18h ago

Small phone with privacy friendly OS

I am desperately looking for a small phone compatible with a privacy friendly OS, best would be if the phone is not too old, lets say Less than 3 years.

I had a pixel 5 with graphene. Its Brocken and to be honest it was already too big for my small hands.

Usually phones with a width less than 70mm are considered easy to use with one Hand -even with small hands. I dont need a big screen at all since i have good eyes and use small fonts.

E.g. the unihertz jelly max seems perfect but i didnt find an easy way to put a privacy friendly OS.

On the other Hand looking at the supported devices oft graphene/ callyx and e/OS not a single one seems to offer ONE small phone.

Are there people here with the same Problem? Whats your solution?

I See 2 options for me: either i get a cheap (second Hand) big phone and hope that there will be smaller phones again in the near future. or i give up on using phones with one Hand and get a fairphone or pixel (second hand) again... What do you think is better? The Option to compromise in privacy is not an Option for me.

7 comments

I'm also looking for this. I'll probably end up buying a Fairphone 6 when it comes out and use CalyxOS, but I have looked at alternatives.
These require using LineageOS:
The Asus Zenfone 8 is from 2021. It's 148 x 68.5 x 8.9 mm and has ok specs. I don't do anything demanding anyway.
The Sony Xperia 5 V is from 2023. It's 154 x 68 x 8.6 mm and has good specs, but is expensive.
The Samsung Galaxy S10e is from 2019. It's 142.2 x 69.9 x 7.9 mm and has below average specs (compared to modern phones). This is my favorite phone. I used this before my current one and miss it so much. I should have just changed the battery. I would pay lots of money for an S10e with a modern, more energy efficient processor and higher density battery.

Looks like Galaxy S3 has still replacement parts produced. Original Android got an exceptional update in 2022 (out of suppport since what, 2014?) and custom ROM scene is still active.

The pixel 8a is slightly narrower than the pixel 5 (_{1mm) and shorter (}4mm), so that could be a replacement, the 7a has similar physical dimensions to the 8a if you want something used/cheaper.
- And the 9a is speculated to be released around March, so Graphene is sure to be close behind whenever it drops (if they need to adjust anything at all).
  
  I'll be getting a new phone soon but is it a good idea to attempt to flash a new OS on a new kinda expensive device? i hate the idea of a used phone, but i wouldn't wanna brick something worth a month's rent. been over 10 years since I've attempted that (unsuccessfully).

7 comments