Anyone using a Linux Smarphone?

I was using the nokia N900 since it was first released and then I'd buy new or used ones every couple years when it broke. Apparently some factory in China made a bunch of extras. That lasted about a decade.

Then when the librem5 was first announced I sent them some money. Funny enough that after that Pine64 both announced and finished developing their pinephone before the librem5 got released. So I got one of those and then one of the pinephone pros.

Eventually the librem5 came out and I've been using that since then. The functionality of the switches makes all the difference for me. That, and the extra thickness makes it more portable and easier to use and handle than the pinephones.

Nothing has come close to competing with the N900. That has been the best cell phone I have ever had by a lot.. since I got my first winmobile phone back in 2002. It was the perfect size and the keyboard was extremely functional. The stylus was super handy as well, although you typically never needed it, but it did make using more desktop type software on a small touch screen a lot more handy.

The impression that I get from modern linux smartphone developers is that almost none of them have any experience outside of the limited design model of iphone and android phones. So even if they are aware of the N900 and what they are, they don't have an understanding of what has been lost when Steve Jobs insisted that not having a keyboard was a "good thing" just because they wanted to cut manufacturing costs. Remember, this is the guy that use to insist that mice should only have 1 button. I'm an artist, I like aesthetics too, but functionality comes first when you are developing tools.

To summarize the strengths of the N900 outside of running linux: the small overall pocket friendly size, the fold out keyboard was easy to use when needed and out of the way when not needed. The stylus wasn't needed for software designed for the mobile platform, but it made all the difference when using software not made for the mobile platform. That and the hardware keyboard. When you got all that functionality built in, you don't have to fake it on an overly large screen that barely fits in your pocket. And that screen does a crap job of it.

Sorry about the rant. I've developed strong opinions on this topic over the last couple decades.

As for my current use... mostly I've moved away from using a smartphone as much. Its not healthy and isn't an efficient tool for doing computer stuff. And as I mentioned, they aren't that portable since they're so damn big now. They make them thin now, but that just makes them harder to use/hold and doesn't increase the room in your pocket any. I now find doing phone calls with a voip setup to be easier. I got everything routed through my email inbox and find that to be easiest.

Most people aren't going to agree with me on this. Most people first learned the iphone/droid model and they base their opinions on that.

Yes, running OnePlus 6 with Mobile NixOS (actually mostly just NixOS with a couple modules from mobile NixOS). I will try to make the config public when I get it into a less rough state. It's... useable as a daily phone, but you have to be really into it to do it.

It's not like desktop Linux where if you're a tech enthusiast you can ignore a few rough edges and just use it like you would a more mainstream OS.

I had to flash a specific old version of OxygenOS, using almost undocumented tools, which could easily brick the phone if something went wrong, just for GPS to work. I have to recompile my kernel every time it updates. I had to write my own scripts for the hardware slider thing to work (which has a nice benefit of letting me use it for whatever I want; I want to make it switch between NORMAL and INSERT in my editor just as a laugh).

I can't even get wire guard to work and he's writing his own scripts for a Linux phone. How do I get this knowledge?
- When I.lernt coding backnin the 2000s we had the term "Horas de aplanar el culo" (hours of flattening ass) shit takes time, patience, perseverance and the humility of always remember that some possibly asian kid did it in a fraction of the time with a fraction of the body hair you have. But that doesn't invalidate what you did.
- Honestly, it's mostly just trying shit out, breaking your install and fixing it, and having fun. In the grand scheme of things doing all that stuff is not that difficult, mostly tedious; my day job involves more complex and often interesting problems. It's just gluing together things which other people wrote, looking at what breaks, and either fixing it properly or just hacking it together with perl.
  Finally, I can confide to you that I've spent half a day getting wireguard working on that very phone a couple months ago, only to find out it was because I didn't poke the right holes in the firewall :)
I also have a OnePlus 6 with Mobile NixOS. I haven't been able to get audio or camera to function, so it's just a toy on m desk at the moment. Other than that and a few UI quirks, it's serviceable.
- Audio works for me (with pulseaudio). The camera doesn't work for me either.
I got a oneplus 6 to install nixos, but I'm currently using LineageOS as I kind of got stuck on the nixos install, and I needed a phone. I previously had nixos on a pinephone and it was cool but too slow to use seriously.
I have a second oneplus 6 with a wonky usb port, am going to try to fix that and maybe give nixos another go. Sounds like its even more hassly than I thought!

I wish Ununtu Touch switched name, since its neither Ubuntu nor Canonical any longer.

Hang in you mean Ubuntu touch right? There's no such thing as Ubuntu touch?

A bit late to the party here, but today I flashed Ubuntu Touch onto a Xiaomi Poco X3, and it's... well, it's rough.

All the base functionality seems to be there, calls should work (not sure because I didn't test them extensively), sms works, location/gps works, nfc is supported, camera is.. passable, battery life is certainly, and noticeably worse but that's a given - when on standby, the battery goes down roughly 8% every 5 hours, so approx. 27% per day on standby.

While I'm really glad to see how much Linux phone development sped up, they are still nowhere near daily driver status - even the phones built with Linux support in mind are not faring well from what I've seen. Even then, I'm keeping this Poco X3 because Android's days seem to be numbered.

Sony Xperia III with Sailfish OS flashed on it. Running Android emulation for a few apps like local public transport, K9 Mail. No Google.

Nice thing its easily programmable in Python / Guile / Rust. Plus has a FLOSS Linux app store.

I also have a Gemini PDA with a physical keyboard, which runs Sailfish as well. It's nice to use vim on it.

Is sailfish OS a better experience than postmarketOS in general?
- I have not compared them. It works fine.

I went from Sailfish, to Ubuntu phone, back to Sailfish,
then bought a Pinephone due to the war,
not knowing if the Finnish company would survive
before going back to Sailfish.

Pinephone, despite it being the most linux of phones, used up too much battery power.
Ubuntu phones were already miles better.

Ubuntu phones were already miles better
Unfortunately none of them shipped with a modem that worked on american networks. ;[
I would have loved to have given one of those a chance.

I just fat-fingered myself into a need for a new phone. I'd really like to get away from Android, but I've yet to hear anyone say any smartphone running Linux is ready for daily driving.

😢

Huh, I've never noticed you write a message without the need to replace a "th" before.
- Sometimes, sentences come togeþer wiþ so many in a row I feel self-conscious. More rarely, I produce one, or none.
  You become hyper-aware of how heavily English relies on "th" when you walk þis paþ.
I have been waiting for 10 years or more. And it still isn't. It will never be unfortunately.
- I do think it will move way faster the shitter android gets.
- Eh they said that about desktop Linux not that long ago

I wish... and I did try. You can see my post history but basically PinePhone and PinePhone Pro sitting neatly on the shelf.

They work. Sure, but between battery life or rather power management, lack of camera on the Pro, lack of MIPS on the base model to use Android apps via Waydroid, I had a lot of fun tinkering, but for me these are not daily drives.

For now I'm stuck with deGoogle Android thanks to /e/OS pre-installed by Murena on a CMF Nothing 1. It's neat thanks to F-Droid, Termux, KDE Connect, GadgetBridge, etc but overall I'd much rather be on Linux proper. If there is a path please do share.

I daily drive a Librem 5. First thing to note is do not expect a well polished experience. Battery life is bad, only about 4 hours of light use, and 8 or so hours if left in suspend. It can do VoLTE, send SMS, use web apps and any apps coded with libadwaita or kirigami. Other desktop apps can be forced to scale on the display, but it won't be perfect.

I use Signal desktop as my main means of communication on the Librem 5. I have a spare normie phone for setup, but Waydroid is an option. I do use Waydroid for a few apps that have no web browser equivalent.

Idk, all I can say is, you have to really want it to live with it. I don't do gaming or heavy social media use or anything removed that, so it is just fine for me. But it's definitely not for everyone.

Is that battery life in airplane mode or not? Curious how long you get in airplane mode.
- You could probably stretch it to 10-12 hours if you turn all the hardware kill switches to off, which activates "lockdown mode." It turns off every sensor on the device.

I daily drive Ubuntu Touch on a Fairphone 5. It's not without quirks, but I like the experience. Many practical and nice native apps, Android app support through Waydroid, banking and things that would require Google Play verification I solve through the browser. Fairly good battery life, VoLTE is solved for the FP5 and some other models (which has been an issue with many Linux phones) and the community is very active solving issues and helping each other day and night.

Warning: the devs of waydroid said it should never be trusted for sensitive use, due to security issues

I wanted PinePhone to work decently so I could daily drive it but when I got it it was already far behind from my old phone hardware-wise. PostmarketOS had run roughly. It was kinda usable but I couldn't manage to use Signal on it (it was a desktop app that time). GPS wasn't working either. 2 most important things for me. Battery life was also abysmal.

This was years ago though, PostmarketOS is probably much much better now. I sold that PinePhone so I don't know its current state. I wouldn't expect more from what I tried.

If I'm gonna get a Linux phone now, I want to see a good Android app emulation. At least until we get real alternatives. I still need a couple apps from Aurora Store. F-Droid apps have a better chance to be ported to Linux from Google Play ones anyway.

Really sad about the Pinephone, because you know what Pine did SO WELL? The PineTime. That device is still incredible and has lasted me a long time.
It shows time, and it shows messages, even a decent heartrate monitor! Built like a tank, too. I wish more of their products could be this awesome.
Same boat here. I still futz with my PinePhone but mostly as a portable music/video player.
Eagerly awaiting the rebirth of CalyxOS

Looking forward to oniro OS

oneplus 6T and poco F1 on mobian and postmarketOS. SDM845 devices with 8 GB RAM and fast storage, about the peak of performance you can have nowadays for about $50 apiece. I'd encourage anyone to get a cheap device, fun to play around with and prepare for the day when it becomes viable. ubuntu touch is also possible, but since it's halium (like android + linux VM) it wants me to downgrade to Android 9 which is virtually impossible for me; the former two run full linux kernels and don't have that limitation - spotty hardware support, though.

performance is acceptable, the power to do almost anything you want, access whatever and whenever you want. I run it without broadband, just wifi. the cameras are unusable. since I keep the modem off, GPS doesn't work either. so it's a linux laptop with touch, basically. the apps are a shitshow, rarely will you find one that supports touch and adapts to the vertical zoomed-in screen.

but it's getting better, shit's way better now than it was only a year ago and eventually it'll get there.

as long as you're aware it's not an android alternative, you'll have a good time.

I'm using Sailfish OS on a Jolla C2 phone. The OS is great, very good native software and it also runs Android apps.

Wikipedia states the UI layer is propriertary, is that true?
- Jolla is in the process of open sourcing components. See this forum post from today .
- Some components are proprietary. See https://docs.sailfishos.org/Develop/Open_Source/ .
How's your experience been with the GPS? I have been using sailfish on a Sony phone and loved it but getting a GPS lock just took forever for me.
- Oh yeah, I also daily drive a Sony with Sailfish (Xperia XA2) and the GPS is very unreliable to get a lock. It's very rare that it works sadly. Other than that the phone works very well.
- Works well enough for me, it's comparable to my Android phones. But I'm not a heavy GPS user.

I have a Xiaomi Mi A2 that I ran ubuntu touch on. The camera didn't work, and it was based on ubuntu 16.04. They've dropped support for it now. It was not ready to be a daily driver.

I should be getting a poco x3 nfc in the mail tomorrow. It should have excellent support on both postmarketos and ubuntu touch. I don't expect it to be a daily driver, but I can't get the idea out of my head. I don't like where iOS and Android are headed.

FYI there's !linuxphones@lemmy.ml and !linuxphones@lemmy.ca if you're looking for more enthusiasts

I just got myself a fairphone gen 6. I want to put postmarket OS on it, but had a kind of rough start. Haven't gotten it working yet :(

eOS works great for me on my fairphone 5, I suspect the model 6 is similar. Just be VERY careful about the anti-rollback protection, read the install instructions carefully and follow them exactly. And don't use the easy installer, it can brick your phone.
https://doc.e.foundation/devices/FP6/install
For everyone else, here are the supported devices:
https://doc.e.foundation/devices
- eOS is based on aosp though.
Ive got a 4. Its pretty fantastic on /e/ so far.

If you are, you’re usually limited to progressive web apps. Not a bad thing, just something to be aware of. That’s the reason I had to give up when I tried. Not having a decent navigation software was really hard.

For me it was battery life. The thing wouldn't sleep properly.
- Sleeps good enough for the music stream to be choppy, but not good enough to last a day.

I just ordered a pinephone, haven't received it yet. The pinephone is the best native option in the U.S right now but you can get some unlocked smartphones with better hardware and install Linux it's just a bit of a headache.

The general consensus is that it's pretty low power, being one of the only chipsets that has publicly available design docs for it. It's a mid tier 2015 era chipset. It a bit slow but works as a phone. You can probably emulate android apps in it.

hows the camera?
- I haven't received it yet but apparently not good. It's a $200 phone. I mostly want it because it runs Linux natively, has a regular unlocked bootloader that isn't designed to be frustrating like android phones, and can send display over USB-C so it's like a regular computer. You can run anything like emulating windows apps, you could install steam on it technically by putting it in an emulation container, but the chipset is very old at this point, and so you aren't going to be emulating anything remotely modern on it. It is just a PC in your pocket though. You have a package manager, you can install many different Linux distros on it. You can get a LoRa radio mesh case for it, a physical keyboard/battery case, which I will probably get eventually. I think it's worth the 200 dollars. I really want to get away from android. It's hard because everything from Arm CPUs to the modems are completely proprietary. The only reason this device exists is because the design docs got leaked.
  It does have phone, sms, and your standard phone stuff. You can get several different desktop environments like plasma mobile or gnome mobile and several others. It has 3 GBs of ram, and the OS usually takes up around 500 MB. It has dip switches to disable the hardware like the camera, cell modem, wifi, bt, etc. It would be a great device for taking to defcon.

I am also looking for a linux smart phone at the moment. I have not found many that don't seem to be sold out, or aren't quite there yet.

If I find anything promising I will edit.

Can you use Signal on a Linux phone? I know there's a desktop Linux client, but it relies on being activated from an Android or iPhone app to function, in my experience.

https://www.ubuntu-touch.io/apps/ can run Android apps with Waydroid. I don't know if Signal works with this, but Android apps run with good performance using Waydroid (I just read about it, never used it myself).
Better not to use Signal. It's intentionally made less secure by requiring a phone number.
Wire is better. Native Linux app. No phone number needed.
- Signal is important to some of my contacts and its E2E encryption is excellent. The only thing the phone number gives away to the outside is "has this person used Signal in the past?". Since it is not illegal to use Signal in my country, I'm not worried.
I don't have experience with mobile Linux (still on Android), but you can emulate Android apps through Waydroid and that would (probably) work. Granted, Idk if notifications would work, but that's an option if mobile Linux can handle Waydroid. There's also Molly, which is a signal client that doesn't rely on Google Play Services for notifications.

I intend to get a Fairphone 5 or 6 and test-drive Ubuntu Touch on it, hoping to daily drive it... but it's all theoretical at this point. If I can't get a real Linux distro to do everything I want reliably, Lineage OS is my fallback plan. I believe in the Fairphone mission, so that'll be my next hardware purchase either way

What sucks is in the USA you need VOLTE for the phone to work, and I’ve not found a phone that clearly supports it

Looks like BM818 in Librem5 supports VoLTE, but might have issues with some networks.
PinePhone's (and one of Mudita's phone's) EG25 modem technically supports VoLTE, but was very flaky for me (in a mid-low signal area)
FuriLabs (FLX1) seems to have VoLTE working.
Ubuntu Touch explicitly states that it does not support VoLTE.
- Ubuntu Touch doesn't officially support it yet, but it is working reliably for several phones now.
- FuriLabs was looking promising, but the new version of the phone is a downgrade in a lot of categories, and the old phone is not available anymore. Disappointing at the moment, hopefully more hardware options in future from them.
Wtf is this?
- Voice over LTE, meaning in the USA we don’t have 3g anymore so the phone has to support voice over LTE

I have a pinephone for wifi and my SIM is in a CatB40 that only does calls/sms.

Surprised no mention here yet of a Pixel 3a? Both Ubuntu Touch and PostmarketOS seem to run best on it, so I've had it on my eBay search notifications for a while hoping to be able to toy with one. I really don't expect it to be daily driver material though.

I wouldn't do Ubuntu Touch on the P3a if you're in an area where VoLTE is required. It seems this model is too old to get the treatment it needs.
- Ah shit, I'm in the Chicagoland area. I wonder if this affects me. That's good to know.
What about swappa? I just replaced my 3a with a 7a. I would consider donating it to the cause but had thought about doing something with it.
This, but Pixel 4a. Nearly identical phones, except one has more RAM.
I just bought like five of them. Best Pixel on the market, imho.

I used a Nokia N800 and later an N9. Both were painfully slow though otherwise pretty cool. Neither is usable now, due to the 3G mobile networks having been phased out in the US.

WiFi works fine, tho
- Yeah there just isn't much attraction to using those old phones over wifi though. The N800 is basically a tiny Debian box and maybe I could think of a cool use for that, but tmux, raspberry pi, meshtastic gizmos, etc all compete too. Neither phone is able to usefully run a web browser. I used to be on talk.maemo.org which is where users of those phones hung out, but that site shut down some years ago.