I have been looking at Fairphone and Volla, and it feels like the Smartphone scene for Linux is going very strong right now.

Think of it like this: We got 3-4 end-user ready Ubports smartphones, made by IN Europe(Volla/Gigaset is), with recent hardware, swappable battery, very good service and repairability in various formats. You can even purchase Gigaset phones (commercial equivalents of Volla) in stores/Amazon for a very good price.

The immediate orbiters of Linux smartphones like Fxtec, Planet Computers and Jolla are also based here.

I think we reached the year of the Linux phones. Atleast it is not the niche it was in 2020. I wonder how usable ubports is. If you got any experience with these phpnes on ubports, feel free to share.

      • flashgnash@lemm.ee
        3·
        1 year ago

        I’ve looked into this already, contactless payment will not work on waydroid or anything that isn’t stock

    • rglullis@communick.newsEnglish
      21·
      1 year ago

      WhatsApp

      Though I’d rather recommend you just get out of WhatsApp entirely (it’s still owned by Meta after all), one way to go would be by using a matrix client (like element) with the WhatsApp bridge.

        • rglullis@communick.newsEnglish
          31·
          1 year ago

          The messages would still go through WhatsApp, but they are e2ee anyway. The part where it would protect you is that you wouldn’t have the app installed on your device, so Facebook won’t be able to get your location, access your contact list, etc.

  • iturnedintoanewt@lemmy.world
    3·
    1 year ago

    Are these true Linux phones? Or are we talking Android loader/drivers then launching a Linux session? So far the only two devices i know to be true Linux phones are the Pinephone and the Librem.

    • HarriPotero@lemmy.world
      2·
      1 year ago

      Jolla is the successor to Nokia’s Maemo/Meego OS which was proper Linux. Jolla does have seamless Android emulation. They don’t do their own phones anymore, though.

      • Ew0@slrpnk.net
        1·
        1 year ago

        This, if there’s a successor (an actual working one), it’s probably SailfishOS. Runs pretty well on my Xperia 10 III and the UI is super nice :)

      • iturnedintoanewt@lemmy.world
        0·
        1 year ago

        Yeah but is it a low level android or is it a full Linux boot? As mentioned, the only two phones I know of that boot full Linux from scratch with Linux drivers are the Pinephone (and the Pinephone Pro) and the Librem 5. Both with their own set of issues.

        • CAPSLOCKFTW@lemmy.ml
          1·
          1 year ago

          It is 100% Linux with 0% Android. I had a Volla Phone X for a few weeks.

          Edit: It uses vendor blobs to communicate with the hardware. Besides that, it used some lineageOS code in Halium, which is a layer between ubuntu touch and the vendor blobs.

  • Eugenia@lemmy.ml
    2·
    1 year ago

    I use the Murena /e/ OS (developed in France). It’s android-based, but totally degoogled (more so than LineageOS). Happy with it so far. I also installed Ubuntu Touch in an older phone, but it’s definitely not ready.

  • cmeerw@programming.dev
    1·
    1 year ago

    I am actually running Tizen on a Samsung A5 - bit of a shame that no one else seems to be interested in Tizen…

    • NGnius@lemmy.ca
      0·
      1 year ago

      By default, Fairphone uses Android yeah. But Ubports has support for some of their models.

    • Bondrewd@lemmy.worldOP
      1·
      1 year ago

      Newer Gigaset phones are made in Germany. Volla phones are rebranded Gigaset devices.

      I messed up in case of Fairphones, I will fix that. Although that phone is about fair worker conditions to begin with.

    • Bondrewd@lemmy.worldOP
      1·
      1 year ago

      Because words are used on basis of usefulness. Non-useful meanings die out. This community is primarily a platform and only vaguely centered around Linux.

      Neither is the BSD community closer to playstation users.