You’ll need something at least a couple generations old with an unlockable bootloader. You can run Halium and UB Touch.
It’s an Android kernel with a linux VM, but most things work, and it is absolutely private.
Daily Driver real Linux is a couple of years off, probably. They’re just getting drivers starting to work now and battery life is a long long way off.
I’m currently trying to figure out some kind of handheld Linux that operates reasonably well and carry a stand alone hotspot. I’ve even been pondering, throwing a Raspberry Pi compute module onto a 7in screen, but perf is still kinda dicey and power is still a serious issue.
I actually don’t know. And besides all your worries, mine would be the camera. It most likely will suck, even for the >2000 moneyz one. But i will try them, what else could I do? I wouldn’t touch crapple with a 20m-pole and android goes down the same drain.
The Halium ones are okayish on camera because the divers are Android. They’ll perform at least as well as android 5 or so but with a high rez output. They also have decent-ish battery.
The ones with straight Linux kernels have various problems. You can go and look up a given operating system and its support level and they’ll generally enumerate what the problems are. Even the ones with bigger batteries get less than 6 hours.
Signal won’t run natively on any of the Linux phones. You have the option of running waydroid in a lot of cases. But when you’re running it in waydroid, the phone can’t go to low power. So it burns your battery to hell and back.
I think your only current option for a daily driver would be to get one of the fairphones and use UBtouch.
Pine is only dedicating another couple of years worth of phones. Fairphones is on the struggle bus but they’re still in the game. Most of the newer pixels aren’t supported in any of the distros.
Most of the districts won’t run on any of the newer phones.
Great. That sounds way worse than I expected. Why the fuck is it so hard in 2025 to manufacture a tiny computer that runs Linux? If battery is such a problem make it swappable.
Crap. So what now? Buy a dumb phone and take a DLR with me? Like back in the day?
Dumb enough I’d need a new car without android auto.
You’ll need something at least a couple generations old with an unlockable bootloader. You can run Halium and UB Touch.
It’s an Android kernel with a linux VM, but most things work, and it is absolutely private.
Daily Driver real Linux is a couple of years off, probably. They’re just getting drivers starting to work now and battery life is a long long way off.
I’m currently trying to figure out some kind of handheld Linux that operates reasonably well and carry a stand alone hotspot. I’ve even been pondering, throwing a Raspberry Pi compute module onto a 7in screen, but perf is still kinda dicey and power is still a serious issue.
Why the hassles? There are some Linux phones available.
https://linuxstans.com/linux-phone/
Didn’t test them so far, but the moment my pixel dies I’ll try them all. And I hope at least one has a decent camera.
Give me battery life on any of those.
Tell me which one of those can run signal.
Tell me which one of those run a processor that’s from the last five years.
Tell me which one of those are still going to be available in a few years?
Tell me which one of those aren’t running an Android kernel with the Linux VM inside?
The list starts looking pretty bleak after a few questions. We’re not in good shape.
I actually don’t know. And besides all your worries, mine would be the camera. It most likely will suck, even for the >2000 moneyz one. But i will try them, what else could I do? I wouldn’t touch crapple with a 20m-pole and android goes down the same drain.
The Halium ones are okayish on camera because the divers are Android. They’ll perform at least as well as android 5 or so but with a high rez output. They also have decent-ish battery.
The ones with straight Linux kernels have various problems. You can go and look up a given operating system and its support level and they’ll generally enumerate what the problems are. Even the ones with bigger batteries get less than 6 hours.
Signal won’t run natively on any of the Linux phones. You have the option of running waydroid in a lot of cases. But when you’re running it in waydroid, the phone can’t go to low power. So it burns your battery to hell and back.
I think your only current option for a daily driver would be to get one of the fairphones and use UBtouch.
Pine is only dedicating another couple of years worth of phones. Fairphones is on the struggle bus but they’re still in the game. Most of the newer pixels aren’t supported in any of the distros.
Most of the districts won’t run on any of the newer phones.
Great. That sounds way worse than I expected. Why the fuck is it so hard in 2025 to manufacture a tiny computer that runs Linux? If battery is such a problem make it swappable. Crap. So what now? Buy a dumb phone and take a DLR with me? Like back in the day? Dumb enough I’d need a new car without android auto.