Do you dislike your dependency on Android? To the rescue comes Mobile Linux "PostmarketOS" - Funded via Donations (link to 2025 Priorities -> Focus on Reliabilty, Audi, Camera, etc)
Do you dislike your dependency on Android? To the rescue comes Mobile Linux "PostmarketOS" - Funded via Donations (link to 2025 Priorities -> Focus on Reliabilty, Audi, Camera, etc)
Aiming for a 10 year life-cycle for smartphones
A notable mention is https://ubports.com/en/ which is different from postmarketos in a sense that ubports uses old kernels with heavy patches. That means: good support for things, but difficult future.
PostmarketOS uses the newest kernels and tries to integrate their patches into mainline kernel, so that the reliability is maintained with all kernel developers.
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I can't wait for Linux phones to be stable enough for a daily driver.
2026 will be the year of the linux phone
Please stop. I can’t get my dick back into my trousers.
Given that Win10 is getting deprecated this year and Win11 has specific hardware requirements, I think 2025 could be the year of the linux PC. I'll be curious to see how massive corporations for which this would mean millions or billions in hardware upgrades to stick with Win will square that circle.
Enterprises just lease desktops / laptops and replace them with the latest version of Windows... my team used to be after reasons to get the latest OS / laptop, now IT have to prise them out of their hands
I only use my desktop for gaming now but it's old and won't run Win11. I'm going for a SteamOS general release then I'll just drop windows on there altogether
XD
The FuriPhone, which runs the FuriOS Linux distribution (based on Debian), has a polished enough user experience that it can be used as a daily driver by many people.
I somehow only recently saw this (few weeks ago) but man it looks awesome. I'm curious how well the android layer works as I haven't used waydroid in a long time.
It's not cheap enough to take a lark on is my only qualm.
Here's a demonstration of Waydroid on FuriOS and the accompanying blog post from 6 months ago. I'm obviously not a fan of X (Twitter), but the video shows that the app works in the Android container.
Yes, I also hope to see the price go down.
They are already. My Redmi Note 7 runs Droidian perfectly.
Really? I'll have to do some searching online. I have a Mi 10T around here somewhere.
I also have a mi10t! Broken, that is. Idk if you want to know bout it, but it falled down from my bycicle when I was at Sanremo and a car passed on top of it. Screen broken. Tankfully you could still see things and the touch was working, so I managed to get back home (≈100km). But then the next day it wouldn't boot. His soul left me.. He just stayed with me enought time to help me get home...
🥹
It seems like Linux-compatible android handsets stopped around 2021. Except a few bespoke models that are hard to get your hands on outside of Europe.
I have a OnePlus Nord N10 flashed with Ubuntu Touch as a tinker device, unfortunately in the US it's not daily-able because we shut down 3g and 2g networks and they still haven't managed to get VoLTE working on Ubuntu Touch yet (though it may be coming in the next year!) so phone calls don't work.
There's also the Pixel 3a/3a XL which are plentiful and cheap but I like the N10 a bit more because of the additional RAM. Makes it feel a little less old compared to the Pixel.
If you can get your hands on a Fairphone, Pinephone or Volla those are great but hard to get outside the EU.
Sorry but the pinephone is not great. I have one and its extremely underpowered to the point of uselessness.
Its like trying to use a 486 to as a current desktop.
Are you saying I could get Linux running on my Fairphone 3+?
Mind you, yeah, 3G switch off would then make life difficult...
Sure. Looks like on Ubuntu Touch the only thing not working is the fingerprint reader
https://devices.ubuntu-touch.io/device/fp3/
The OS in general isn't ready for daily use though. It's maybe doable if all you need is text, calls, camera, and a browser. And the calls only work in some countries. But it's fun to play with.
Good luck, phone hardware changes very fast though.
I'm okay with an older phone, I just want basic features to work consistently and well. Maybe support a newer phone every 5 years or so to provide an upgrade path.
Basically, I'm okay with the GrapheneOS strategy of sticking to one product line.
My Xperia z3c from 2014 would be perfectly fine to use right now if Google didn't absolutely bloat the crap out of their products and it had an easily replaceable battery. If companies would just support their products for longer or release the sources when it's out of support i probably would have skipped several phone upgrades. But that's probably exactly why they don't.
I was just thinking about my moto x play still working. Shame about updates
Same. I still have my previous phone, but I don't use it anymore because it's insecure, not because it's broken. I'm still using a laptop that's even older precisely because it gets security updates since it runs Linux.
I'd absolutely lay a premium for longer support and it's a large part of why I got a Pixel this time around, they advertise 7 years of support and I hope to hold them to that.
So does pc hardware but Linux can breathe new life into even an old PC since the bloat does grow at the same rate as the hardware unlike other OSes
New PC hardware is mostly compatible with the old stuff or at least somewhat standardized except at the lowest end. Phone stuff is much worse about that. Idk what a Linux phone would mean anyway.
Yet the performance basically peaked already. They are doing 15% increases at the top end and less for the cheapest phones.
There are significant features being added too. Like satellite messaging in areas with no cell coverage can be pretty worthwhile. You're right though, most other stuff is meh. I'd like wireless charging for my current phone but can do without it. I have a $250 phone from 2023 and don't understand why anyone buys a flagship.
Maybe whenever slider phones with full keyboards come back. Typing in the terminal would be a real chore otherwise.
You do get used to it to some degree, but yes please bring the keyboards back
I mean probably never? You'd have to design hardware specifically that's compatible with Linux, which would cost a fortune, in the hopes of selling a whole bunch of them, and they can't even get large numbers of people to use Linux for free.
You’d have to design hardware specifically that’s compatible with Linux
What makes you think that?
I don't know how to answer that. Because most hardware is not compatible.
The only thing that is lacking for compatibility is drivers. If that's what you meant you should have said so instead of saying hardware needs to be designed. If that's not what you meant then you don't know what you're talking about.
I see that person everywhere. 2k comments in 3 months. They genuinely do not know much of anything. I tagged them as "bad faith actor/unintelligent". Best to avoid engaging with them.
Yeah probably lol
If the hardware doesn't have drivers then it's incompatible 🤷
You're just embarrassing yourself at this point.
Explain how I'm wrong or go away. Your unwarranted personal insults are not welcome.
EZ. Your original totally incorrect comment that you're trying to pretend didn't mean what it obviously meant.
You’d have to design hardware specifically that’s compatible with Linux
You don't have to design hardware you have to write drivers.
It's OK to admit you're wrong.
I'm not pretending anything. And I'm not gonna continue engaging with you with this completely unnecessary tone. You don't know what you're talking about. Goodbye.
If you're so sensitive to being corrected the easy way to avoid it is to simply not create misinformation in the first place.
they already exist, the (software) interface is what needs work.
The best solution today is to get actual phone / text apps working on the handhelds and just start using steamdecks etc lmao.
VOIP solutions obviously already do work.