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Save Our Souls (www.androidauthority.com)
submitted 3 months ago by to c/linuxphones@lemmy.ca
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Google is making it harder to build custom ROMs for Pixel phones

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[–] 70 points 3 months ago (21 children)

I'm very happy with GrapheneOS right now, but I can't wait to get my hands on a Linux phone to get away from Google's evil grip of death. But at the same time, there are lots of Android apps I need day to day...

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  • [–] [S] 23 points 3 months ago (19 children)

    ATL & Waydroid/Lepton will bridge you over

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  • [–] 18 points 3 months ago (18 children)

    Thank you, I'd heard of Waydroid with my limited research on Linux phones but not Lepton. I did a quick search and it seems like a fork of Waydroid by Valve. That's pretty cool! I'm trying to see if I can find a cheap, used Linux phone I can tinker with here in Japan because I don't have the balls to dive head first into the Linux phone environment as my daily driver.

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  • [–] 13 points 3 months ago (17 children)

    Ping me if you find a suitable target that isn't a pinephone. I'd like to have something that has a bit more horsepower.

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  • [–] 19 points 3 months ago (13 children)

    Looks like in maybe a month there will be a viable fairphone 6 with PostMarketOS (via user TheMightyCat):

    https://threadiverse.link/ani.social/post/35335064

    https://lemmy.ca/post/69034826

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  • [–] 6 points 2 months ago (12 children)

    I have a "close to viable on PmOS" Fairphone5 for 3 years now... sadly the devil is in the detail.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (11 children)

    Looking at the PostMarketOS Wiki for Fairphone 5, it looks like audio, camera, calls, nfc, and fingerprint are all partial or broken.

    themightycat@ani.social has been able to get audio, calls, and NFC working on the Fairphone 6. According to him, he is currently working on the camera(s) with another developer and also going to try and get the fingerprint reader working too).

    I'm not sure how compatible they are, but it might be worth asking if he could look at porting the Fairphone 6 to Fairphone 5 for people. Alternatively, all his additions are open source, so someone else could take a look and see if they are portable.

    Edit: corrected TheMightyCat's code repository link.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 months ago (7 children)

    I am not planning to work on the FP5 unless there is significant demand, might run a poll after i'm done with the FP6. The most sensible phone after the FP6 seems to be the FP6 plus that will be coming out, depends on how much of the hardware is the same but since its a refresh it should be pretty similar.

    Also you linked the wrong repo, my repo is: https://forgejo.catcrafts.net/Catcrafts/milos-linux

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago (6 children)

    Thanks for letting me know about the wrong link, should be fixed now.

    FP6+ makes sense. I initially figured you wouldn't go for the FP5, because I don't immediately see it for sale on the Fairphone website or anywhere else.

    By the way, I think it's really cool you're going to be offering FP6 w/ PostMarketOS in the near future. My phone is still in good working order (and don't want to create needless e-waste), but not excited about the Google lock-down, so may be looking to switch out in the next year. Depends if I can get any decent price for my phone, otherwise probably ride it until its closer to death or the google lock-down becomes too rough.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago* (5 children)

    There are some dutch websites that still sell the 5, but they are more expensive then the 6.

    https://www.redshell.nl/fairphone-5-5g-6gb128gb-matte-black/

    https://www.dustin.nl/product/5011353811/5

    It's hard to justify to myself to spend so much money on a last gen phone that would also take alot of time to get running.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    Not overly surprised that the FP5 is more expensive, given that in many aspects the FP6 was a downgrade.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    I'm not familiar with the changes made. Why was it a downgrade?

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago*

    The cpu, ram, screen, camera etc is pretty much the same specs, but the SoC went from an industrial grade one to a consumer grade one. Furthermore the FP6 only has USB2 and no display out. And last but not least, while the battery in the FP6 is a bit bigger, it is now a strange custom shape that you will never be able to find a new 3rd party replacement for in a few years, meaning all you will be able to buy is old stock from Fairphone itself that has already degraded to a certain extend.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    The wiki for the FP5 referrs to the stable branch afaik. Audio and calls are basically working, but as I said, the devil is in the details, like audio routing for calls and such. I wouldn't be overly surprised if similar issues apply to the FP6 port.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago*

    The FP6 has full working audio calls with my image, yes the issue with audio routing was also there for the FP6 port, so i solved it by stopping to try to solve it.

    Im doing IMS fully in userspace now, so it just goes via regular wireplumber instead of the modem's voice services.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago

    That would make sense. TheMightyCat did say it would be a while before his additions would make it into the stable branch.

    I recall one of his recent posts talking about the call audio routing issue and how he was able to solve it, but who knows, maybe an issue will pop up somewhere or I'm misunderstanding what he said in his posts.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 months ago

    I have a Pinephone, but my problem with it was always the software, not necessarily the hardware. (Maybe it's slow too, but it's hard to tell when it hardly does anything to begin with.)

    I haven't really touched it in a year or so, but if the software is better now then I think it would fulfill the role of "cheap, used Linux phone [k0e3] can tinker with" just fine.

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    • [–] 60 points 2 months ago (3 children)

    Im hard at work doing that.

    For everyone that asks what alternative there is: Im developing a fully workiny postmarketos build for the Fairphone 6, which is a modern phone unlike most linux supported phones, i regularly post my progress here if you're interested!

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  • [–] [S] 11 points 2 months ago

    I've been eagerly following all your posts. I think Fariphone is a great target with a history of others choosing it as a phone series to support. Thank you for your service, might just end up getting one from your shop.

    My biggest painpoint with transitioning from Android to Linux is no Bluetooth pass through to Waydroid, but that's a whole different thing.

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    • [–] 24 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    that's why they are already working with Motorola . it's know that Pixel 10 has a high potential to be the last GOS pixel .

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    • [–] 5 points 2 months ago

    Can someone explain to me why it's so hard for phones when they're basically just a computer?

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    [–] 2 points 2 months ago

    I just want a good phone that isn't Android or iOS but most reviews for Linux phone are negative and I'm not interested in buying a Pixel

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    22 comments in c/android@lemdro.id view that post
    [–] 57 points 3 months ago (15 children)

    I am hoping sooo much that those LinuxPhone projects get to basic call,network and photo functionality before Google completely locks down the ecosystem. GrapheneOS and LineageOS have served me well up to now but it looks like the noose is getting too tight.

    Hell, my wife is even asking if she can or should get a 5G 'flip phone' as she's heard how bad it might get soon.

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  • [–] 23 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    Yep, I'll definitely be getting a Fairphone 6 next: https://catcrafts.net/posts

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  • [–] 18 points 3 months ago

    I made the mistake to trust Fairphone when they released the Fairphone 3. They gave a shit about the Linux kernel and did not give you access to the source. It took heavy customer protest until they eventually complied to the GPL.

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  • [–] 12 points 3 months ago (5 children)

    I'm holding out that more manufacturers will see the demand for Androidless phones and will either partner with some OS like Motorola + GOS or maybe sell them with bootloader unlocked to install whichever OS is preferred.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago (4 children)

    You think Nothingphone might be next candidate for GOS? Their concept phone shipped without an OS at all.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    That video that they showed about that phone was 100% satire. Not to mention Nothing unfortunately is looking more and more like an Apple wannabe. Not trusting that company anymore after that crap.😒

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    For real? That concept phone really checked a lot of boxes for me haha

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago

    Yeah...it really did. Thats the phone that you, myself and so many want and they really dont realize how big of a customer base they would get if they put that plan into action.

    If the phone was real, i was so ready to be a customer of theirs. Ive been waiting for them to "make" a resonable size phone and not the phablets they have. Instead, they came out with the shitty Nothing 4b for their India market, which showed how bad in quality they've gotten. I highly dought after the phone 3 if theyll make good phones again. In the US market, only phone you can get of thiers is the Phone 3 and 4a pro (good luck trying to find the others) 😅

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  • [–] 10 points 3 months ago*

    Sailfish OS does have that functionality already and is not Android based but it does get a lot of hate for having some closed source UI components. So I guess it is a matter of requirements and priorities

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    • [–] 10 points 2 months ago* (2 children)

    Is ist just me or does anyone else find smartphones less and less appealing?

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago

    Yup. iPhones were interesting when they came out, but I wasn't a fan of how they were essentially pocket computers that you had no control over.

    Android came and solved that problem.... And now Google is trying to make Android into another iOS.

    I'm seriously considering a dumb phone for my next device unless we have an affordable option for a Linux phone, because I have little faith that Android will still be worth my while in another 5-10 years.

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    • [+] 16 points 2 months ago (2 children)
    [deleted]
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