Escaping Duopoly: Best 5 Linux Smartphones Without Performance Security Excuses

https://nixsanctuary.com/escaping-the-duopoly-top-best-5-linux-smartphones-without-performance-and-security-excuses/

by paulcarroty • 3 years ago

48 28 3 years ago

nixsanctuary.com

TruthWillHurt• 3 years ago

This article has outdated information and lacks experience and understanding of this ecosystem.

Sent from my PinePhone Pro.

pixel8account• 3 years ago

Can you share some examples of the outdated information and the lack of understanding by the authors, so we may all learn? From a quick skim I noticed the article mentions CopperheadOS, even though it was renamed to GrapheneOS in 2019, so I'm inclined to believe there are more outdated pieces of information. But again, highlighting the misleading fragments would be an even more valuable comment.

fsflover5• 3 years ago

So why wouldn't you give a link to a better, up-to-date article, since there is seemingly a lot of interest (upvotes) for the topic?

Sent from my Librem 5, while my Pinephone running Mobian lies beside.

abdullahkhalids2• 3 years ago

I would love a PinePhone, but for me a phone means WhatsApp and Signal, as that is the primary way I keep in touch with people across the world.

What possibility is there for such android apps to ever run on PinePhone?

jeroenhd• 3 years ago

I have no PinePhone myself, but Waydroid has install instructions for at least two mobile Linux distributions: https://docs.waydro.id/usage/install-on-desktops#postmarket-...

You won't be able to run banking software or play DRM content this way, but I think WhatsApp and Signal should work. I can imagine some features not working (video calling, cloud backups) but basic chat should work.

xethos• 3 years ago

Sibling mentioned Waydroid, but I've been using Matrix and bridges.

This means there's only a single app that needs to find updates to messages - a major boon on de-Googled Android too. Everything's in one place, from Whatsapp to Discord to Telegram. Best of all, there's a variety of clients for Matrix. Telegram, Whatsapp, and Signal have desktop applications for Linux, but they're lukewarm at best - some have scaling issues due to screen size, some are objectively not meant to be used standalone.

Innervisio• 3 years ago

I just skimmed trough the article, but genuinely if someone has experience: Of all the either Linux or alternative OS phones out there, have someone had great experience with Camera Quality on these phones?

One thing that is keeping me from changing is the camera quality. I had a Huawei P30 pro and it was sick. Then i changed to the iPhone 13Pro and again, also top. But i still have not seen convincing hardware integration with good lenses on these mobiles.

mrweasel2• 3 years ago

But it was never about the performance or security, it was always about the applications. I can probably reduce the number of apps that I truly need and many can be replaced by open source alternatives, but I'd still have one or two that won't available outside the App Store or Play Store. I'm more attached to those apps than I am the operating system running on my phone, but that still doesn't help me escape the duopoly because large corporations, governments and banks enable Google and Apple.

fabrice_d• 3 years ago

Can you list these apps?

Wowfunhappy• 3 years ago

I'm not OP, but:

1. There's an app I use to operate and pay for the laundry machine in the basement of my apartment building.

2. There's an app I use during fire drills--I'm a a teacher--to confirm all my students made it out of the building.

3. There's an app I use to see the real-time location of the private bus which picks me up in the morning.

(None of these apps have equivalents on the web.)

The connecting thread is that I didn't really choose to use these services, someone else chose for me.

LesZedCB• 3 years ago

pagerduty/opsgenie is the one that got me

mrweasel2• 3 years ago

MobilePay (Danish payment system) is probably the main one I have left. The entire family is on either iMessage or Snapshot, but I could probably do with SMS or push a few of them to Signal, so not a huge lose there.

Everything else I have managed to move to my computer or replace with alternatives, but the payment one, it's basically the only way to transfer money to friends and family, that isn't a major hassle.

MostlyStable• 3 years ago

Curious about what apps you really can't replace. I think the vast majority of my usage could be replicated in browser. I had thought that maybe my only one would be the 2-factor authentication that my bank uses, but I just checked and they have a hardware token I could get if it didn't work on linux. Almost everything else I do would work in browser (although admittedly the reddit mobile browser experience is pretty terrible. Then again, me spending less time on reddit wouldn't be the worst thing in the world)

fsflover5• 3 years ago

You can run Android apps on GNU/Linux phones with Waydroid. Works for me, but depends on your bank.

hooooooray• 3 years ago

[Quoting:] "But it was never about the performance or security, some things won't be available outside the App Store or Play Store, because large corporations, governments and banks enable Google and Apple."

OT: so when you are going to rent an appartment you have to do it via an app like airbnb (in german: there is a "vivawest-app", and you can not visit the appartment physicaly before you sign a (minimum 3 month) contract (to rent from them), no -you'd have to use the app for a "sightseeing" (cos "migrants" and um you wont know or hear about otherwise))?

There's once was a saying (in german): "lass dich nicht ver-äpp-eln" (-;

regards...

edoceo• 3 years ago

DE => EN == "don't let anyone kid you"

fsflover5• 3 years ago

If you're interested in escaping the duopoly, you should not buy or run Android, which is dependent on Google one way or another, or anything on top of Android. Consider Librem 5 (https://puri.sm/products/librem-5) or Pinephone (https://pine64.org/pinephone), which run desktop GNU/Linux and provide true independence, lifetime updates and a possibility to run desktop apps, including original Firefox (if you connect a screen/keyboard, they turn into a desktop).

zilti• 3 years ago

Both of those phones are absolutely pathetic performance-wise.

fsflover5• 3 years ago

It depends on what you do. Browsing with Javascript off is great, Youtube works fine. Also, most software is not yet fully optimized; if you want to see what both phones can do when it is, have a look at SXMo: https://man.sr.ht/~anjan/sxmo-docs-stable/

hobobaggins• 3 years ago

I wanted to love this article, but:

The Fairphone's use of eco-friendly materials has a positive impact on the environment. The use of ethically sourced materials helps to ensure that the mining of these materials is done in a responsible and sustainable manner, with fair labor practices and minimal environmental damage. This can help to reduce the negative impacts of mining on local communities and ecosystems. Additionally, the use of recycled materials in the phone's construction helps to reduce electronic waste and the demand for most used resources. Overall, the Fairphone 4's design and materials choices reflect a commitment to sustainability and ethical practices, which can have a positive impact on the environment and society.
Overall, the Volla Phone X23 seems to be a solid choice for those looking for a rugged smartphone with a unique operating system and features.
Overall, the Sony Xperia 1 is a good choice for those looking for a high-end smartphone with a focus on entertainment.

Overall, couldn't I have just asked ChatGPT for this article?

coffeecat• 3 years ago

The PinePhone Pro is another smartphone designed for Linux, that's an upgrade from the original PinePhone. It has a faster processor, more memory, and improved storage. The display is larger and has Gorilla Glass 4 for scratch resistance. The cameras have been upgraded, and the device will be available for pre-order soon.

The PPP's been out for like two years now. This article is dated today... but I suppose that would have been correct around the time of ChatGPT's training data cutoff.

puttycat• 3 years ago

It does read very weird, I also suspected it being AI.

minimalist• 3 years ago

Just to add an anecdote substance unlike [0], I wouldn't really recommend the Pinephone Pro as anything more than a development platform. It has the "same" chip (clocked differently) as the Pinebook Pro, which is a considerable amount of TDP for such a small package and a small battery. The result is: lots of thermal throttling and the battery lives for a few hours tops.

At least the camera is working now!

But as someone mentioned, this article still references CopperheadOS, which does has not existed for a long time and reads like a content-mill piece. It's not a very good article :(

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38423655

aromaticrose• 3 years ago

GrapheneOS is under active development and has interesting privacy and security features.

https://grapheneos.org/

https://grapheneos.org/features

edrxty• 3 years ago

I daily drive graphene. It's very good and I haven't had any issues with it. I think the security/privacy claims are somewhat overstated but it's definitely better than stock and gives you a lot of freedom in terms of how you mitigate advance of the Google empire.

tholdem• 3 years ago

I'd be interested to hear more about the security/privacy overstatements.

Escaping Duopoly: Best 5 Linux Smartphones Without Performance Security Excuses

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