Peace be with you guys 🌹
This is my first Fairphone with /e/OS and I’m really excited😊. It arrived within 3–4 days even though the estimated time was 2–3 weeks. That suprised me, because I live in Germany.
Everything came intact: headphones, screen protector, and phone case. They also included this little pin to get into the SIM tray slot, which I thought was great. There was no charger in the box but that’s intentional on their part. Doesn’t matter to me since all modern chargers work anyway.
It’s really easy to use and murena has its own browser. The default search engine is Qwant, which I don’t use because of Bing. But honestly, my main goal was F-Droid and using apps that reportedly won’t work on Google-certified devices starting in September. I’ve already downloaded my own apps like IronFox and I’m happy 😁.
Now I’d love to hear your opinion: I think Google has shot itself in the foot with this decision. By closing down Android further, more people will switch to de-Googled systems.
That’s my take, what do you think?🤔
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why do they copy iOS icon deisgn? it just makes it look cheap and horrible, applr has horrible taste in icon design
Very cool. Maybe I’ll get one, depending how the partnership between Motorola and Graphene goes. And on the pricing. 599€ for the Fairphone 6 with e/os is a little expensive for me, but I don’t know how much a Graphene Motorola would be.
The battery life seems surprisingly good, which could convince me to get it. Can you confirm if the 54 hours mixed use claim on their website is any accurate?
They also included this little pin to get into the SIM tray slot, which I thought was great. There was no charger in the box but that’s intentional on their part.
Two small notes. The sim tray pins are included with practically every phone. I’m not aware of any manufacturer that doesn’t include them. And the lack of charger is due to EU law. Maybe they wouldn’t include it anyway, but at the moment the EU is forbidding including chargers with phones to ‘reduce e-waste’.
The battery life seems surprisingly good, which could convince me to get it. Can you confirm if the 54 hours mixed use claim on their website is any accurate?
Writing this from a FP6 right now, last charged Monday morning and still about a third of battery left. This includes a lengthy video call and some regular mixed use. Usually I charge it every 3-4 days.
Ah, I didn’t even know about that EU law. The Fairphone is the first phone I actually bought myself, so it wasn’t obvious to me.
Anyway, the battery life is really good. Though it depends on how many apps you have running in the background. I don’t have that many right now.
About the price: With everything included, it was definitely more than 600€. With the headphones, case, and screen protector, the price naturally went up. But I’d been saving since the beginning of this year, so I didn’t break a sweat. The news that Google was going to close down Android was basically the kick in the ass I needed to step on it.
Final word: It’s expensive. But for me, it was worth it😊 Hope I could help you a little bit with your decision
Not sure what their mixed use criteria would entail, but my current stats for a charge ~19 hours ago with 2 hours of Lemmy scrolling:
Is it possible to use the launcher on other ROMs?
Ah, sorry. I don’t have experience with that myself. Its my first Fairphone with e/OS. Maybe someone else in the community has tried this and can share their experience?
Welcome, friend! I hope you enjoy yours as much as I am enjoying mine!
Might I suggest Lawnchair as your launcher?
I saw the link. its really cool. For now, all my apps are on one page, and it works fine for me. But later I can try. Thx😊
Happy for you. Could soon be joining the club
@AuroraSine As a Fp5 user, I’ve always been satisfied with both the hw and the sw of the phone. I wish you the same! Enjoy your new device! 🎉
Thank you very much 😊🌹
There’s a setting where you can hold the lock button when the screen is locked and it turns on the flashlight for a set amount of time
Hey! I tried it, but my phone opened the camera instead of the flashlight. But yeah still awesome =D
I ve been wanting to do something like this. but one thing I’m not sure off is the Google compatibility 🙃🙄🙄
I can’t quit it cold turkey. for instance need Google maps and it’s location sharing. i would love it if the Google apps were installed on this phone as second class citizens. is this possible?
You could just install Google Maps? Like, still gives Google access to your location and movement, but it’s a free device, you can put on it whatever you want.
You could also get a Fairphone with the Stock Rom, that should include Google Services. You could install a different Rom later.
There’s also self hosted FOSS location sharing services, but for those, you need a server or VPS, and do some legwork to set them up.
You can (although probably the typical buyer of a deGoogled phone wouldn’t). There’s a lot of open source of more privacy respectful maps/navigation apps available and a Murena Maps is on beta now.
Well, yes, but they specifically require family location sharing. There isn’t any privacy respecting service I know that does that, safe for some self-hosted ones (which might not be easy to set up for the average user).
I don’t know about Murena Maps (because it’s not yet ready for a daily use) but neither CoMaps / Organic Maps / OsmAnd nor the preinstalled Magic Earth seem to require family location sharing. I agree that having a complete selfhosted setup may be requiring too much from the average user. The OSM based solutions are a good compromise to me, aren’t they?
They, as in the user, require that feature.
I’m not sure that if I install Google maps on this, will location sharing still work reliably…
As I said - the non-murena version of the Fairphone ships with a ROM featuring the usual integrated Google Services.
Another option I could see - buying a new device doesn’t brake your old one. You could keep running your current one till you found a way to set up a degoogled device with all the services you need.
that’s a fair point. I’ll switch data over to the new phone. but if I need this one I can run a hot spot
Hi, thx for your Comment.
I’m aware that you can’t stop all at once. For me it was also step by step until I could boycott everything completely. Anyway, I looked into it for you. There’s an “App Lounge” where you can log in with your Gmail account to access Google apps. You can also browse there anonymously. I think it’s like the Aurora Store, but I’m not really familiar with that. As for Maps, Murena apparently has its own map app, but I use the one from F-Droid “OpenStreetMap”. I hope I could help you.
thanks. it looks like I can install Google maps from here. but I’m not sure it will allow location sharing to work as that needs to run in background and constantly update location
You’re welcome. So I’ve done some research and apparently many features won’t work at all because the necessary Google background services are missing (de-googled system). I can really recommend OpenStreetMap as an alternative to you.
thank you. I use open street maps already. but for location sharing I need the other people in my family to also use it. unfortunately that’s not on the cards right now.
Ah yes, that’s true. I know that problem too. My family doesn’t use it either. Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful.
I use Organic Maps (which uses Open Street Map Data) on my Murena Fairphone 6 and it’s doing a decent job.
That said, it IS a downgrade. The search is not as forgiving of typos. Also, you often won’t find a local buissnes at all when searching for it by name. So i look the address up and search for it on Organic maps.
I am okay with that. It’s okay to loose some convenience for not supporting an american megacorp. But i do understand that this is a personal decision to make.
It’s okay to loose some convenience for not supporting an american megacorp.
I’m totally agree with you. With all!! Organic Maps is a bit unusual at first, but it does good work. Sacrificing some convenience isn’t the end of the world.
@Gloomy @AuroraSine CoMaps is an Organic Maps fork maintained by former Organic Maps developers, due to the opaque governance of Organic Maps, which is meant to become more proprietary in the future.
You can take a look at CoMaps’ open letter :
Embarrassingly enough i was aware of said letter and just messed up the two when i switched phones some weeks ago 🙈
Thanks for bringing it up, i switched to Comaps now (again).
@Gloomy @AuroraSine comaps on Android here. Agree with your comments totally except it being a downgrade… it is just different.
No no. It’s not a downgrade. When it comes to privacy, Organic Map definitely progress. I wouldn’t use Google Maps even if it teleported me to the place. It’s just different, like you said. Took some getting used to, like I said, but that’s for anything new. It’s easy for me right now to use it. Most people aren’t just ready to give up comfort though, and I see that every single day. 🙁
Honestly, as a FP4 user currently running e/OS, I never use the app lounge. It’s frequently glitchy and missing apps. My most used installers are Aurora (will get you basically anything that’s on the Android store) and F-Droid. I also recently installed Accrescent specifically for its IronFox app support.
Still haven’t figured out if there’s any way to buy paid apps, though.
Hello, I’m really sorry, but I don’t know anything about buying apps at all. Unfortunately, I can’t recommend anything to you. But I think that you have to do that directly via the Google Play Store.
As for Aurora Store or the App Lounge: I avoid them completely. I know, It’s still better, and privacy-friendly, than downloading directly from Google Store, but there will always be a tiny bit of Google in the system. And I don’t want that.
I try to use my phone really free of Google, and I searching more with my browser, IronFox, because in my opinion you have much more control in a browser than on an app.
I assume using it through the browser doesn’t let you do the location sharing how you need?
I never try it, but I dont think so. When it comes to location, I’m really clueless. I meant Instagram, TikTok, even Lemmy. Sorry I kind of sidestepped your actual question. I meant it in general.
yeah through browser it won’t update your location when backgrounded. I leave it on 24/7
What about openstreetmap.org?
I use it already. but convincing the family to switch and use that is not easy. (we location share constantly for safety)
Amazing, enjoy your new /e/OS. I’m planning to buy one. Since you’re from Germany, how is your banking experience? Are you using any traditional German banks (like DKB, N26, Commerzbank)?
That’s my only concern, but happy to hear experience from /e/OS users :-)
DKB asks you to call their hotline to activate your phone. Otherwise everything is peachy.
Thanks for the info
There are no issues with DKB on degoogled Android.
Commerzbank have recently started claiming non-Google phones were “rooted” (which is bullshit) and refuse app-to-app pushTAN communication. One must work around that using a (PC-based) browser and photoTAN. Motherfuckers.Thanks for the information, bad to hear that from Commerzbank 😒
Thanks a lot! To your question: I ordered it directly from the official Fairphone website and paid with Klarna. There was no Problems. It arrived within a few days. I was honestly surprised by how fast that was.😊
Thanks for your answer, but I’m asking if you installed any traditional German banking app (like DKB, Commerzbank, etc) on e/OS/, I’m curious if the bank app will work correctly in a modified Android like e/OS/. I’ve heard that some banks apps don’t work on “non-official” Android.
Aaaah, I see. Sorry, I misunderstood. Unfortunately, I can’t help you😟. I don’t use these kinds of apps at all.
No problem, thanks for the info anyway :)
@AuroraSine @chrand Ouch, don’t use klarna if you can avoid it. The company has a bit of a notoriety of wanting to sink its customers into debt. https://www.ramseysolutions.com/debt/klarna
Thanks for the warning. I knew Klarna has a bad reputation but I didn’t know this detail. Anyway, it was really just a one-time thing. My sister used her Klarna account for it. We unfortunately couldn’t pay it any other way.
But seriously, it’s a shitty Show, what they’re pulling there.
Thank you again.🌹
Buy now pay later is not specific to klarna. PayPal offer the same same, curry’s in the UK as well, apple and google offer it for their phones (though I think they might be a bit better with KYC). As long as you understand what it means to take out a loan it’s “fine”. To be clear, I think buy now pay later schemes are a disgusting band aid created so that we can keep spending more while everything gets more expensive, but don’t need to single out klarna for it.
Enjoy your phone! Could you tell me if RCS messages work on Google Messages?
Enjoy your phone! Could you tell me if RCS messages work on Google Messages?
Hello, thank you very much. So I looked into this and according to my research, RCS doesn’t work on /e/OS because there are no Google services running in the background. The system is intentionally deGoogled. But this isn’t personal experience, only research.
I got mine last year with the e/OS version (that’s what’s offered in the US). I have not used google messages specifically, but I have had trouble with RCS messages on the default messaging app
Thank you! I would like to buy a degoogled phone, too. But I really need RCS since many people don’t want to use Signal, Telegram, Matrix, XMPP etc. I may buy Motorola with GrapheneOS, not sure yet.
Will fdroid stop working on my FF4 in September if I don’t switch from the stock Android it came with?
Haven’t even signed into the play store. I don’t want it. Most apps installed by fdroid, a few from APK.
By default it will be blocked, but you can enable it by setting a developer option and waiting 24 hours. Or you can install /e/os or similar
Guess I will install e/os, that takes less than 24 hours
@Korhaka @RmDebArc_5 I advise you to install CalyxOS instead of /e/OS on your Fairphone 4, since it’s more secure, with more frequent updates.
Moreover, bootloader is relockable, too.
Why would I want to lock the bootloader?
So you can use apps that check bootloader state for security purposes. Like banking apps authenticators.
Ahh, don’t have any of those.
@Korhaka for security concerns for example
Your bootloader plays an essential role to keep your system secure and stable. A locked bootloader will stop programs/attached devices from loading malicious code during boot.
An unlocked bootloader leads to a very unstable situation which is actually NOT RECOMMENDED!
Moreover, /e/OS spent years misleading users (customers) about their security and privacy features. CalyxOS recently did a huge effort to resume their versions publishing with a relockable bootloader. CalyxOS offers a far stronger security than /e/OS. It can be explain by their update cycle, and many other parameters.
Huh, never had an issue on my PC with an unlocked bootloader. Why are phones so much worse for problems like that?
@Korhaka it’s the same on your PC : if you do not enable Secure Boot and disk encryption properly your computer is vulnerable
Hello. For the answer, I’d need to know if you have a degoogled system like /e/OS. Fairphones can be delivered either with Play Protect (Google-certified) or without it. If your device is Google-certified, it’s possible your F-Droid apps might stop working then. Degoogled systems aren’t affected as far as I know.
Exciting! I’d like to switch to /e/OS but I don’t know if doing so would mean my banking app stops working. Do you have any experience with your own bank app on this OS?
Several Swiss banking apps work without problems on my FP4 with /e/OS.
Ooh, that’s very encouraging, thank you! At least there’s hope that Triodos will work then.
I use Barclays and Lloyds successfully. Biometric fingerprint login doesn’t work for Barclays but does for Lloyds.
Sorry, no. I dont use any banking Apps, so i have no experience.
i wish i could get a fairphone for the united states, but the general consensus seems to be that it lacks support for bands that can penetrate underground parking garages and subways in the united states – places where i spend 85% of my time commuting.
i also also going to get a murena phone, but when the murena ceo made it clear that he believes that only criminals want privacy; i decided to go w graphene instead.
Hello eldavi. So, I’ve read some criticisms about /e/OS, but I don’t think they effect me, because how I use my mobile its a little bit different.
For example : I won’t download anything from the App Lounge. I’ll use only F-Droid and avoid Google completely. I did the same thing with my Samsung phone before. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to be completely free of Google on a Google-certified device😅. I could only disable all the services. That’s exactly why I wanted a de-Googled systems.
GrapheneOS apparently only works on Google Pixels, which wasn’t an option for me anyway. For me, this isn’t just about privacy, it’s about boycotting big tech companies who are involved in unethical practices, whenever possible. It’s difficult, I know. You’ll never be 100% secure, but I’m trying to get as close as I can.
I’ve used mine in a subway in the US, not tried parking garages
the biggest subway in the united states doesn’t have coverage except for larger stations by themselves and the second biggest subway only gets a weak tmobile or at&t connection; so which subway gets a good signal with fairphones?
This was the DC metro. I don’t know how strong of a signal you’re looking for, but I didn’t notice any differences compared to my previous iphone
which carrier do you use?
@eldavi @AuroraSine this guy is completely wrong that is pure against propaganda
what evidence do you have?
Your first Fairphone 6? How many do you expect to need?
Just one.
With “first Fairphone” I’m trying to say: “That is my first Fairphone in my life.” I never had a Fairphone before or used /e/OS. This is my first experience.
