[Smartphone] Linux in your smartphone: where do we stand?
(www.projets-libres.org)
Snoopy
Linux PhonesCan you run Linux on your phone? What are the technical obstacles to be overcome, which projects are working on them and with what funding?
As most of us in this group probably already know, there's Ubuntu Touch, which I've seen on some phones, even being sold on ebay, on Pixel 3As. There's LineageOS & PostmarketOS, but they only run on certain phones, and the setup learning curve is challenging. And finally, seemingly the most popular one, GrapheneOS, only currently works on certain Pixel phones, but there is a partnership with Motorola, so we'll see how that goes. I don't know if any of these except Ubuntu Touch are considered Linux, though.
Does LineageOS count? It's just Android in its pre-google state.
PostmarketOS, Mobian, Maemo (RIP) and even Ubuntu Touch are what I'm thinking of when we talk about Linux on Smartphones.
I don't think I would try that on my main phone. Maybe another phone. That'd be fun.
Yeah, also keep your main phone and make a slow switch. It will take a while to find your favourite software and figure things out. You might even try several UIs and might re-flash a couple of times. Most people are not comfortable having no usable phone for a couple of weeks.
Interesting pod cast (1.5 hours, but can read the transcript too)
Essentially we stand in the early days of linux on phones - they say it's like Linux on the desktop was 20 years ago. As the guest makes clear, there are a myriad of issues starting with getting a list of the devices from the bootloader (as no ACPI), a lack of drivers for hardware as manufacturers don't feed into the mainline linux kernel, a lack of software that can use that hardware to it's pull potential (the camera being an obvious one) and a lack of phone apps as the big popular apps aren't built for linux mobile.
But it seems like things are moving slowly in the right direction, and its interesting to hear how much is going on in so many different areas.
What are the technical obstacles to be overcome,
Its not a technical obstacle preventing me from having one.
The companies that make the ones that do exist won't offer them for sale on my continent.
Then get an "Android phone" with decent mainline kernel support. Pixel 3a has decent support, several SDM845 phones have decent support, some others...
jolla-devices.com seems to ship to a ton of places. I just got a Sony Xperia with SailfishOS. Seems pretty decent so far. I'm in the US with Mint Mobile.
With a big caveat that it's not fully FLOSS. But it is a Linux phone.
I thought pine64 shipped world wide. Have you looked into the pine phone?
Pinephone and even Pinephone Pro are incredibly outdated as of today. They might work for just messing around with, but for a daily use phone, that's not going to work.
Last I checked they were pretty bad for the price, but that could be outdated by now?
Depends on what you want. A used Pixel 3a or some other model can be very cheap and has decent mainline support.
Does it now? ~~I literally have one~~, tried postmarketos iirc, and it kept failing at several steps. Eventually put graphene on it which did work, but that's not quite linux.
Edit: nope, I have a 4 or 4a, nvm
I was talking about buying a phone that works out of the box primarily, but you're right, buying an older phone is an option. Though I'd like to have something on par with a flagship google/oneplus/samsung device in screen resolution, battery life and picture quality mostly
