figure out i'd reach out to #Mastodon, the best #opensource #Linux community i've found
i'm about to buy a #Murena #FairPhone 6 with their e/OS
i was leaning towards #Ubuntu Touch, but having trouble finding a phone that comes w/ it that meets my wants
anyone advise against it or recommend a different linux phone before i pull the trigger?
https://murena.com/america/shop/smartphones/brand-new/murena-fairphone-6/
@WorldTravelerAll7 Have you considered Fairphone 5? Way more OS-es are available for it including Ubuntu Touch, Post Market OS and SailfishOS.
My experiences: https://mementomori.social/@david_bardos/115912432037394955
Since posting that, I learned that theoretically SailfishOS can run Waydroid too solving the missing app compatibility layer in a less convenient, but quite fair way.
Also Ubuntu Touch can be freed from having a read-only filesystem and be less restricted, but it can interfere with the over-the-air updates, so there is a trade-off.
PostmarketOS FP6 support is less complete than the same for FP5. The latter is now the best supported device by pmOS.
@david_bardos oh, & i was thinking about the camera thing. i use the camera the most - to film my birds. but i suppose i could still use an old phone for that.
is that an issue i'd have if i bought a phone w/ Ubuntu Touch?
@WorldTravelerAll7 My latest information is that there is no smartphone available with a fully functional main camera module running either Ubuntu Touch or postmarketOS.
Chipset manufacturers keep their camera drivers for themselves, and these are difficult to replicate. Additionally, the software solutions used to post-process data from multiple cameras are often proprietary too.
The only Linux phone with a fully working camera, as far as I know, is the new Jolla Phone https://commerce.jolla.com/products/jolla-phone-sep-ii-2026 . On other devices, only the selfie camera or secondary cameras work in the best case.
Also a drawback of Ubuntu Touch is its limited app support. Its app store https://open-store.io/ offers a small selection only, with many apps being unmaintained or buggy. Even browsing was such a pain on it that I installed Waydroid (the Android emulator) and used the browser from there. However, Waydroid drains the battery quickly...
@david_bardos i looked at the Jolla, but they weren't available. Murena sells their tablets
maybe i'm misunderstanding, but this feels crazy to me. so these phone manuf buy camera components for their phones, but the chipset manuf won't grant access to the driver software to make them function properly? clearly apple & google have access bc the cameras work on theirs
we need more anti-oligarchy manuf forming partnerships w/ Linux
& more investment in anti-oligarchy tech😤
@WorldTravelerAll7 My understanding is that phone manufacturers get the components and license to use driver software exclusively in their Android OS. But they can't disclose it.
Ubuntu Touch and postmarketOS are community projects, the don't have access to the drivers.
Fairphones are unique in this sense, as both /e/OS (by Murena) and Fairphone Android has the camera driver and the software. They are both commercial projects. Other OS versions like iodéOS and CalyxOS doesn't have any of them although they use the same Android base.
@david_bardos that's extremely helpful. more & more i'm feeling like the murena fairphone is the right "transition" off of google for me
btw, you're familiar w/ the Dunning-Kruger Effect, right? you are at that point on the curve where you know so, 𝘴𝘰 much more than the average person, but won't call yourself an "expert" bc you also understand how much you still don't know😅
WorldTravelerAll7
Dávid Bárdos