Submitted 3 weeks ago by juergen@feddit.org to technology@lemmy.world
https://postmarketos.org/blog/2025/03/30/pmOS-year-priorities/
A notable mention is 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.
give me ANYTHING that’s open-source and not tied to google or apple. i don’t care if it’s shit. i’m old. i just need a phone and maybe some pics and browsing.
GrapheneOS is an open-source Android fork lots of people like, it’s what I’m planning on using once I get a new phone
While I’m a fan of GrapheneOS, I think it could still be considered “tied to Google” both due to it being based on Android, and also because it only runs on Google Pixel phones. Graphene focuses more on security, then on privacy, but not so much on reducing our dependency on Google’s software and/or hardware.
SailfishOS is fully functional and usable if you do not need any playstore-only apps. Even then they have now implemented microg in v5.0
Pinephone. Daily driver of you have low expectations. Not great for pictures.
Do you in the US or Europe? There are some possibilities out there, but it’s kinda region dependent.
Phone functionality is the least of my problems, I need an open source replacement for Android Auto / Apple CarPlay.
Not sure how that would work, you’d either have to emulate it to talk to the infotainment system, or get all the infotainment producers to add an open source layer… Sounds like a nightmare either way.
That was the purpose of MirrorLink, but I think it’s dead now. I only ever saw Volkswagen support it.
We had the AUX jack but they axed it to sell earbuds.
I have heard that Apple removed the headphone jack to kill compatibility with those Square credit card readers.
Eventually I’ll try one. I feel like it can be like desktop Linux where it take a very many many long years until it starts to chip away at single digit values of market share
It’s worse. Linux desktop is only possible because of the relative consistency and openness of x86 PC hardware. Phones are nothing like that. At best we will have retro Linux handhelds with phone functionality.
There’s x86 socs. You can buy a linux tablet right now.
This is the reason I haven’t given it a chance.
Not that I’m unwilling, but with no common hardware, I’m reluctant to go out and buy something.
I can go buy a pinephone for postmarket, but won’t work for sailfish. I can get an Xperia for sailfish, but I’m out of luck for postmarket.
Not to mention, I’m reluctant to drop a chunk of cash on aged hardware, whose successor doesn’t look to be as well supported.
It’s much less effort to have something based on Android open source project though.
It’s also less interesting.
Using regular Linux means you can do a ton of stuff you currently can’t on Android:
Android is already FOSS, and you can get phones with minimal stuff on top of the FOSS core. That’s cool I guess, and I use one such distro (GrapheneOS), but it’s still Android at the end of the day. I want something different, but I still want basic phone stuff to work (calls, SMS, MMS, camera, etc).
Realistically, I would probably try a google free Android long before I’d try a more pure linux phone
Ive tried a couple of times, ended up bricking a phone and had to re-do another. Linux phones are hard to get set up (for certain models).
I am sorely tempted, but its unlikely my banking apps and very specific work 2fa app is anything but Apple and Android compatible. I am almost at the stage of getting a second phone for day to day, and keeping my old for specific apps
You should consider changing bank if they don’t provide a regular website with at least the same functions as their app.
Ah yes, so easy. Just change banks bro.
Sometimes I wonder if there are Anya cual adults using Linux. Lol
Most banks these days need their app as well to log in to their website because of forced two factor authentication
just give us a headphone jack and removable storage and you’ll have a customer for life.
Xperia 1 VI?
Be nice if Linux phones could be like how Samsung phones used to be before they started removing features to directly compete with Apple smartwatch markets. I don’t understand how competition=downgrades because they wanna stretch features out to sell more products than how it used to be when both companies were all about being the One Phone That Does it All. I can afford the one gadget, always have and always will, but especially now when everything is so expensive I can only ever afford the Samsung A-Series not their main marketed S line.
But, do you ever need anything more than a A series phone? Or just want?
Can i play minecraft on it though? Ive got a horse ranch that I’d really like to continue
Java is inherently cross platform, and works well on linux. So assuming the phone is powerful enough, you should be good to go even if it’s linux.
Definitely worth checking out Minetest/Luanti though, it has promise.
How do you tame a horse in Minecraft?
I need to know for… Reasons.
Just try mounting it, if you get bucked, try again.
Absolutely! The controls might suck and regular phone features might be iffy, but you could totally run the Jaca version of Minecraft if you wanted. No guarantees about performance though.
Government should make standards for banks to support different operating systems. Not particularly well known OS.
I mean I’ve been using /e/os for a while now and it works like a charm!
I’m so sad it doesn’t seem to work with my country’s digital solutions or I would’ve switched right away :(
Cool, does it run on a Galaxy Xcover6 Pro with a Verizon plan? I bet it doesn’t, nothing does besides the big-2 OS’s it seems.
Cool, does it run on a Galaxy S10 series phone?
it does, but not particularly well
watson387@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
I can’t wait for Linux phones to be stable enough for a daily driver.
crawancon@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
that has been said since before the nokia n600. lol
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
And we’ll keep saying it until we get there.
CHKMRK@programming.dev 3 weeks ago
2026 will be the year of the linux phone
Asfalttikyntaja@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
Please stop. I can’t get my dick back into my trousers.
BreakerSwitch@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
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.
watson387@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
XD
airglow@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
The FuriPhone, which runs the FuriOS Linux distribution, has a polished enough user experience that it can be used as a daily driver by many people.
timbuck2themoon@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
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.
bdonvr@thelemmy.club 3 weeks ago
It seems like Linux-compatible 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.
oshu@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
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.
Cyber@feddit.uk 3 weeks ago
Are you saying I could get Linux running on my Fairphone 3+?
Mind you, yeah, 3G switch off would then make life difficult…
solrize@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Good luck, phone hardware changes very fast though.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
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.
Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
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
iopq@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Yet the performance basically peaked already. They are doing 15% increases at the top end and less for the cheapest phones.
CmdrShepard42@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
Maybe whenever slider phones with full keyboards come back. Typing in the terminal would be a real chore otherwise.
tetris11@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
You do get used to it to some degree, but yes please bring the keyboards back
Ulrich@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
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.
Feyd@programming.dev 3 weeks ago
What makes you think that?
rice@lemmy.org 3 weeks ago
they already exist, the (software) interface is what needs work.
Estebiu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
They are already. My Redmi Note 7 runs Droidian perfectly.
Tattorack@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Can Linux mobile OSs install apk apps?
watson387@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
Really? I’ll have to do some searching online. I have a Mi 10T around here somewhere.
FriendBesto@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
Likewise, brother. But at the current rate, we are still a few years away. :-(
rice@lemmy.org 3 weeks ago
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.