Graphene OS is in limbo, and generally the Android project seems to be at risk with sideloading going to be disallowed by vendors, putting at risk /e/ OS, Lineage OS, and other private android projects.
This has given me renewed interest in the mobile linux ecosystem. For about a year in Uni I full-time drove a pinephone (pic related) and it was functional. I could make phone calls, send text messages, take awful photos, and get directions. It was a very high friction experience though, the pinephone was incredibly underpowered, and it lacked battery life. As soon as I got a job and a girlfriend I had to drop it for a real phone that could do real phone things. Ive been using Graphene OS on a pixel since.
So whats bad?
The Pinephone is still sold. Its good to hack on and its modem has been reverse engineered (iykyk). The Pinephone Pro is cheeks.
The Librem 5 is underpowered PoS.
Theres the Jolla phone which seems decent, but it currently only has 4G support and seems to be out of stock everywhere
Whats good?
The Fairphone seems solid. Its android by default but supports linux projects like Ubuntu Touch. It has actually performative hardware, micro SD support, and a reasonable price of 550 Euro.
https://forum.fairphone.com/t/fairphone-6-linux-compatibility/123874/3
The FXTec Pro1 is a keyboard phone with Linux support and seems super nice honestly.
https://store.fxtec.com/pro1/
https://community.fxtec.com/topic/3597-pro1-x-with-ubuntu-touch/
Shiftphone 8 has good hardware, kill switches, but it has no aux or micro SD slots. It seems to support PostMarket OS
https://www.shift.eco/en/shiftphone-8/
https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/SHIFT_SHIFTphone_8_(shift-otter)
Volla phones. ALL Volla phones support Ubuntu Touch. Volla has a lot of good options. With phones supporting MicroSD, 5G, and Aux (though no one phone has all of those features). There are no hardware kill switches (though most implementations of those are kind of just a gimmick)
https://volla.online/en/operating-systems/ubuntu-touch/
There seems to be a lot of good hardware options now. FXTec looks really cool, but Volla looks like it has very good linux support.
As far as software goes, Ive found only PostMarketOS (stock or SXMO) and Ubuntu Touch are actually usable day to day.
Anyone here rocking a linux phone day to day? Im really thinking about getting the fxtec
This has given me renewed interest in the mobile linux ecosystem. For about a year in Uni I full-time drove a pinephone (pic related) and it was functional. I could make phone calls, send text messages, take awful photos, and get directions. It was a very high friction experience though, the pinephone was incredibly underpowered, and it lacked battery life. As soon as I got a job and a girlfriend I had to drop it for a real phone that could do real phone things. Ive been using Graphene OS on a pixel since.
So whats bad?
The Pinephone is still sold. Its good to hack on and its modem has been reverse engineered (iykyk). The Pinephone Pro is cheeks.
The Librem 5 is underpowered PoS.
Theres the Jolla phone which seems decent, but it currently only has 4G support and seems to be out of stock everywhere
Whats good?
The Fairphone seems solid. Its android by default but supports linux projects like Ubuntu Touch. It has actually performative hardware, micro SD support, and a reasonable price of 550 Euro.
https://forum.fairphone.com/t/fairphone-6-linux-compatibility/123874/3
The FXTec Pro1 is a keyboard phone with Linux support and seems super nice honestly.
https://store.fxtec.com/pro1/
https://community.fxtec.com/topic/3597-pro1-x-with-ubuntu-touch/
Shiftphone 8 has good hardware, kill switches, but it has no aux or micro SD slots. It seems to support PostMarket OS
https://www.shift.eco/en/shiftphone-8/
https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/SHIFT_SHIFTphone_8_(shift-otter)
Volla phones. ALL Volla phones support Ubuntu Touch. Volla has a lot of good options. With phones supporting MicroSD, 5G, and Aux (though no one phone has all of those features). There are no hardware kill switches (though most implementations of those are kind of just a gimmick)
https://volla.online/en/operating-systems/ubuntu-touch/
There seems to be a lot of good hardware options now. FXTec looks really cool, but Volla looks like it has very good linux support.
As far as software goes, Ive found only PostMarketOS (stock or SXMO) and Ubuntu Touch are actually usable day to day.
Anyone here rocking a linux phone day to day? Im really thinking about getting the fxtec
