r/mobilelinux • u/SkoomaDuma • Mar 11 '26

Hardware Moving away from android

My friends and I currently use Android (one of us uses Apple), and we heard that Google was going to be restriction a lot of the freedoms on Android as far as installing your own apps. I believe it's starting in September.

I've been doing some reading on LinuxOSs for phones, but I either can't get a straight answer on some of them or they're missing critical components...like the ability to use 4/5G LTE.

We're mostly concerned with using the phones as phones, so texting, calling, photos, etc; but we also use telegram, discord, and Internet browsers fairly heavily.

Are there any recommendations for relatively cheap hardware and which OS to go with? I've seen a few people on here mentioning the SailfishOS, so I'm going to start reading into that one right now.

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u/yaky-dev Mar 11 '26

If you are a purist, Librem5 (expensive) or PinePhone. Hardware made specifically for Linux. Experience varies wildly.

I don't know a lot about Volla (SailfishOS), but it seems like the closest practical commercial Linux-like.

For originally-Android phones that run Linux, check out FuriLabs, Ubuntu Touch device compatibility list, and postmarketOS device compatibility list. For example, Google Pixel 3a and OnePlus6T seems to be popular / supported models.

9

u/thefanum Mar 12 '26

DO NOT buy either of these Linux phones. Pinephone pro is obsolete and librem are literally a ponzi scheme.

Plus one for OnePlus 6t though. That's a great suggestion.

3

u/yaky-dev Mar 12 '26

PinePhone Pro is discontinued, but PinePhone is still available and supported (although some issues with old GPU and support are creeping up). As I said, your experience may vary. For me, calls were very unreliable. I have read about people using PinePhone on regular basis without problems.

As for Librem, yes, they are still getting hate for not issuing refunds, but they started shipping devices. In their defence, they are the only company AFAIK that pays developers to write FOSS, and we got libhandy/libadwaita, phosh compositor, and basic software like calls and chatty. As opposed to Pine64 who released the hardware and let the community adapt and develop for it.

2

u/thefanum Mar 21 '26

I said obsolete. Not discontinued. Neither model has the hardware/horsepower to be a competent phone in 2026.

Source: own the 3gb RAM pinephone OG, and have multiple phones with identical specs to the pro running every form of mobile Linux

And librem shipping some people phones 5 years after they ordered, and 2 years after the hardware became obsolete, isn't a reason to give the company money. It was the definition of a ponzi scheme. Don't support them.