I’ve had my hands on Fairphones and SHIFT phones. Build quality seems similar.
I’d still get a Fairphone, as they put a lot of effort into open source and being part of the community. They also seem to make slightly more robust devices.
No idea for how long Shift guarantee updates, but Fairphone guarantees updates for many years. Last I checked it was eight years.
BTW, I recently got myself a USB-C charger from Fairphone and the build quality is really good. No doubt it will still work in two years and longer. The price is also decent.
Fairphone absolutely is important and may have driven the long update span of phones. But note that because they were the first, they didnt use a secure smartphone SOC in their phone but an IOT one, lacking any secure element for example. Cracking that phone is not hard for people with the knowledge.
Also their firmware and software updates are often far behind upstream, which has obvious security implications.
Citation needed.
Yeah haha I tried finding one but no success.
I know they delayed the Android 14 upgrade and skipped directly to 15, even “bricking” some devices. Probably nothing very bad (though as they allow bootloader locking even on custom Android builds… it could really mean brick).
Of all of those, Punkt is the only one with a headphone jack.
Canada! Canada! Canada! Canada!
We’re waiting over here homies. Give us something. Give us anything.
Thanks for this! I won’t change my Phone (Samsung S21 FE) for as long as it’s working but was looking at Fairphone and Volla/Jolla as Candidates. Good to have a comparsion.
I use /e/OS on my Fairphone 3+ since more than 3 years and can only recommend it!
And no compatibility issues? I read that some banking apps don’t work well (N26, for example). I’m thinking of buying a ShiftPhone with /e/OS but I’m not sure.
N26 works in my siede and others as well. Always depends on the bank. You can find a curated list here: https://community.e.foundation/t/list-banking-apps-on-e-os/33091
Nice! Thanks for the link :)
I get it it’s hard to make a good product and sell it cheaply, but at these price points, with the hardware there are providing, installing a custom ROM is the cheapest and arguably the best way to de-google.
Some of these are selling you the 5 years old hardware with today’s flagship killer phone prices. Unless there is a big change in the Android phone market, these prices for these devices will never be justified in my eyes. Not even for the native Linux experience.
We don’t have to settle for just one option. There will always be status-people who buy a brand-new Tesla for 50.000€ because they can afford it. And there are the second hand EV-people, who pay like 10.000€ and still make a difference. Same with de-googled smartphone. Let them buy expensive if they can. I love my de-googled Pixel 4a I bought for like 75€ years ago. Both types are part of the solution.
To be fair buying a /e/OS fairphone also directly helps the development of these alternative systems. Therefore I think its justified to pay a bit more if you’ve got the money to spare.
I agree.～(つˆ0ˆ)つ｡☆
That is a vast oversimplifications. Custom Android builds either rely on reverse engineered drivers, or vendor kernels, or mostly undocumented drivers and custom kernel patches.
Custom “ROMs” are often very insecure, as they use the outdated stock vendor kernel of the original OS, as it is so customized. Not always, but often.
Then you have firmware, which is responsible for a ton of tasks on Android phones, way more importantly than on a PC. There is an entire separate, proprietary chip in there, connecting to sensible and insecure networks like 2G and 3G (the modem/baseband).
And yours is a vast exaggeration. You do realize all of these phones are using either Qualcomm or Mediatek chips and designs which already have those tracking firmwares right?
All of these companies are using these firmwares. As for the Custom ROMs it depends on the device and the custom ROM you’re using. So, calling them entirely working on reverse engineered is a bit much. That’s why these so called free phones need hardware kill switches. Even that article you linked states this. So, unless these guys come up with 100% pure homemade hardware and Linux based OS they will never be free from tracking. Even then they won’t be free from tracking. Hence my point: You can get the same level of de-google and untraceable stuff with using a proper Custom ROM suitable for your device.
This is not about tracking but basic security patches. I feel we are talking past each other
I don’t think we do… I already addressed your firmware point and I believe I said proper Custom ROMs. If you’re calling GrapheneOS, DivestOS, CalyxOS or LineageOS and many more as unsecure and claim they don’t have up to date security patches I don’t know what you’re talking about. Considering that the big Android brands such as Samsung, OnePlus, Xiaomi etc… Lags behind in such security updates as far as one year or never provide such security updates for old devices. You must be ignorant of this fact.
I have an OnePlus 7T Pro which was released in October 2019 and I bought it in 2020 and I still use it with the latest Android and security patches thanks to Custom ROMs. Mean while OnePlus doesn’t provide any updates since January 2023. So, by your claim my phone would be more secure with 2023 security patches than having a proper Custom ROM that has 2026 security patches. Tell me you see what’s wrong with your claim please.
These Custom ROM projects are followed very closely by the community, like Linux project. They provide proper support via Android Open Source unlike your claims to reverse engineered drivers, because the companies are legally forced to provide their source codes. Some companies do it in a timely manner some do it late. From my personal experience phones that have Qualcomm chip sets don’t have problems with having the drivers and source codea. Only the proprietary chipset such as Samsung’s exynos and Mediatek are the problem that needs the revers engineered drivers.
So, to sum up, no, we don’t talk past each other! It’s clear you don’t know what you’re talking about when it comes to Custom ROMs, Android Open Source, how the software and firmware works on Android.
DivestOS is dead. CalyxOS is paused. I specifically meant Android builds that have up-to-date build systems but support devices that are EOL from their creators.
They cannot sign firmware and thus not install it even if it was reverse engineered. And they might not patch an updated kernel to work, and ship an outdated kernel instead.
In the case of Fairphone you support the further development of /e/OS also financially. Otherwise the alternative Operating Systems will never be able to fully mature.That alone can justify the purchase of a phone in my eyes (if you’ve got the money to spare).
I have nothing against supporting a project nor I can tell you what to do. However Fairphone has been in the market since 2013 iirc. That makes 13 years, yet here we are still getting aged hardware for a new flagship price. Supporting a project such as theirs doesn’t justify the shitty phones they make in my humble opinion.
That’s a fair point but fairphone also tries to manufacture the smartphones more sustainable than the other manufacturers (unfortunately I can’t tell how big that difference really is). Nevertheless you might be right in that it’s maybe more effective to buy another phone and fund f.e. /e/OS directly.
Why no mention of https://iode.tech/ ? They offer new and refurbished phones with deGoogled OS, including Fariphone and SHIFT. They have a very nice anti tracking software integrated into the OS that doesn’t require VPN running which is a big plus. I’ve been using it for couple of years before I switched to Graphene OS and definitely will consider switching back when my phone dies. Regular updates, couple of nice feature Graphene OS doesn’t have (pattern unlock, configurable shortcuts, system backups). I’m pretty much sticking with Graphene because when I got my phone iode wasn’t supporting it yet and now I’m to lazy to switch back.
I used CalyxOS on Fairphone (still waiting for the new one) and that was a good experience. I had completely degoogled main profile and then work profile with microG for things that doesn’t really work without google services or for apps that I simply needed but didn’t want running all the time. And the work profile was off most of the time. It was a good balance for me. Now I am waiting and using LineageOS, but will jump on the CalyxOS bandwagon once they are back. Also prior to CalyxOS I waited for any ROM, I had just pure FairphoneOS (just an android) and honestly, Fairphone should do something about their software because there were a lots of bugs, some were not solved for a long time and when custom ROMs became available, they were better tuned than the FairphoneOS. I mean seriously, good hardware bad software…
Writing this on the Volla Quintus. It’s a nice phone. Best features are the springboard and the boot manager.
do you use any banking apps? if yes, are there any difficulties?
I use two banking apps and an NFC payment app and all of them work without any problems. You just enable micro g and when you’re done, you disable it again.
Any idea how hood the cameras are on these? I specifically got myself a (used) xiaomi 13t for the Leica optics, and will probably not change before it dies (because of money) except if I can sell it and switch ofc.
Fairphone camera is usually very good with enough light. Only issue is low light.
Weell that’s where good cameras shine…
Maybe another iteration, or gotta check out the quality a bit closer I guess
I wish one of them would be supported by grapheneos. Imo the best privacy os but only available on pixel devices
You can throw Punkt out of a window.
