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My #pixel 5a died on me suddenly yesterday, suspecting on the display, but that means it's time to buy a new phone again... hooray... I hate mobile phone market so much. Phones are getting more expensive for less features, but you do get more spyware for the price... what more could you even ask for?

Do you guys have any recommendations for a phone for about 500€?

One day Linux phones would be competitive hopefully...

#android #Phone #recommendation

in reply to Gloopsies :fedora:

I don't want any Xiaomi/Huawei chinese nonsense, had enough of a bad experience with those already... I would love a phone with an ability to run custom ROMs so that excludes Samsung. Google disappointed me, and pixel 7a looks bad for the price, I don't know at what else to look at.

I even thought about getting an iPhone but those are even more expensive and insanely locked down

in reply to Gloopsies :fedora:

I am very happy with GrapheneOS (Pixel only sadly). No better custom ROM if you want one that just works and is secure.
in reply to Gloopsies :fedora:

Aye. Then there's nothing left to do other than look at the bleak landscape that is the mobile phone market. :blobcatOh:
in reply to Gloopsies :fedora:

Maybe you want to check out Fairphone (fairphone.com/)
in reply to Raoul ꓨ

@rgarciag

Just looked at the pricing and even the Fairphone 4 goes over my budget, and no one is selling the 5 yet here

in reply to Gloopsies :fedora:

It will probably be either Pixel 7a or Samsung Galaxy S23 FE, neither option excites me, Samsungs are really bad for custom ROMs and Pixel already disappointed me, but there seem to be no other options currently...

One day we will have great Linux phones... Hopefully before I have to buy a new phone again

#postmarketos #phone #android

This entry was edited (11 months ago)
in reply to Gloopsies :fedora:

I'd look at the Shift6mq and the Fairphones, but no idea what use-case you're looking for.
in reply to Yoshi

@yoshi I suggest to spend the money on a #Fairphone4 or #FairPhone5 to make a difference.

The 4 already has a few linux distros support, like devices.ubuntu-touch.io/device…

in reply to Anachron :void:

@Anachron @yoshi

As I have already stated, Fairfone 4 is locally sold only through re-sellers and it's over my budget already. Fairphone 5 is not even sold through re-sellers here

in reply to Gloopsies :fedora:

@Anachron Then I'll stick to the recommendation of the Shift6mq, might be interesting. And I'm under the impression that Sony has some models where there are a lot of custom roms. I used to have an Xperia Compact with SailfishOS that was pretty awesome.
in reply to Yoshi

@yoshi @Anachron

Never heard of them and they don't sell locally where I live, but might keep an eye in the future, I do need a new phone quickly tho

in reply to Gloopsies :fedora:

It's also Chinese, but OnePlus are good with Custom Roms. I myself bought a used OnePlus 7T and use it since >2 years with e-os and I am quite satisfied...
in reply to Gloopsies :fedora:

I ended up with a Pixel 7a because the Samsung UI looks more and more like Chinese brands badly copying the iPhone and is very locked down so you can't even do anything about it
in reply to Gloopsies :fedora:

#grapheneos is great (works in Pixels) and with #termux Theres also a Linux environment. I doubt that pure Linux phones will be competitive with any version of android any time soon, unfortunately. Maybe you could give #sailfishos a try. I liked it, actually.
in reply to Paul Buetow

@snonux

I have used graphene os and termux on my pixel 5a already, but I am talking about things like postmarket os with gnome and all the great apps made for that environment, everything that exists in gnome is way better quality then android stuff

in reply to Gloopsies :fedora:

yeah! Battery life and camera quality were still blockers for me last time I checked. So in didn't buy any Linux phone yet either.
in reply to Paul Buetow

@snonux

Yeah, we're not there yet, but in a few years, who knows, maybe we'll have decent devices with decent oss. Currently the biggest problem with Linux phones are "just" drivers, but that's the hardest problem to solve unfortunately

in reply to Gloopsies :fedora:

I'm happy with a Fairphone 4. Not sure what the price would be for you.
in reply to Gloopsies :fedora:

From my experience people have a lot of phones at home that they do not use, and are perfectly fine. Ask around instead of buying. Speaking of that I did the same and a friend gave me his old Pixel 4A. I installed CalyxOS OS on it with Android 14. Works like a charm. Amazing camera, I am doing astrophotography with it (see my profile). You can buy this phone second hand for about 100 Euros/Dollars, almost new.

I took this photo of the Orion Nebula last night. With the phone and my telescope. No editing except lowering the gamma, but colors and all from Pixel 4A. Highly recommend. It even has the useful headphone jack :D - and is a smaller size not tablet-size like most phones nowadays.

in reply to Tio

@tio

I used Pixel 5a until now and it was fairly buggy and I am not looking for a downgrade. And where I live people don't really buy new phones for a few years or until their last one dies, at least my friends don't

@Tio
in reply to Gloopsies :fedora:

I understand but the bugginess may have been the software. My Pixel 4A is not buggy at all with CalyxOS. These phones nowadays are pretty much similar in terms of hardware, it is the software that can be different. I used my Galaxy S7 till a few months ago. All fine. Released in 2015.
in reply to Tio

@tio

I used stock and GrapheneOS, same thing... RAM gets full and apps always restart when I multitask

@Tio
in reply to Gloopsies :fedora:

Would the Fairphone 5 be an option? It's not very high end, but at least it should last long. Seems to be a bit above your budget tho (official website lists it as 699€ right now)
in reply to Diogo Correia

@dtc

Thanks, but it is over my budget and it's not sold where I live either unfortunately

@dtc
Unknown parent

Gloopsies :fedora:

@david_megginson @termux @fdroidorg

I do a lot to de-google my phone, while still using some google and proprietary apps. I used GrapheneOS on my pixel which does a lot of the heavy lifting in that regard and I do use f-droid. The problem is that Android is really not a good "Linux distro" and most foss apps are missing a lot of features. The most used FOSS apps have been sold to the worst companies

Unknown parent

Gloopsies :fedora:

@david_megginson

When I say Linux on phones I think of stuff like Gnome and Phosh with great quality apps that are already mobile friendly and more feature rich than foss android counterparts. For anything shell related I always have an ssh connection ready to a way beefier server

Unknown parent

Gloopsies :fedora:

@david_megginson

You should check again, ever since libadwaita was released mobile friendly apps are default, I tried running it on my old phone and if drivers were any good it would've been an excellent experience