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

  • erebion@lemmy.sdf.org
    2·
    2 days ago

    I’ve ported Mobian to the Pixel 3a and use it as a daily driver.

    two annoyances:

    • I’ve not yet figured out calls via Bluetooth, but other audio works fine, including XMPP calls via Dino [if anyone knows how to get calls working via Bluetooth, drop a comment and I’ll see if I can get it working]
    • camera is buggy and does not work well yet (there are people working on that)

    Here’s what I had posted on it around a year ago: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/22388672

    • A_norny_mousse@feddit.orgOP
      1·
      2 days ago

      Very nice. Thank you for your service 🫡

      I hope your effort gets integrated into some “ready to install” Linux phone distro/project.

      BTW, in the Debian Wiki it says

      voice calls are known to be not 100% reliable

      Can you elaborate?

      • erebion@lemmy.sdf.org
        1·
        2 days ago

        Could you please link to where you found that? Maybe that’s outdated info? Without the context I’m not sure what exactly is unreliable.

        Phone calls work, but only if the phone is not suspended. Some people are working on letting the phone wake up when called. Haven’t followed the progress for a while. If you disable suspend, is works well, at least for me. Not sure whether others have noticed issues in different situations.

          • erebion@lemmy.sdf.org
            2·
            2 days ago

            Not much, the battery will just deplete quicker. Otherwise you only notice that phone calls make the phone ring. If it is suspended, it won’t ring. (for now)

            • A_norny_mousse@feddit.orgOP
              1·
              2 days ago

              OK, thanks

              Not much, the battery will just deplete quicker

              An important factor for mobile devices.

              Anyhow, there’s an entry for installing Debian (or Mobian) on the Pixel 3a, you might want to update it.

    • erebion@lemmy.sdf.org
      2·
      2 days ago

      Oh and I’m currently working on mainlining the Xperia 10 III with the intention of porting Mobian. I got display, GPU, flashlight working, but am stuck at figuring out whether that phone has a bug that breaks it if I enable UFS support, like some Xperias has in the past. If anyone knows a way of veriying whether it is safe to turn on flash, that’d help a lot. I could then enable UFS, Wifi, Modem, GPS, and probably Bluetooth… all at once.

      Just don’t want to find out whether it’ll break the hard way.

      I’ll keep this up to date with my current progress: https://git.erebion.eu/forgejo/erebion/pdx213-temp

      • A_norny_mousse@feddit.orgOP
        2·
        2 days ago

        The Xperia X10 III is the most recommended phone to use with SailfishOS, you might get some inspiration from or use their work.

        What’s UFS and flash?

          • erebion@lemmy.sdf.org
            1·
            2 days ago

            Also, SailfishOS uses an Android kernel with libhybris, I want to use a mainline kernel to ensure I’ll get updates for a long time.