Boot – Ubuntu Touch on Nexus 4 Fails to Boot

I had the same problem (not reading the instructions carefully).

Answer via information on https://developer.ubuntu.com/en/start/ubuntu-for-devices/installing-ubuntu-for-devices/

After a first initial run with the --bootstrap parameter, you need to run again without that parameter.

(using the option reboot recovery may do the same, the ubuntu partition is flashed to the device by booting into the recovery that is created with the first run of the command)

The following Q&A from David Planella implies that you probably should never change your device to RW-mode if you don't have complete control over a mobile device to flash an image:

• How to change the Ubuntu installation to read-write mode on a mobile device

Your phone is not a desktop. Installing desktop specific packages may break the configuration of your phone (similar to how non-desktop packages can break your desktop installation). You also shouldn't use apt-get on the phone unless you are fully aware of the consequences, which the average desktop user typically is not.

From a developer perspective you would just flash a working image from the image server to an unlocked phone. However for a normal consumer there isn't always an option to buy an unlocked or unlockable phone (fastboot oem unlock is specific to Google's Nexus devices). So you can't correct mistakes like above yourself and the device manufacturers customer service may charge you and require to send your device in for servicing.

Regarding apt-get being unavailable on recovery, this is probably how it is supposed to be. apt-get is not a vital part of the Android or Ubuntu Phone/Snappy infrastructure, so it shouldn't be surprising that it isn't included in the recovery image, which is different from the recovery mode on the desktop.

Remember that you are on the phone and you get updates through OTA images or the store. You also shouldn't use apt-get, since you would need to reinstall and configure all packages again after an OTA update, this is how the phone works: apt-get is available but not guaranteed to work like on the desktop. I also doubt that the store offered you this package for installation.

One thing you could try is to the read the system logs if these are available from the recovery or even do exist and try to find out what keeps the phone from properly booting up (probably a confusing desktop configuration that can be replaced by a more mobile friendly one). If you can modify the system you can poke around and compare the state of your device with contents from the OTA or factory image. The goal is to get the phone booting again and have it flash the next OTA update when it is released that may return the device into a pristine condition, though there is no guarantee for that because OTAs are differential updates not complete system images.