So, after following the discussions for quite a while, I decided to pull it off.
Having gone though the support list of various distributions, I chose Pixel 3a for my setup. Among the dirt cheap smartphones, it seems to enjoy the support of almost everything.
I decided to install PostmarketOS with Plasma Mobile. In the meanwhile, I also tested Mobian (didn’t work for me for some reason) and Gnome (I ended up being too much of a KDE fanboy).
The overall experience is, honestly, mixed. It sure is exciting, and I’ve spent a whole day tinkering here and there (and feeling a bit nostalgic for the day I felt this way about Linux as a whole), the hardware support was a pleasant surprise, up to multipoint Bluetooth TWS headphones, but still, system stability isn’t anywhere near a daily driver, and software support lags behind in many ways.
In any case, now I too have a platform to look into the future. Year of Linux mobile, anyone? :)
P.S. Any advice on censorship-resistant (VLESS/Reality/AmneziaWG-based) VPNs for PostmarketOS on ARM devices?
Sure! 😊
Here are some for you. Don’t mind Google apps, they come with Waydroid and run from an Android container. Initial installation comes without it, but Plasma Mobile has some useful integrations.
Regarding the GApps, I used this while I was testing pmOS on the Fairphone 4, worked pretty nifty. https://codeberg.org/SolAZDev/waydroid-eOS/releases but it’s on 3.5
Nice!
I intentionally chose the full option with Google apps, so that I wouldn’t have to find workaround in what’s already a workaround. But any progress towards minimizing Google presence is good!
First time seeing this. I run /e/os on my phone and love it. Interesting to see ot being used along with Waydroid
Wow nice! Yeah Okey so if needed you can still fallback to some android apps if really needed…?
Yep! You can install and use most Android apps through a container. Note that, by default, the container will use its own file storage, and ensuring that it shares this with a host system takes some effort.
Or do you MOSTLY use Android apps?
Then why would you make a Linux phone in the first place? :D
For fun, privacy, or testing even if it’s not ready for prime time?
Fair!
For me it’s mostly just fun, and this little joy of having everything run Linux, lol
But also to see for myself the current state of things.
So yes or no xd?
No, I only use Android apps for when I absolutely need a working VPN :)
Otherwise, all Linux, baby!
🥳
I can imagine it might take a while to catch up with android apps. Linux phones are still just getting started. We are at the beginning of a new era.
That’s what I’m guesting too.