cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/20111466

When I switched to a True Linux* phone five years ago most projects didn’t even have telephony working reliably.

I haven’t been following development a lot these days, so for me it’s time to ask the question again.

To qualify as a main daily driver, it should do the following reliably:

  • be actively maintained
  • be supported on easily obtainable** hardware
  • handle standard phone calls and texting with a simple GUI
  • including contacts
  • support internet on mobile broadband up to 4G as well as wifi
  • have a minimum set of apps or a current browser to handle basic things like email, calendar
  • handle audio between calls/media etc.

And preferably it should also

  • support 5G
  • support VoLTE
  • handle Bluetooth audio
  • a working Camera app
  • remote access via ssh or similar

Obviously some people will find other things more or less important, but I hope anyone gets the gist of what I’m asking for and concentrates on the larger picture more than details.

* meaning more than just the kernel - an OS that works like a standard Linux OS with familiar software, package management (preferably supporting 3rd party repos), command line access (preferably remote) etc.

** That’s a little squishy. For me it includes buying used from online markets as well, and there’d be an upper price limit. But I’d also count a batch ordering system from some small manufacturer. YMMV

Conclusion

According to these comments, there are many good projects in the works, and they’re obviously further along than 5 years ago. Some of them impressively so. Thanks for all the answers.

However, not one clearly states “this OS/device combo is my (or some youtuber’s) main daily driver”*. I’m not saying there isn’t one, but until someone comes out and says so, SailfishOS is still the best bet if you want something that works right now. I know that their commercialism and partly closed source isn’t to everybody’s taste, but you have to see the history here (Nokia). Also, I know that the company (developer owned afaik) is very open to open-sourcing the rest. One app has already made the switch. And lastly, they’re a EU company which means they operate under pretty strict legislation, but could also get EU funding.

* I hear that Ubuntu Touch works for some

  • A_norny_mousse@feddit.orgOP
    5·
    5 days ago

    Thanks. I looked at the feature Matrix for the 1+ 6T, and it says:

    • Audio: partial
    • Calls: partial

    I watched the video, too. It’s not a daily driver review by any measure, and the above is fully reflected in it.
    I also noticed that the Network icon stays at 3G the whole time and I haven’t seen him actually loading any web pages (I did skip through though).

    I also see no mention of VoLTE and as the other commenter suggested, without it it’s getting pretty hard to use as a phone with more and more providers.

    Don’t get me wrong, PostmarketOS looks really good. I’m not sure I’m happy with a Gnome shell though, and I wonder how deeply it integrates into the core system, i.e. how easy it would be to use something else instead.

    What bothers me with this project is that they do not concentrate enough on getting a few devices 100% working. All physical PMOS devices are not in Main, i.e. “relatively well maintained” by a few users. The list is impressive, but I wonder how well all these specialised efforts integrate into the main project, and how well each individual device is maintained.

    • 1peter10@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      1·
      4 days ago

      First, I’d recommend going with the 6 (no T), which has a headphone jack, which can be helpful - and on these devices is your only option for wired headphones, as USB-C dongles don’t work yet.

      Audio is unreliable, yes, not just for phone calls, also for things like podcast playback in my experience - at some point during use, my wired headphones just don’t show up anymore. A reboot fixes this, I still want to look at ‘milder fixes’ (unloading of kernel drivers, service restarts), but in months of daily driving I have not got around to this yet.

      How can I daily a device with these audio issues? Well, I have always hated unscheduled calls, and force people to deal with it now. Also, if things don’t work: Reboot, call back, works.

    • potatoguy@lemmy.eco.br
      2·
      5 days ago

      If I remember well, the guy on the video played audio (speakers and bluetooth) and called through the phone, so IDK what partial means, maybe some specific breakage, or the wiki is not updated.

      He opened youtube, the desktop website loads (I think the best website for a smartphone would be the mobile youtube, but the desktop one loaded and played videos).

      There’s a lot of DEs for postmarketos, there’s KDE mobile, phosh, some WMs too, etc.

      About getting only a few devices 100%, I disagree. If there was only some phones with postmarketos, I couldn’t get one, like the Oneplus 6T, there isn’t one selling online in Brazil right now, I would have to import it, so the other best I could find was the Redmi Note 9s, this gives options, even if it’s not the best I could contribute if I find something wrong, because why not? It’s a enthuasiast operating system, so I guess more development can happen if more devices (easily bought ones) are at least compatible.

      • A_norny_mousse@feddit.orgOP
        2·
        4 days ago

        If I remember well, the guy on the video (…) called through the phone, so IDK what partial means

        I paid attention at that part; he specifically said that the call appears to go through but he doesn’t hear anything, whethe he calls himself or receives a call.