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Fairphone 4—the repairable, sustainable smartphone—is coming to the US

arstechnica.com Fairphone 4—the repairable, sustainable smartphone—is coming to the US

Fairphone teams up with the developer of the /e/ Android fork to enable US sales.

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  • Also interesting that it ships with /e/OS!

    /e/OS is a de-googled version Android. Most Google services are replaced with Nextcloud integration, but somehow all apps are still available through a software store that bridges to the Play Store while letting you browse for free apps anonymously. Google Play Services are replaced with the wonderful microG.

    I used it on my Fairphone 3 for around half a year, and for the most part it was a very pleasant experience. And whoever doesn't like it can of course (re)install stock Android. :)

    • How does e/OS/ compare with Lineage?

      • It's lineageOS + µG + their assortment of default apps, including i.e. their app store thingy.

      • The last time I used Lineage it was known as CyanogenMod, so I'm not really in a position to perfectly compare the two. But I'll give it a shot.

        Lineage includes many more Google components. As an end user this means that you'll for example be able to use the Google location service, using WiFi and bluetooth to identify where your phone is even when you don't have GPS reception. /e/OS depends on a mostly discontinued Mozilla location service, which would have been amazing had it only worked better. So location data for example inside buildings can be a bit spotty.

        /e/OS also has a bunch of extra features to protect your privacy if you should wish, such as messing with your location data so that the apps on your phone will have no idea where in the world you're located.

        /e/ also comes with a bunch of FOSS alternatives to the default Google apps by default, while i think Lineage might leave it to the users to fill the phone with apps. You can of course uninstall apps from /e/ and install the Google ones should you wish.

        As a footnote: Both its developers, @Murena, and #eOS itself ( @e_mydata ) are present on the Fediverse. :)

        • Lineage includes many more Google components. As an end user this means that you’ll for example be able to use the Google location service, using WiFi and bluetooth to identify where your phone is even when you don’t have GPS reception.

          This is false.

          The only thing Google LOS has besides the AOSP is using Google's connectivity check to my knowledge.

          LOS comes with no Google apps or play services, you must install those yourself if you want them.

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