I had a discussion lately regarding smartphones with a buddy.

[hadronized@fosstodon.org]

I had a discussion lately regarding smartphones with a buddy. He has a Pine phone IIRC, and I have an iPhone. I’m a huge FOSS advocate, and I have to live with that cognitive dissonance of using a highly proprietary phone.

However, when I look at FOSS phones, I feel that I would lose a lot of services and features. Anyone has leads / learning material? @Gina maybe?

[avlap2@mastodon.nl]

@hadronized @Gina Google Pixel with @GrapheneOS ?

[gina@fosstodon.org]

@hadronized unfortunately I'm also still on a Samsung/Android device. But I'd love to switch to a Fairphone some day. I know that there's a bunch of mobile OS's as well, like @postmarketOS and @LineageOS . Will boost your post so others can weigh in.

[hadronized@fosstodon.org]

@avlap2 @Gina @GrapheneOS does Pixel phones support that kind of OS switch?

[leniwcowaty@fosstodon.org]

@hadronized @Gina I had the same dissonance, but ultimately decided it's "lesser evil". I tried GrapheneOS on my Pixel and... Well I would have to give up A LOT of convinience, features and just simply frictionless experience, for very little benefit. My phone is a tool. If I need navigation, I need it now, and can't wait for 5-10 minutes for the weird GOS proxy to catch the encrypted pseudo-gps data. All in all - yes, I don't like using stock Android, but alternatives are not "there" yet for me

[not_a_label@toot.lgbt]

@hadronized @Gina I'm in exactly the same boat... and I'm adamant when my iPhone 13 finally is no more that I won't be getting another one.

I have an ancient Samsung Galaxy S7 running e/OS (same alternative Fairphone provide, fork of LineageOS) and it generally works OK as a backup.

I've just ordered a refurbished Google Pixel 8 to give GrapheneOS a go.

And I've also ordered the new Jolla SailfishOS Linux phone more in hope than expectation.

Ultimately it comes down to app support 🤷‍♂️

[hadronized@fosstodon.org]

@leniwcowaty @Gina yeah, I see the issue, and it’s what makes me feel hesitant. Something I wonder is that I should probably change the way I see phones, by just using them for what they are (sending texts, calling), and stop using them for social media etc. but that would be a huge change and would feel like a regression to me, especially for listening to music.

[benjamingeer@piaille.fr]

@hadronized @Gina It would be worth looking at @e_mydata

[not_a_label@toot.lgbt]

@hadronized @Gina I might also have a play with postmarketOS if I can find a vaguely modern phone to run it on... but ultimately I want a working phone not a compact pocket computer so we'll see.

Linux based with removable battery, kill switches & decent app support in a useable phone is the goal, hence the Jolla order 🤞

[leniwcowaty@fosstodon.org]

@hadronized @Gina exactly that. For basic use, where a phone is a phone and you can get by with very limited selection of apps that don't need Google Play Services, Graphene is super useful and nice. But if the phone is the "command center" of your digital life, and you're pretty much dependent on it working flawlessly, they have a lot more work to do

[meuwese@mastodon.social]

@leniwcowaty @hadronized @Gina that's more about the app and the underlying data than the OS though, isn't it? I'm still on Android but have uninstalled Google Maps, which is indeed extremely difficult to replace!

[bigbrownepaul@fosstodon.org]

@hadronized @Gina having made the move away from iPhone a couple of times with jolla and Linux options and failed, the best choice that retains functionality is Murena eos

[leniwcowaty@fosstodon.org]

@meuwese @hadronized @Gina no, it's the OS. Graphene uses sandboxed Google Play Services, pushes all the communication through their proxy and doesn't have full support for everything yet. The combination of these three factors make apps that depend on Google Play Services to work and behave unpredictably and sometimes just simply break.

[kingmaype@mastodon.green]

@leniwcowaty @hadronized @Gina

Navigation can normally be planned. That includes downloading the parts of the map that one needs. Also, make sure to have an address of every destination.

It may not be as convenient as doing it at the last possible moment, but it's really easy.

Disclaimer: I've been doing this a lot with paper maps before there were cell phones.

[iris@neuromatch.social]

@hadronized @Gina I'm on the lookout for one that can sandbox proprietary apps. I stumbled across one but forgot which, I'm sorry. My Samsung/Android phone is working fine for now and it's not due for an upgrade until that's no longer the case, but I've also considered getting a super cheap secondhand phone and testing out FOSS on it while I still have a functioning phone running stock Android. It lowers the stakes, I figure.

[ada@beige.party]

@hadronized @Gina You will indeed. Take and pick whatever cannot afford to give up, or simply too much hassle to replace with FOSS alternative.

No matter how huge an advocate you are, you can't live in a world without corporate infrastructure.

[iris@neuromatch.social]

@hadronized @avlap2 @Gina @GrapheneOS iirc Graphene currenly only runs on Pixels, although wider support is planned. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[hsorlie@social.vivaldi.net]

@Gina @hadronized @postmarketOS @LineageOS
Chiming in as I recently switched my iPhone for a Fairphone 6 with /e/OS, after ~20yrs on apple devices. So far this has worked very well! I have a few things to sort out still, but no dealbreakers. Biggest issue so far has been #vipps, the defacto norwegian/nordic money transfer app. I am able to use it, but for some strange reason it needs to be deleted and reinstalled every week or so. A nuisance, hopefully a temporary one, not a real problem. For navigation I now use CoMaps and/or Organic Maps. I'm in the process of setting up Immich, as a replacement for iCloud photos. Feels great, and I'm discovering new cool stuff all the time. In a few years I'm hoping to be able to install a more "pure" linux OS on the phone, but for now the degoogled android feels like a big step in the right direction, at least for me.

https://social.vivaldi.net/@hsorlie/116009246710698859

[leniwcowaty@fosstodon.org]

@KingmaYpe @hadronized @Gina please stop with "back in my day" bs. Why do you drive a car? You can just as easly ride a horse. Or walk.

If I have a device capable of pinpointing my exact location in the span of miliseconds, why would I consider waiting 10 minutes for the same thing acceptable?

Riddle me this - you approach an unpredicted event - a roadblock, a divertion, anything. Can you plan for that ahead of time? I'd rather take out my phone and check the route. Not wait 10 minutes for it

[kingmaype@mastodon.green]

@leniwcowaty @hadronized @Gina

With a preloaded map on the phone it is a good idea to keep the GPS location working while moving about.