I've been thinking of getting the Pro 1-X phone, but I'll look at other alternatives for the Google phone tbh. Any suggestions? And I wanted a Linux phone with a keyboard, but that's not going to appear again until a long time.
Sep 17 ยท 4 weeks ago
7 Comments โ
๐ป darkghost ยท Sep 17 at 09:29:
Last time I tried to look at the pro 1-X the website was pretty sparse. Made me think they're not around anymore.
Purism Librem 5 should be on the list to look at as well.
๐ jsreed5 ยท Sep 17 at 11:23:
I have a Pro1 X; in fact, I was one of the original Pro1 X IndieGoGo backers in 2020. Long story short, the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting supply chain chaos in China sank the manufacturer F(x)tec, and you won't be able to get a phone from them. I think some of my fellow backers never got a phone themselves.
That being said, the Pro1 X is a great phone. The keyboard feels great, LineageOS support is fantastic, the phone is a good size and weight, it has a headphone jack and expandable storage, and it has a notification light. The biggest downsides are cellular frequency compatibility--mine is essentially unusable in my area and on my carrier--and the fact that there are no spare parts available.
๐ norayr ยท Sep 18 at 00:26:
you can find used 'cosmo communicator' or 'gemini pda': more or less new, powerful, there are even community ports of debian for it. maybe postmarketos supports some devices, need to check. the downside is that not every of these devices is supported by mainline kernel.
i use motorola droid 4 with maemo leste: it is a great device, but usually overpriced on ebay nowadays.
and it is old, so firefox is very slow on it, but hey, i packaged lagrange and lagrange works very well!
๐ norayr ยท Sep 18 at 00:29:
very often i take with me motorola droid 4, not the pinephone with keyboard: the former i can use when i need to be at some social events and it would look like using a phone, so people will not be judgemental about it.
pinephone with keyboard is much bigger and looks almost like a small laptop, so people can be judgemental about it.
so if i can't avoid to be at some social events the droid is my salvation. i run dino, pidgin, lagrange, i can ssh, type, etc.
๐ norayr ยท Sep 18 at 00:31:
i think it worth to look at postmarketos devices list and see which devices have good support.
and which do you like.
but not many have hw keyboard, it is rare.
๐ฆ bsj38381 [OP] ยท Sep 18 at 02:46:
I'll give postmarketos devices a look around, I just want to use a Linux phone to use fdroid and droid-ify on it, and waydroid, or something. I'll also ceck out the cosmo communicator and the Gemini pda as well too. I liike the cosmo slide one, but it's pretty pricey, $800.
๐ norayr ยท Sep 18 at 14:51:
i think all of them are with keyboard, and second hand devices is possible to find for about half that price.
some models were certainly supported by sailfishos, and if you pay to sailfish as well about 50 euros you get a proprietary version of android emulator.
i don't like sailfish and i don't recommend it. i also think android compatibility is not necessary, it is better to use or write absent linux apps.
anyway waydroid exists, yes also andbox and there is yet another open solution for android compatibility.
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