Which phone to get for alternative OS

Additional dumb phone warning:

SIM swapping attacks take all of 10 minutes to accomplish, and will give an attacker access to your phone number for them to use SMS 2FA codes to lock you out of your email and accounts. You will have zero access or recourse until you physically go into a carrier location and get your phone number fixed. Then you begin a lengthy process of reclaiming accounts to see how bad the damage is.

Yes, I wish GOS would support the fairphone, then it would be a no-brainer.

Thanks for the warning re: dumphones, I had no idea. Is there one that you think is suitable for privacy and 4G+VoLTE support?

Kind of, it seems like a lot of extra work to keep that secure and up to date, esp with having access from outside. My current solution is just Syncthing desktop <-> phone and works exactly the way I want.

@shortwavesurfer @lavendertea Its also a lot safer to have a backup of you ever lose your phone

No idea, this is the first I'm hearing about either of them. Sometimes a great idea can fail because it is too early. A lot of people around me who have never been interested in tech are messaging me asking about what browser is most private, what social media alternatives there are, etc. Maybe there is more momentum now?

We still have a chance with Linux mobile.

Thanks a bunch for this great overview. Looks like you keep up with open hardware. The multi-device route is something I'm considering as well, e.g. going to the gym with only an mp3 player, having a separate navigation device, etc.

The Tangara music player looks awesome, unfortunately they're currently not available (according to this). Do you know of any other cool open hardware devices that are worth checking out?

Had a look at the Mudita Kompakt, never heard of it before. Love the idea of a minimalist eink phone. You say it's slow, is that because of the eink display? Is it slow also when texting/using Signal or only when using more intensive apps? Do you know if the OS is open source? It looks like they have Mudita OS open sourced, but that it's not used in the Mudita Kompakt.

I've an old OP7T, with 512gb. Only thing is security is no longer updated. Installing Linux is fun, sure, but security is lacking because the hardware vendors no longer updates the drivers. Meaning big security holes. At least this is my understanding, or the thing could act as cloud storage, or at least local storage.

Good idea, I'll definitely wait and see what they come out with. A 512 GB Pixel + separate MP3 player might be a good option. Thanks.

Is GrapheneOS even a good recommendation at this point? I won't be surprised if changes Google makes to Android will effectively kill it, as soon as this year.

Are the compatible Xperias new?

Not speaking for OP, but having a 1 TB microSD would let me:

• Sync my music library in FLAC without having to re-encode over storage limitations
• Have more of Wikipedia downloaded through Kiwix
• Keep a backup copy of my photos and important documents on hand
• Pop the card directly in the computer and bypass the clumsy MTP protocol when syncing files

All for under 100 USD

The convenience of cloud is to always have access to your documents when you need them. I want that, but without relying on a cloud provider. Syncthing syncs from desktop to phone when I'm home and I always have access to everything when I'm away.

There's about 100GB of various photos, files, documents, notes I sync. Music collections can easily grow to significant sizes if you don't use streaming services.

my current, somewhat curated music library is almost 500 gb (mostly flac tbf), that i copied over to my phone, a fp4 with a 1tb sd

Good point, CalyxOS I hadn't considered yet. Would you say it's comparable to GrapheneOS?

thanks, it seems like there is definitely a few devices being developed for use with alternative operating systems

thanks for the tip about Heimdall, and for reporting re: Lineage. It seems like Lineage is a really good option for you

On the FP5 with /e/OS there's an option in the settings to enable the official Fairphone camera app, which improves picture quality by quite a lot. There's no such option for the FP6?

Nice, good to know. Have you run into anything with the USB 2 connection?

Brax is a grifter selling insecure devices and services

Quite impressive of Mr Braxman. Third time he's worked with an ODM to release a phone degoogled out of the box at this price point. Would love to see something analogous for GrapheneOS, though I suspect it's been hard for them to find an OEM that meets their high bar for security.

Looks like a great option (with SD slot) and a lot cheaper than the alternatives. I can't find the specs on their website though, am I looking in the wrong place?

Thanks, looks like it doesn't have an SD card slot unfortunately. According to these specs

That's very useful info, thanks for sharing. How are you liking /e/OS?