
"... uses Android drivers"
Isn't the whole point of using a Linux-based phone to get away from using Android, because you don't trust and/or don't like Google/Alphabet?
This appears to be an Android plus Linux setup.
FuriLabs offers a decent-spec smartphone that is based on Debian and can run GNOME apps in your pocket. FuriPhone FLX1 FuriPhone FLX1 - click to enlarge The FLX1 from FuriLabs is a Debian-based smartphone. It runs GNOME and the Phosh shell on top of a Debian-based Arm64 userland derived from the future Debian "Trixie," and …
Unfortunately Linux doesn't have all the the sorts of apps you might want on a phone, or it it has they need a bigger screen. So being able to load an apk is useful. I have a tablet where you can turn the Google Framework on/off to get the Playstore, just with a tap. Obviously Google Books App doesn't work with it off. Some other supposedly non-Google apps don't work. Musicolet, K9 mail and some other useful ones do run with G Framework off.
Also the Offline Gboard handwriting to text is good, but needs Google Framework. Ditto Pocketbook doing Text to Speech.
I did use a prototype 3.5" and 4.3" 4G VOIP phone in 2007-2008 running Debain. GUI was choice of IceWindow Manager and most Linux apps sort of worked, or QT (like Win CE ) and less worked, or Tile (android /iOS/Zune style really) based QT phone edition which hardly supported anything. No Firefox or Thunderbird or Media player on QT Phone edition.
The snag is a desktop OS / GUI is rubbish for a phone and above about 7" 4:3 tablet, the iOS or Android are rather limited. At 10" to 15" you really wished the tablet could run Debian, except you tried Win10 and then Mint + Mate on a Win 10 Tablet and it was rubbish without a mouse and keyboard.
I don't know what the answer is, but a phone definitely needs a Phone-centric GUI and apps written for that, not regular Linux programs.
Shame that Australia's batshit mobile phone laws banned mine and I had to flog it.
I assume your phone wasn't detected as supporting 4G VoLTE when the 3G networks were turned off at the end of 2024.
Otherwise readers not so blessed as to reside in God's own country might be imagining that, as consequence of a Hendra virus† control program, you were provoked to take the cat o' nine tails to your phone.
The VoLTE thing was a bit hit or miss as my cheap and cheerful Nokia failed with an prepaid Audi SIM (so no voice calls but oddly SMS worked) but passed with a Telstra SIM. Adding insult to injury my very cheap and decidedly nasty phone continued to work fine.
† a virus transmitted from batshit that is typically Australian being rather lethal but fortunately restricted to AU
Pretty much. The phone was compatible with the network changes. But it was an import and didn't exist on the incomplete IMEI database they came up with to decide which ones to block. They had years to sort it all out, then got the legislation in place with just a few weeks to go.
I went and got an FLX1 and was pottering along quite happily. Then Optus blocked it. Literally hours on the phone with them just politely trying to see if they could confirm it had been blocked for that and not some other reason. It was genuinely painful. They can tell you it's blocked, but not why. At one point they tried to sell me an iPhone instead (nice try) and also asked me to send them a screen shot of the audio announcement that gets played when trying to place a call.
As you point out, Telstra seem to be not not complying with their legistlative obligations and blocking IMEIs (yet). I suspect it may be their own incompetence that's stopping them. Anyway, I'm trying to move to them. But I have duplicate customer details or something in their systems so no SIM can be activated for me. Their customer support has performed to exactly the level I'd expected. And I kind of felt sorry for the girl in the local Telstra store who I got sent to see. Got to play the game though, if their call centre supervisor person says that going and having my driving licence verified at a store will somehow unscrew their database records of me then I'll give it a go. Sadly she ended up with me politely explaining that of course this wasn't going to work and now she'd wasted quite a lot of my time. We're at 2nd level TIO escalation now and case may get looked in to further in nine weeks lol.
Android has a Linux kernel.
So does my chromebook. It also has an Android compatibility layer, because apps. (And you can spin up a true GNU/Linux in a VM, but that's not relevant here). Someone mentioned Sailfish.
What we appear to be moving towards is the open (un-Googled) Android API becoming a de facto open standard for Linux-based smartphones, whatever their UI. Cool. Every home should have one.
You'd need a 10+ inch screen, keyboard and mouse. I've tried Mint + Mate on a 10" Win 10 tablet, IceWM + Debian on a 4.3" prototype and we have a Lenovo X201 convertible laptop / tablet with touch & Wacom running Mint + Mate and the X201 is only really usable with screen rotated to use it as a laptop.
See also Windows 8.
Are you able to recommend a distro for an x86 tablet?
I have a surface, love the form factor but I switched from being a regular Linux user back to windows because there just doesn't seem to be a Linux distro that understands a touch screen is not an absolute position mouse pointer...
KDE Plasma Mobile is actually really good. I had it on my Pine Phone, whilst I played around.
Phosh was terrible at the time, not sure what it's like now, doesn't sound much better though.
The Ubuntu Mobile Os (Lomiri?) was pretty nice too, certainly felt "right" on the phone, but supported little of the hardware (at the time).
Unfortunately, the lack of WhatsApp and banking apps really put paid to switching fulltime. Whilst there are other messaging options, you sometimes just have to go where the family and friends are. So my Linux phone saga ended, not even sure if it boots now
> KDE Plasma Mobile is actually really good.
I have not tried it yet myself, but KDE Mobile is in the Debian Trixie repos, as is Lomiri.
The core OS is there and the hardware support is there.
If you are brave enough, it's Debian and you have root. You can go in there and install alternative desktops.
How you would choose I have no idea. There's an unlock screen but no login screen. You might need to remove Phosh.
But it's doable.
I would suggest learning how to reflash it over USB first and having a full recovery image to hand, but it is feasible.
Would be interesting to see how you think Plasma and Lomiri play out on the device.
I don't even remember how you configured them on the PinePhone. Almost want to say they were different OS builds then you flashed onto the phone.
Maybe if Waydroid becomes a thing on these Linux phones and Android apps run nicely, it might be.a nice.compromise.
FuriOS has a fork of waydroid installed. But the use of the Android component is so baked into the native Linux experience you don’t really notice the difference between a Linux app and an Android one.
Source: I have this phone as a daily driver since September.
My Phosh/XFCE PinePhone Pro initially boots into the Lightdm greeter screen with the Onboard onscreen keyboard enabled. On choosing Phosh for the current session and logging in using Lightdm greeter you then get the standard Phosh keypad screen when unlocking the device once Phosh is active.
If you choose XFCE for the session the the Lightdm greeter screen is the default when logging in after waking from suspend for example.
As regards alternative apps both under Phosh and XFCE I use desktop versions of Claws Mail, VLC and FreeTube as media players, mtPaint, Mousepad, XFCE terminal, Thunar as file manager and have LibreOffice installed - though I need a physical keyboard to make use of LO. Vivaldi stable and snapshot replace Chromium. The default GNOME apps they replaced have been uninstalled under Phosh. I tried uninstalling a couple of apps under XFCE and Synaptic/apt wanted to uninstall all of Phosh as well.
Re Plasma vs Phosh my experience was the exact opposite. Plasma (Manjaro) that shipped with my PinePhone was very much a buggy work in progress, window tearing when rotating the device for instance was one of the minor issues while Phosh (mobian) did pretty much what it was supposed to do.
That experience was repeated when I got my PinePhone Pro.
I use web Skype natively on both PinePhones in Vivaldi. I made a test Skype call a while back sans video on the PinePhone Pro and sound quality was fine. WhatsApp web works OK as a linked device for text messaging again using Vivaldi.
I installed XFCE alongside Phosh (mobian) on my PinePhone Pro. I have customised XFCE a little but generally it is touch screen friendly. I use Onboard under XFCE as an on screen keyboard and prefer it to Squeekboard which is the Phosh on screen keyboard.
I struggle with swiping exactly the right amount so XFCE makes a familiar change/relief from Phosh (or Android for that matter).
You do you.
OEM is in Shenzen, the CEO is Indian and the COO is Australian and is based down under, which is where my review unit came from.
They are working closely with a Chinese maker, but they are not very Chinese are all themselves. I have not talked to or heard from anyone on the team who is Chinese.
Good article, thank you.
"They are working closely with a Chinese maker"
That is enough for me to avoid it. If the Chinese control the manufacturing, the COO can say "G'Day mate..." all day and still not give me confidence in the sanctity of the hardware.
500 didgeridoos is on the edge of my budget as well. Pinephone is a hundred cheaper for the PRO Explorer model (three hundred cheaper for the base model) with fewer headaches.
Take it from a Pinephone Pro user when I say that as much as I would love to daily drive it, it's nowhere near at a state that could be usable. It's simply not reliable as a phone as there are known issues with sleep that turns off the modem so you constantly miss calls and receive messages once the device wakes. But the worst offender is the battery life as it will eat through its 3000mAh battery in less than 3 to 4 hours with minimal use.
I've used other Linux phones and the only other contender that worked out well were my Pixel 3a with Droidian or my Fairphone 3+ with Ubuntu Touch using Waydroid for the occasional Android App usage.
While I understand your concerns with any Chinese OEM, I need to point out that Pine64 (makers of the PinePhone) are from Hong Kong. If that's the main reason you wouldn't choose the FuriLabs phone, then maybe the PinePhone isn't for you either as they are based in Hong Kong.
I just don't trust any phone from any manufacturer. Actually, I have far less trust in the old moto-g pure I bought as a glorified remote running kdeconnect than I do in the no-name cheapo chinese-as-hell cell I bought to install Lineage OS on. If you don't root your device, you're 100% getting spied on whether you've got a phone from Hong Kong or Cupertino.
And quite frankly I don't understand the fear so many people have about being spied on by the Chinese government. Of course I don't want them to have my data, but I don't regard them any better or worse than I do the NSA which has it's grippy little fingers all over my data.
> How does it work as a _phone_? Y'know, dial a number and talk to someone?
Fine. It has my old UK SIM in it and although I have little data allowance, I have tons of voice and SMS time. Works perfectly, in several countries.
Does not do voice-over-Wifi though, as far as I can tell.
Also works with Skype etc.
Liam, does it do VoLTE though? Many countries (like Australia) have been shutting down their 2G and 3G networks, which means you need to be able to make calls via 4G, which requires VoLTE. This was a major issue in Australia last October when they switched off 3G and millions of phones couldn't make calls, even emergency numbers. Hopefully that's not an issue with this phone?
> how many of those thousands are not leaching data
It's more secure than a vanilla Android phone.
As an example, I have Android Whatsapp installed and working, but I can't message anyone, because the Android container can't access my GNOME contacts, and I have no contracts in Android because it's not connected to a Google account at all.
It can't see the contents of the main Linux filesystem, only a single optional shared directory.
Try Linux WhatsApp
https://itslinuxfoss.com/install-whatsapp-ubuntu-22-04/
I too had that Contacts issue. I'm told Evolution works well as a quick way of syncing them to wherever. I can't remember what I did in the end and don't have it with me. Pretty sure I used davx in some way and all my contacts are on my mail provider of choice.
That's the user's problem. Linux is not supposed or designed to protect everyone from anything negative but to allow them the choice. If you choose to run an app that sells your data, then that's your choice, the same way that Linux doesn't block you from visiting Facebook if you enter that URL. However, there are many apps on Android that don't have versions for mobile Linux yet, so having compatibility with it introduces features that some people want. If you don't, you don't have to install them, but many buyers will be happier having that option than they would be without it.
The android support just misses my dedicated corporate phone use case
What do you mean I have to install <bullshit app x that only works on android/ios> in order to access my corporate account. On my own hardware and still having to accept your bullshit MDM restrictions like remote wiping and no copy pasta??
Guess I still don’t get to have a smartphone.
I've had a long-standing rule - work stuff stays on a work-provided phone. If they don't provide one, then <shrug>. I'm not going to sit on the bus and read 4 mails about how wonderful the retiring CEO is. If something is on fire, they'll call me (on my secondary number they have for that purpose).
Some banking apps work fine. You can plug a keyboard and mouse and use it like a computer with desktop apps. The resolution of the screen is high enough that the small text and lines are still readable. It doesn’t support an external display, but they are planning on supporting virtual display in future which might mean Displaylink is a possibility.
I know people say banking app are the killer feature that stops them switching from iOS or Android to another OS on their phone. From my limited experience with UK banks Ive been able to do pretty much everything from a browser via their online banking website I can do using their app, occasionally it a bit more clunky but it still works.
And if the bank didn't have a online banking website or it was severally limited, then id just look at switching banks to one that does as its easy enough to do these day and your direct debits can all be migrated over without any intervention required.
FYI im using a Oneplus 6 phone which is a great device for trying out alternative OS as they are fairly cheap to pick up second hand on places like Ebay, And there exists versions of UBports, postmarketOS, Mobian, Sailfish OS as well as degoogled Android such as Lineage OS which is what im currently running on it and gets a regular OTA updates, although I did have to do a manual upgrade to go to Android 15 when it was released at the end of 2024.
> there's nothing to stop enterprising hackers trying to get postmarketOS running on it, or swapping the GNOME stack for Plasma Mobile or something
Yeah, nothing except the outdated Android kernel, drivers which Plasma Mobile dropped support for and where Phosh only works because it gets patched downstream :P
And because it's Debian, to update its OS you just open a terminal and type sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade -y in the usual way. More shell-phobic folks can just open GNOME Software, go to the Updates tab, and tap the Refresh button.
That's nice, but doesn't it still depend on the makers doing updates behind the scenes? After all, Ubuntu 23.10 is based on Debian but good luck typing sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade -y on that.
Interesting write-up Liam. I've dabbled with postmarketOS, UBPorts and unofficial SailfishOS (I'm in Canada and apparently Jolla will not sell the Sailfish license here). Was debating getting a Pinephone/Pro at some point as well. Getting the phone you tested, or even a Fairphone 4/5 is a bit more expensive here since they're not sold locally, so after foreign exchange and GST/import duties it becomes a little costly to get these phones vs. buying something locally that I can flash say LineageOS.
I’m turned off already, but then the $550 price tag: blah!
I’m still sticking with my 2016 Gen1 iPhone SE. Well, it only cost me $50 2nd hand for the 64GB storage back in, what, 2018 or so (who can remember?)
The reason “why” my iPhone kicks ass is because it fits my pocket, plus I “blew” another $100 for the FLIR 1 camera for it, and it’s so old Apple gave up screwing around with it, which means “update hell” is over, finally. This Furi Fone does nothing different or better than my old 2016 phone. The old iPhone is good enough, the Safari built in can log into my Proxmox environments, I’ve got the eBay and the Kijiji. It syncs to the gmail good enough. Accelerometer and compass and GPS? Sure, they all still work (xlnt for geocaching). If I cared to waste another $30 I guess I could get a lightning-hdmi dock adapter thingy (but why).
THE BIGGEST disadvantage to iOS is they don’t let you run Newpipe. Oh well, I blew $50 on an Android set-top box for that functionality, INCLUDING remote control.
I am slightly tempted by recent iPhones for their 3D scanner capability, but no, they don’t have FLIR. My crap iPhone has FLIR, included with a big battery expansion! So, shrug, another year goes by with “nothing new” available (of any value, that is).
These days that's around AUD880 which is more than the total I have spent on all the phones I have owned. Reasonable as I only used the things to (rarely) make calls or send texts but only basically to receive both but even then mostly the fairly pointless 2FA texts that various entities insist on.
A shoe phone with a rotary dialer is starting to look pretty attractive with the added advantage that one would take a great deal more care to avoid stepping into canine excreta.