̶N̶e̶w̶ port in the works: Xiaomi Mi Note 10 (tucana)

[vlagged]

(don’t confuse this with Redmi Note 10, Xiaomi Mi 10 or Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Lite!)

Hi all,

Just wanted to draw your attention, if you’re looking for a new device, that I have been working on a port for Xiaomi Mi Note 10 (tucana) in the last months.

It is not final (not everything works) but I already use it as a daily driver.

Reasons for picking this up: OLED screen, 1/1.33" main camera sensor, hardware support for double-tap to wake, unlockable bootloader, LineageOS 17.1 unofficial port exist.

Mi Note 10 Hardware

You can Compare Sony Xperia XA2 Plus vs. Xiaomi Mi Note 10 vs. Sony Xperia 10 II - GSMArena.com

Here’s my take on the hardware.

• The device is fairly large (matches the XA2 Plus) and very slippery.
• It has a larger battery than the other two - I usually get two days (~36-40 hours) out of it and I haven’t yet use any optimization techniques
• The OLED display is gorgeous, but ‘notched’ - I made a patch for this.
• Main camera takes very good photos - sometimes it is slightly out of focus.
• It sometimes stays warm (not hot). Usually it’s the browser, Internet sharing or a GPS app left running, sometimes it’s lipstick itself - for which elros34 has a patch.

The SailfishOS community port

What works:

• Display, touchscreen, double-tap to wake
• GSM calls, 3G/LTE data, Wifi, internet sharing
• Sound, recording
• Bluetooth
• Light sensor, compass, GPS, accelerometer. flashlight
• Camera (photos only). Access to wide and one of the tele through Advanced Camera

Needs more work:

• video recording
• proximity sensor (it’s an ultrasound one, I can enable it with android audio services but I lose microphone in calls…)
• infrared sensor - /dev/lirc0 permissions
• USB MTP and usb ssh access
• FM Radio
• Qt haptics (only non-Qt: calls, alarms, menus are working through ngfd fork)
• fingerprint sensor
• NFC

This “prerelease” is available on https://github.com/sailfishos-on-tucana/Readme/releases/tag/4.1.0.24-prerelease

Issues logged here.

I can expand the flashing instructions based on feedback.

Thanks to all the kind folks on #sailfishos-porters, incl. deathmist, elros34, lbt, mal, piggz, rinigus

[9to6Live]

That would be awesome if it were officially available with Android I would buy it immediately

greetz

[vlagged]

There are several topics opened on supporting/licensing Alien Dalvik to community ports - here’s one for example Licenses without support for unofficially ported devices (xz2c)
While waiting for a resolution for this I will continue to invest time in the “Needs more work” points above. If all is good only then I can take a look at alternative ways to run Android apps (but even then, maybe I will look into flatpak first)

[vlagged]

New: In the 4.2.0 release:
You can even use the five cameras on the back if you apply a patch.

( update: the relese 4.2 image seems to be broken, fixing in progress Fixed with 4.2.0-beta-2)

[vlagged]

Waydroid has become available to SFOS. It is experimental, and has the limitations documented here + the the port specific limitations (no video recording). All in all - it can be used for e.g a banking app, browsing, but not a full replacement for Android (it does run very smooth though)

[branja6]

Could this patch be tweaked for some other devices (namely XA2 Ultra which has two front facing cameras) as well?

[vlagged]

It is merely patching a camera file to enable skipping cameras if the device reports too many, as in my case. If XA2 doesnt report the front cameras separatedly, not much can be done. Maybe you can try advanced camera, the 0.9.5 version cycles through all available cameras on pressing what used to be ‘switch between front and back’ button.

[vlagged]

New: in the 4.3.0 release:

• Vibration works in Qt now (e.g keyboard)
• Proximity sensor makes more problems :(startup race)

In the works:

• 4.4.0 seems to be more stable w.r.t to proximity sensor/startup race
• Fingerprint POC
  

[vlagged]

4.4.0.72 release Release 4.4.0.72-prerelease · sailfishos-on-tucana/Readme · GitHub

New:

• Video recording fixed
• Fingerprint POC integrated (with a patch)

But:

• Virtual proximity sensor disabled for now (unusable sound in calls / boot races)

[vlagged]

4.5.0.19 release Release 4.5.0.19 Release · sailfishos-on-tucana/Readme · GitHub

Changes:

• Updated hybris to be able to run Qt 5.15 apps
• Removed gmp-droid (using gecko-camera in the browser with GECKO_CAMERA_DROID_NO_MEDIA_BUFFER=1)

Also need to update the patch for center clock / notch, as it does not apply anymore.

[Seven.of.nine]

Some time ago, @poetaster gave me a hint for the Volla, that has the same problem.
Without any warranty i can tell what works perfectly on the Volla:

Quick n easy:

File is sftp://defaultuser@volla/usr/share/lipstick-jolla-home-qt5/statusarea/StatusArea.qml

Commands:

cd /usr/share/lipstick-jolla-home-qt5/statusarea/
cp StatusArea.qml StatusArea.qml.orig.bak
vi StatusArea.qml
[ESC] :set number

In line 88 there is:
x: Math.max((iconBar.width - width)/2 - parent.x, 0)

Replace old content with:
x: (parent.width - width)/2 + width + (width /2)

Then restart GUI with SF utilities.

Many thanks to @poetaster , who provided this hint!

[vlagged]

Doesn’t that just move the clock sligthly left or right? I am planning to update this one that effectively moves the clock on the right side Project: nocentralclock

[Seven.of.nine]

Yes it moves the clock a little bit to the right so that it comes out from behind the notch and gets visible this way. Nothing else, but works and requires no patch.

[vlagged]

I think I got it, I updated the patch but I am not 100% that the file applies since it took me a couple of iterations to upload the correct one (missing dangling last line enter…)

[poetaster]

@vlagged

Doesn’t that just move the clock sligthly left or right?

I have a modification which also adds date such that to the left of the notch the time is displayed and to the right, the date. I need to pull that from the 4.4 phones and adapt it to 4.5. And publish it? Sigh.

[vlagged]

4.5.0.21 is available too now Release 4.5.0.21 Release · sailfishos-on-tucana/Readme · GitHub
The most important change for porting is that droidmedia is updated so what turned out to be random crashes at startup of Advanced Camera seem to be gone.

[jauri.gagarin.II]

Are you going to update this port to upcoming 4.6 release? Or have you settled on another option, like FP5?

[vlagged]

I still have the device and if nothing comes in the way, it will be updated, once the community OBS has the required repos.

(I actually still use it as a secondary device)

[jauri.gagarin.II]

Then I’d like to ask some more questions, if you don’t mind: what does it mean for practical use that proximity sensor isn’t working? Is community encryption included in this port?