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Where to buy a non-Apple, non-Google smartphone

271 points by _____k

by tgsovlerkhgsel

15 subcomments

The challenge isn't buying it, the challenge is being able to do phone things with it.
Nowadays, you can no longer exist in society without a phone. Most things will work but it takes one critical service that doesn't have a viable workaround, and you're forced to buy (and possibly carry) a "mainstream" phone just for that.
Banking, government, authentication, postal service and public transit apps are just some of the common categories that will, in the end, force you to use one of those systems, unless governments mandate viable alternatives. The QR-code based recaptcha that's being introduced will be another brick in the wall.
As an individual, it feels like my options are to either submit or try to live a hermit's life, bringing endless suffering and exclusion to myself.

by chappi42

8 subcomments

This article fails to mention GrapheneOS.
The article starts with Murena, Punkt, Volla which are all based on Android. If you do this, then imho you must mention GrapheneOS, the by far better option (updates, privacy, security, organisation).
Google Pixel with GrapheneOS is the best non-Google phone... ;-)

by ALLTaken

3 subcomments

Sounds very much like HarmonyOS. I was just in a Huawei Store and I think from a UI/UX perspective, despite being quite new, it's incredibly slick and leaps ahead in great design and integration within the HarmonyOS ecosystem. Even saw it being used as Laptop OS and Mobile, the convergence is quite applaudable.
The kindest was that the store's staff advised against buying the device as it's quite painful to use it with Google's apk & blobs, because it drains more battery than when it's integrated with your system services directly. I told him, that maybe rare, but I'm actually happy to not use Google apps as much as possible and especially not within my operating system. Another point he made was that 5G'A is blocked by Google, about that I know nothing to be honest.
Some Android forks are indeed quite nice, but the issue has always been the updating model, upstream maintenance and compatibility. With Harmony OS a large cooperation with the consumers in focus and the one developing the entire hardware stack is behind the OS development and maintenance making it safer against supply-chain hacks and a deeper integration possible than any other OS.

by janvlug

1 subcomments

I use a Librem5 Linux phone. With the default PureOS operating system.
Enjoy your freedom, break free from Google and Apple.
Have a full Linux computer in your pocket that you can also use for calling.
See also the discussion on this post: https://mastodon.social/@janvlug/116504044251287290

by pavlov

1 subcomments

Jolla still exists:
https://jolla.com/
They develop Sailfish, a non-Google Linux-based mobile OS that can apparently run Android apps decently in a sandbox.

by pokstad

0 subcomment

The majority of these phones are running a modified version of Android. I wouldn’t call that non-Google. There is a total lack of diversity in the phone market. I’ve been trying to find a minimal feature phone for my kids and looked at Nokia, but non-Android Nokia phones don’t support enough US cellular bands.

by skc

8 subcomments

Many years later and I'm still bitter that the tech press laughed Windows Phone out of the room straight to its demise. Yes it had very little developer support but at some point things were looking up. It was just the butt of too many jokes from influential people.
A third ecosystem right now would have been amazing

by netfortius

1 subcomments

Every such post brings tears to my Nokia history filled eyes...

by amelius

1 subcomments

Is anyone successfully running Android inside a container in Linux, for their daily apps?

by ecesena

1 subcomments

I’m surprised that the Seeker is not even mentioned. I understand it’s Solana, it’s blockchain, whatever people think about it... to me it’s the only serious attempt at creating an app store that can compete with apple or google. What’s the point of independent hardware if the whole sw stack is them?

by stgo

0 subcomment

I've been the owner of a murena (fairphone + /e/OS) for many years. I've never had the opportunity to check its repairability, that darn thing hasn't broken yet.

by w4rh4wk5

1 subcomments

At this point, I am thinking about connecting a stock Android phone to a server and access it via scrcpy from my laptop whenever I need to interact with some stupid app bs that could've just been a website.
At least this way I can keep the majority of bloat away from primary communications device.

by mentos

3 subcomments

What would a mobile OS look like if the browser became the operating system and apps were sandboxed WASM instead of native APKs?

by sigmoid10

1 subcomments

I really want to try one of these one day: https://devices.ubuntu-touch.io/promoted/
But I haven't dared yet because I kind of expect it will not be able to replace my current phone.

by 7e

0 subcomment

A key question: do any of these phones run an open-source baseband radio? Is that even allowed?

by smeggysmeg

1 subcomments

I moved to a Fairphone 6 with /e/OS a few weeks ago. I can do everything I need to, everything I want to, and with more control over my digital footprint and what data is being collected about me. I've completely moved off Google services.
The OS experience is pretty impressive for not being made by an evil megacorp. The hardware is fairly midrange, but midrange today is last year's top end, and unless you're some expert photographer or needing phone VR or whatever, it's a great, normal smartphone experience.
I'm donating to the open source devs who make my apps, and they respond when I ask for useful features instead of always enshittifying it. For the corpo apps, it pulls from Google Play.

by stephbook

0 subcomment

I've only looked into one device en detail, the Jolla.
Okay, no touch typing, maps apps don't start or don't find your location, WhatsApp probably doesn't work and I guess I don't have to start with banking apps.

by anjel

1 subcomments

So what happens when Law Enforcement plugs into your non apple, non Google Phones and runs its forensic apps on it?

by ElFitz

1 subcomments

I looked at Punkt.
They keep saying "If you don’t pay for the product, you are the product". Okay, all fine and well.
But what will my phone still actually be able to do if / when I stop my subscription? Not a single clear answer besides "[…] gradual feature deactivation, and ultimately reverting to a device running AOSP".
Doesn’t really inspire confidence.

by anta40

1 subcomments

So which one has the biggest chance to be Android/iOS alternative?
Many many years ago, smarphone users had these choices:
Symbian, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, PalmOS... what else?

by sedan_baklazhan

0 subcomment

I'm writing this reply from an AuroraOS phone (a descendant of Sailfish OS).
Yes, it is quite hard to get a non-duopoly smartphone..

by LorenDB

0 subcomment

It makes me sad that the F(x)tec Pro1 X never got a successor. It looks like a very cool phone.

by dwedge

0 subcomment

Given how many of these were running android, I'm surprised Mudita Kompakt wasn't listed.

by jiehong

0 subcomment

HarmonyOS from Huawei is no longer based on Android, but it’s not an open OS.

by nizbit

0 subcomment

Wonder how this works in a byod corp environment?

by everyone

1 subcomments

A less drastic option is get an Android phone and put Lineage Android on it. https://lineageos.org/
There's a bunch of officially supported phones but most Android phones will have unofficial support also.

by trvz

1 subcomments

> But can I run my apps?
> Well, probably, yes.
Even with "probably" as a qualifier, this is disingenuous.
Not even Android has caught up to the highest tier of apps available on iOS.

by attila-lendvai

0 subcomment

err, what? not a single mention of grapheneos in the entire article?

by krembo

0 subcomment

< it was 18 cm long, 9 cm wide, and 2.8 cm thick, and weighed just over a third of a kilo. (For our readers in Liberia, Myanmar and elsewhere, that's 7 × 3½ × 1.1 inches, and ¾ lb.)
LMAO

by greatgib

0 subcomment

What I miss a lot is to be able to have a kind of "virtual" android running in a cloud instance. That could look legit to Google to not be restricted by integrity check and all. But there I could share access to my single instance to my multiple non Google non play store devices, eventually sharing access between multiple persons...
Like for example, every crappy things like banks nowadays requires their own shitty app. It might be a pain in the ass to share between phones or to reinstall if you lose or change your phone. And all these useless app consume really a lot of storage resulting in my phone's being always full.
That would be perfect to access it in a kind of remote access for use once in a while.

by bekon

0 subcomment

[dead]

by DeathArrow

3 subcomments

I usually buy either Xiaomi or Oppo phones and I am pretty happy.