back to article FuriPhone FLX1: A Debian-powered brick that puts GNOME in your back pocket

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 …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "... 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.

    1. tamegeek42

      Re: "... uses Android drivers"

      "Can use device drivers written for Android" is very different to "runs Android" is very different to "runs Android with Google Play".

      1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

        Re: "... uses Android drivers"

        Isn't almost all of the functionality a binary blob from the SOC maker?

        Does it really make much difference if you com.android.load(qualcomm_payload.bin) or Linux memcpy(qualcomm_payload.bin) ?

    2. Mage Silver badge
      Facepalm

      Re: get away from using Android

      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.

      1. Colin Critch

        Re: get away from using Android

        There is sailfishOS that has android emulation if don’t want android but want android apps https://sailfishos.org/

        1. Phil Kingston

          Re: get away from using Android

          Problem with Sailfish is the limited hardware support. But that's true of any Android alternative. That said, Sailfish is a lovely thing to use imo.

          Shame that Australia's batshit mobile phone laws banned mine and I had to flog it.

          1. Bebu sa Ware
            Coat

            Re: get away from using Android

            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

            1. Phil Kingston

              Re: get away from using Android

              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.

    3. steelpillow Silver badge

      Re: "... uses Android drivers"

      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.

  2. lvm
    Trollface

    so totally unusable then

    Now if it'd put KDE in my pocket... or XFCE... or LXDE... or Enlightenment... or MATE...

    1. Mage Silver badge

      Re: so totally unusable then

      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.

      1. Mike007 Silver badge

        Re: so totally unusable then

        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...

    2. news.bot.5543

      Re: so totally unusable then

      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

      1. Liam Proven (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

        Re: so totally unusable then

        > 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.

        1. news.bot.5543

          Re: so totally unusable then

          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.

          1. Jaidan

            Re: so totally unusable then

            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.

        2. The Travelling Dangleberries

          Re: so totally unusable then

          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.

      2. The Travelling Dangleberries

        Re: so totally unusable then

        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.

    3. The Travelling Dangleberries

      Re: so totally unusable then

      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).

  3. alain williams Silver badge

    Furilabs is Chinese

    They give an address in Hong Kong so I would not trust it. Part of the point of a Debian 'phone is to get away from spyware, what is the point of swapping a data slurp from Google with one from the Chinese government ?

    1. Liam Proven (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

      Re: Furilabs is Chinese

      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.

      1. Liam Proven (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

        Re: Furilabs is Chinese

        *Chinese _at_ all

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Furilabs 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.

        1. Phil Kingston

          Re: Furilabs is Chinese

          Maybe. But the PinePhone, even Pro, is a long way from an actual daily driver that this can be. And arguably has way more headaches.

        2. Klaathul

          Re: Furilabs is Chinese

          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.

    2. ABugNamedJune

      Re: Furilabs is Chinese

      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.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Furilabs is Chinese

        You sound batshit

        1. ABugNamedJune

          Re: Furilabs is Chinese

          I try ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Furilabs is Chinese

        If you live in America, or visit America, - would you prefer that the Chinese Secret Police have a list of all your web comments Or have a Palantir/Musk Ai profiling them for the US police/immigration?

    3. Phil Kingston

      Re: Furilabs is Chinese

      I suspect that may be the distribution address. Pretty sure that's where mine shipped from. Which would make sense.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Kernel 4.19 EOL 05 Dec 2024

    Sounds like no new kernel security updates before the phone's launched.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Kernel 4.19 EOL 05 Dec 2024

      They do actually have plans to update it to a newer kernel version

  5. Neil Barnes Silver badge

    First question

    How does it work as a _phone_? Y'know, dial a number and talk to someone?

    (Though until it runs two SIMs it's no use to me).

    1. Locomotion69 Bronze badge
      Joke

      Re: First question

      Who is using a phone for _that_ these days ??

    2. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: First question

      >How does it work as a _phone_?

      Fine but you can only dial other People's Debian Users but not the Debian Users People - splitters

    3. Liam Proven (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

      Re: First question

      > 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.

      1. Neil Barnes Silver badge

        Re: First question

        Thanks Liam. I'm one who does actually use a phone for its primary function.

      2. d3Xt3r

        Re: First question

        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?

        1. Jaidan

          Re: First question

          Yes VoLTE works. I was using mine in Perth for 3 months and had no issues. This was after the 3G shutdown.

          1. Phil Kingston

            Re: First question

            Western Australia, Bestern Australia.

            I'm still waiting for Telstra to sort out SIM activation so I can get round Optus IMEI block from that shitshow of a 3G shutdown. And second-level escalation of TIO now lol.

      3. JulieM Silver badge

        Re: First question

        Isn't voice-over-WiFi just SIP? In which case,

        $ sudo apt-get install linphone

        ought to work.

    4. David 132 Silver badge
      Coffee/keyboard

      Re: First question

      Wait what, phones make calls now? Whoah!

      What will they think of next???

      1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

        Re: First question

        They'll have the internet on computers one day

    5. Jaidan

      Re: First question

      This works like a normal phone. I’ve used it in Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Indonesia and Sourh Korea. Have used Norway and Australian SIM cards. There were some weird audio routing issues a few months back but that has been fixed in the monthly updates.

    6. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: First question

      "Y'know, dial a number and talk to someone?"

      Is your question "how do I install Teams on it"?

      I'll just see myself out.

    7. Phil Kingston

      Re: First question

      Pretty well. And they're quick to address issues that may arise from e.g. compulsory VoLTE, weird US bands etc.

      Yep, only single-SIM for the moment, but I use a VoIP number for most things and that seems to work OK too.

  6. Graham Dawson

    I wonder if Sailfish would be able to squeeze on there.

    1. Liam Proven (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

      > I wonder if Sailfish would be able to squeeze on there.

      In theory but it'd need a whole new port.

      I spoke with Jolla at some length at FOSDEM and hope to have a loaner review phone with Sailfish 5 on it fairly soon -- they seeemed quite keen.

      1. werdsmith Silver badge

        Still Xperia 10 iii for Sailfish I think.

      2. Wil Palen

        Sailfish is dead.

        There's nothing new in Sailfish 5 compared to 4, development has slowed to a trickle for years already.

  7. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    "It means that the FuriPhone can run thousands more apps than a pure Debian phone"

    I wonder how many of those thousands are not leaching data, insecure, depending on long and dubious supply chains etc.

    1. Liam Proven (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

      > 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.

      1. Ken Hagan Gold badge

        This is surely the USP of a Linux phone; the end-user gets to use Android apps rather than the other way around.

      2. Phil Kingston

        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.

    2. dos

      There's plenty of reasonable apps on F-Droid. Though "a pure Debian phone" can just run them in the same Android container as well.

    3. doublelayer Silver badge

      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.

    4. Klaathul

      The main difference here is in having more control and the choice to WHEN you are giving that data.

      Having Android in a container is more secure because the data that is being sent is the one from the container and not from the device itself.

  8. Piro

    Meh

    I want smaller phones, and the wife wants another qwerty slider or clamshell.

    1. ABugNamedJune

      Re: Meh

      I would kill for a qwerty slider. If I could get a phone the size of an iphone 4 with a real, physical keyboard, you'd have to pry that from my cold, dead hands before I'd ever switch to something else.

  9. blu3b3rry

    It sounds lovely - until you think about all the other bits that phones get used for. Banking for example, somehow I'm not sure most bank apps' security functions would play nice with an OS like this

    A portable desktop replacement type device sounds excellent however.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      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.

      1. Ian Johnston Silver badge

        You want to play with their data, you follow their rules.

      2. Phil Kingston

        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).

    2. Jaidan

      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.

    3. Phil Kingston

      Some that look for Google Safetynet etc won't launch. Others will. And the internet banking for most will work. Personally I'm doing a lot to de-Google and spend less screentime anyway, so having to wait until I get to a big screen to take 20 seconds to pay a bill is actually positive.

  10. mark l 2 Silver badge

    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.

    1. Captain Hogwash Silver badge

      THIS!

      Use the browser. Apps are only for things where using the browser is not possible.

  11. Uncle Slacky Silver badge
    Stop

    RedReader availability

    RedReader is on F-Droid, I'm surprised you didn't know:

    https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.quantumbadger.redreader/

    1. Liam Proven (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

      Re: RedReader availability

      I found it and installed it!

      I miss BaconReader though. Much better.

  12. dos

    Nothing to stop?

    > 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

    1. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

      We did say enterprising....

      ... where's your can-do attitude? :)

      C.

  13. Ian Johnston Silver badge

    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.

    1. Liam Proven (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

      This is the forthcoming and as yet unreleased version of Debian.

      Yes, the kernel is old, but the rest of the OS is newer then the Android version.

      1. Ian Johnston Silver badge

        I probably need enlightenment, so forgive me ...

        Is this thing entirely supported by the Debian developers, through one of the versions at https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/12.9.0/.? If so, great. If not, who exactly supports the special stuff needed?

  14. Captain Hogwash Silver badge

    Re: "...only way we could find to install the Signal messenger..."

    Signal is on F-Droid now in the Guardian repo.

  15. Mockup1974

    I HATE BIG PHONES I HATE BIG PHONES I HATE BIG PHONES I HATE BIG PHONES

    >It's 171 mm tall, 82 mm wide, and a hair under 12 mm thick (6.75 x 3.25 x 0.5 inches), and 278 g (about 10 oz).

    Ah, another tablet. Great.

    1. Phil Kingston

      Re: I HATE BIG PHONES I HATE BIG PHONES I HATE BIG PHONES I HATE BIG PHONES

      It's also keenly priced for something that's not Googled or Appled. You picks your compromises.

  16. eszklar

    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.

  17. Kevin McMurtrie Silver badge

    "decent-spec smartphone"

    That depends on where you live. It has a short list of cellular bands so it wouldn't be good as a global phone.

  18. Grunchy Silver badge

    Furi Fondleslab

    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).

    1. Phil Kingston

      Re: Furi Fondleslab

      A second-hand 9 year old phone is cheaper than a mid-range new phone? Crazy.

  19. Bebu sa Ware
    Windows

    USD550?

    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.

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