Well I use /e/ OS and am planing to buy a new phone .Like to know which is the best , latest ,cheapest and easy to get phone which support the not bad OS.
Based on minimal info’ given, you should buy a Fairphone 3, install and test the much better OS, DivestOS, and work with the excellent developer to quickly work out any bugs and help change its status from Untested to Tested Working. Fairphone 2 could be another good option. It is already Tested Working.
From my /e/OS experience:
I have tried it on an old Samsung S4, and seeing that it worked, I started spending some time to find a good and undamaged second hand Samsung S7 Edge. At release time (2016) that was a premium phone, and I chose it for it’s perfect size. Newer models tend to be bigger, S9 is the latest Samsung model supported now by /e/. Note that /e/ cannot support the newest models on the market, as it takes time to do that.
Including a brand new full leather ‘bookcase’ phonecover I got happy with an S7 Edge with /e/ that I installed myself, for just 120 euro.
So, whichever brand you like, it might be interesting to prefer a second hand premium phone over a brand new cheap one. They all do phonecalls, sms and chats, but maybe a good camera or other hardware features make the choice for second hand easier.
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Before this I was not aware of DivestOS, and did some short reading. My first impression is, that /e/OS is more strict on privacy, nevertheless DivestOS is good initiative of course.
To get more weight and come out of the yet shadowy niche, any of such works should, to my humble opinion, cooperate and even merge, in the interest of save and privacy enabled mobile usage.
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Compared with DivestOS, e is not strict on privacy. In terms of privacy and security, there is no comparison. E includes microg and makes it easier for users to install popular apps with trackers, and apps using google and other surveillance-capitalism services. DivestOS does not. E by default uses their cloud storage, without encryption, so administrators have access to contacts, emails and photos. DivestOS does not. E includes non-free-software apps by default. DivestOS does not. E wastes developer time on a iphone-copy launcher. DivestOS spends time developing security and privacy apps and including security fixes. E tries to “support” dozens of phones badly. DivestOS tries to support limited phones well. E is about marketing and appearances. DivestOS is about privacy and security values.
I could go on, but instead… Welcome to two new accounts at F-Droid forum!
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@justsomeguy
I will do some more reading. The only reason by the way that I have a smartphone now, is that my beloved non-smartphone gave up after some 11 years (and only for cable reasons), I kept using that to no surprise for priivacy reasons. So I am kinda proud that I managed to flash /e/ on my first smartphone anyway, it will be an onging process of learning, and always open for better options. That’s why I am here too 
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Full disclosure I am the sole developer of DivestOS. Take everything I say below with a grain of salt, I don’t care to devote enough time to extensively research projects like /e/ enough.
- /e/ includes a proprietary maps app.
- /e/ has a weather app that performs requests over HTTP, despite simply being a fork of Good Weather which I myself added HTTPS support to… in 2017: https://github.com/qqq3/good-weather/pull/41
- /e/ ships
userdebugbuilds - /e/ only provides verified boot on 1 device (fp3) as far as I am aware
- /e/ provides signature spoofing without any additional restrictions/hardening
- /e/ uses the same signing keys for all builds. this can allow an old outdated vulnerable app to potentially be sideloaded onto another of their devices and trusted with more permissions then usual.
- /e/ often does not provided the latest supported LineageOS version for their devices. eg. mako is stuck on 7, when 10 is stable
- /e/ app store is extremely questionable
- /e/ does not provide any sort of verification for initially downloaded builds (GPG)
I wouldn’t be surprised if just like UBports some of their older devices are still vulnerable to DirtyCOW: https://gist.github.com/SkewedZeppelin/ad292d9e7dd3cd873805d2587670717a
In my (biased) opinion:
For any devices that are no longer supported by their manufacturer, DivestOS is the most secure option available for them.
In the interest of user awareness, here are some other alternatives:
- https://grapheneos.org/ - maximum security, at cost of limited device support
- https://calyxos.org/ - focus on user friendliness, but makes some questionable inclusions (DuckDuckGo Browser, Signal)
- https://lineageos.org/ - the old king, supports many devices, disables many security features in name of supporting user customization (gapps, root)
- https://replicant.us/ - “fully free”, limited device support, imo not daily drivable, severely out-of-date security patch wise
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I just wandered into this thread but wanted to thank you, @SkewedZeppelin for the info and for the undoubtedly countless hours/months of work that you’ve put into DivestOS. I’m somewhat ashamed to admit I hadn’t heard of it prior to stumbling into this thread but I’m glad that I did. I have to educate myself a bit more but if you’ll allow me to ask one question in the meantime; will DivestOS work on my OnePlus 6t? It’s the unlocked, global variant. I had previously been interested in Graphene OS but got stopped in my tracks when I learned that it was only supported on Pixel devices. Android has recently started acting up to a frustrating degree, such that I’m looking for a new daily driver OS. Thanks and thanks again for the project! Assuming I can make use of it, I will surely make a contribution/donation.
From looking at the download page, there is a OnePlus 6T (fajita) build available and needing a tester.
DivestOS, GrapheneOS, they all look promising after more reading. Thanks for mentioning those, @SkewedZeppelin and @justsomeguy, and having me reading a lot on them. Unfortunately, neither DivestOS nor GrapheneOS do support my current device, so I will stick to /e/ for the time being.
Note that I disabled syncing to e-cloud from the start, and now installed the F-droid app as a preferred recource for finding apps. Thx again!
I got a Librem 5 phone and I hope that will be a the best choice in the future. Since it doesn’t have a maps app, camera app or fully working driver, or MMS/group/picture messaging, I don’t consider it ready,
but it will be soon and it is the only phone I know of you can plug in to a USB-C dock and have a working Linux desktop computer.
How about PinePhone with convergence dock, at 1/3 to 1/4 the price? But also very buggy.
If you need a sports car, yes. If all you need is basic phone, contacts, calendar and email on the go in an old beater, it works great.
My daily drivable concern about Replicant mostly revolves around how insecure it is.
Lineage last updated the cm-13.0 branch to the 2019-04 Android Security Bulletin and the 2017-10 Pixel Security Bulletin.
Most of their shipping devices are running Linux 3.0 or Linux 3.4.
3.0 was EOL in October 2013: https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v3.x/ChangeLog-3.0.101
3.4 was EOL in October 2016: https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v3.x/ChangeLog-3.4.113
Not to mention any firmware running on those devices is likely from 2011-2013.
Edit: here is a page documenting patch levels: https://divestos.org/index.php?page=patch_levels
it is specific to DivestOS but can mostly apply to LineageOS and forks
Sorry, I thought your comments were 3 separate criticisms, and mis-understood.
No, I do love the idea of Replicant.
Before I made my own ROMs I remember wanting for one of the supported devices. Arguable that was also around its peak (2013 or so).
And they are working on 10/11 support for a few of their devices.
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