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

DeathArrow

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

sigmoid10

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.

amelius

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

anta40

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?

pavlov

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.

smeggysmeg

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.

janvlug

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

chappi42

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... ;-)

trvz

> 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.

ElFitz

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.

skc

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

dwedge

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

mentos

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

attila-lendvai

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

jiehong

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

netfortius

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

LorenDB

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

sedan_baklazhan

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..

greatgib

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.

stephbook

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.