>> Yeah, I'm good. Oh, I can actually hear

you.

>> Yeah, it's better than the Blackberry,

isn't it? So, yeah, maybe we'll switch

to Linux. Maybe we'll be a Linux couple.

>> Huh?

Not ready to renew my my Linux commands

with you. You take pseudo apps. Get

husband today. Cool. So, a phone call

success. Let's try to get some more

apps. These apps are too limited. I want

to get the vast exciting world of open-

source apps. So, I click open store. Ah,

here we go. On the front page, we have a

chess clock. They really know their

audience. Let's get this beautiful chess

clock. It comes in gray. Look at this. A

beautiful Linux app running as easy as

an Android. Boom. Quickly make your

move. Apple, how are you going to get

Linux in checkmate after they've already

castled your rook? Porn. Bang. Can you

see porn on this? Let's not find that

out. This is a serious channel. Three

people like the weather. One person

didn't like the weather. Must have been

raining. Any Melbourne 18° 18° in

Melbourne. Oh, and then you get a nice

uh print out of every temperature that

it's ever been. You got one degree, you

got your 2°, 3°. Let's install UNAV.

This has gotten a lot of likes. Of

course, in Linux tells you how many bugs

there are. This apparently crashes on

search, but it looks promising. So, I

think looking promising is a bug on

Linux. It's meant to look a little a

little average. So, a cool feature on

the UNav is that when you select a

location and tap it, it takes you a

little left of that location. Sort of

like I installed a Phone OS, but

actually, you didn't. Oh, the phone

company got alerted that I'm on a Linux

phone. They want to make sure that I'm

okay. Let's see if they have some

messaging apps. Like we'll go the

classic evil one, WhatsApp. Bang. You

have what's web and what's new. Now, are

these good alternate clients that'll

listen to your messages or will they

sell it to the government like the real

one does? I'm not sure. It's hard to

tell when there's only been five hearts.

Not to worry, though, as I believe

there's a secret method to get Android

apps working on your Linux Ubuntu phone.

We need something called Way Droid. Oh,

well, this lets you install Wayoid. So,

let's uh just use this app. All right,

we're getting into it now. So, every

time you want to use an Android app, you

just wait for this loading screen here.

Ooh, Lineage OS. Look at this. We're

using Android on this Android phone

through Linux. Does the camera and stuff

work? Oh, the camera works.

Strange. Let's see if we can get

WhatsApp on it. We're going where no man

has gone before cuz they didn't want to

go there. Why would they? They just get

Android on this Android phone. Okay,

here we go. Test message to AD from

Linux.

Whoa, it works. All right, here we go.

We're going to try and voice video call

ad does video.

>> Linux does video. How about that? The

quality is very sad.

>> You're somehow too defined and not

defined enough at the same time.

>> Well, isn't that me in real life? How

poetic. It captures the real me. Well,

here's a fun test. If this is really

running Linux, then it should work in

desktop mode. Let's see if plugging this

into a monitor works. You see this? And

you can use it as a trackpad. Let's make

a note. Look at this. You see this? I'm

typing with a physical keyboard. typing

on Linux. Get out of here, Samsung. This

is the real Dex. Linux has a bigger Dex

than all of you. All right, it's time to

do it. This is what Linux was made for.

Let's pump open the terminal.

Authentification required. This is like

you have to go down to the government,

get a special notice saying, I

understand the risks. Yes, I'm a

responsible person. I am allowed to plug

things into my phone and I am a citizen

and I have rights, damn it. And I want

to open up terminal. Kit I help. I need

you to tap the first tap. Give it a tap.

Yep. Use your nose if you have to. Yep.

Beautiful. We're in the terminal,

everyone. This is what Linux was all

about. Oh, and it has assumed my gender.

And very strong language with the pseudo

route. I mean, no, you don't get to just

pseudo and get to do what you want. You

have to ask, get to know him, go out to

dinner, and and and be very consensual.

Now, Sam equals cool. Echo. Come on,

Sammy T. You've got this. Don't let

Linux beat your man. Here we go, Kitai.

This is the moment. Oh, okay. I forgot.

I have to refresh my boot dev class. Oh,

now I'm scared. What have I done? Oh,

I've got I rightclicked somehow.

Somebody help. Help. Abort. Oh, I just

click and more things happen. Where's my

keyboard? Abort. No, you can't get it.

Once terminal has you, there's no

getting out. All right. Well, it's all

fun and good using Linux inside, but

let's do what no one's ever done. Go out

in public and use Linux. Oh, the sun.

It's going to burn my Linux body.

Terminal by the tower.

Terminal by the tram museum.

They usually have trams out the front.

Um, ruins the joke a bit, but ah,

there's a tram. He was hiding.

That's right. Terminal at the terminal.

The train. There are no trains either.

They follow the trains. It's like Linux.

It's a ghost town. And there you go.

Linux or Ubuntu on a phone. Surprisingly

quite easy to do the basic things. So

what are you doing on your iPhone Pro

Max? You need to get yourself an Ubuntu

phone. And well, not do much with it

other than calls and websites, but what

more do you need? All right, until next

time. Stay funky, everyone. Sam time

signing off.

>> Subscribe today.

>> Medicine. No thanks. I know it's

terminal. It's actually the camera. It's

too hard to get the terminal app open.

It takes forever. I have to put in my

password to use terminal. You like

auntu, buddy? You got your own little

bun butt butt to right in the right in

the shot. All right, we're rooting the

phone now. Now we have to mount the

phone. Now we're going to remount it.

Get your first mount out of the way

before you remount.