What used phone should I get to try alternative OS?

Hi everyone,

Having successfully left windows for Linux (Fedora) a few years ago, I thought I’d the same for my phone.

I have a professional iPhone 13 provided by my employer, but I have an old Samsung GT-I8730 lying around.

Sadly, there is apparently nothing (except stock Android) that I could easily install on it.

So I’m kind of looking for a cheap second hand phone that I could get for my birthday in order to try to have a degoogled and deappleified private phone (I’m now using my work iPhone for everything).

What phone should I buy for max 150.- (around 180$) second hand?

Also what OS should I try to install on it?

To be honest, I’m really a rookie in the phone world and I’m not even sure if I’m looking for a degoogled Android phone (/e/os, lineage, graphene) or a linux phone (Ubuntu touch, KDE mobile).

It would be important for me to be able to daily drive the phone. Listening to music and using my banking apps on it would be important features.

So I’m looking for advice regarding all of this and I’m thankful in advance for your help.

codenul,

Heads down, oneplus6T. Been sold is and stable for roms. Does have a notch at the top that could bother people

eugenia,
@eugenia@lemmy.ml avatar

A supported, older Pixel will have the best support for to install alternative Android distros. But to alternative OSes in general (not just android), it gets a bit more complicated and you need to check if the pixels are supported by all or not.

Beaver,
@Beaver@lemmy.ca avatar

I bought my pixel 3axl for $105 and threw Ubuntu Touch on there.

Dariusmiles2123,

When you do such a thing and install a Linux mobile distro on it, does the End Of Life aspect of the phone still is a problem?

Beaver,
@Beaver@lemmy.ca avatar

Not as long as the parts keep working. When you install Linux distros it extends the years of support given to a device.

Dariusmiles2123,

Okay thanks as I wouldn’t want to put cash in a device (even a cheap one) I’d only be able to use for a few years.

CalcProgrammer1,
@CalcProgrammer1@lemmy.ml avatar

OnePlus 6 or 6T would be the best phones that you have a chance at actually finding if you want to run postmarketOS.

Dariusmiles2123, (edited )

Do you know if these could run something like graphene os or /e/os?

I would want to end up on a Linux phone OS, but I’d also want to have as much choice as possible.

anon5621,

/e/ os works on oneplus 6, tested myself. Isn’t graphene only for pixels?

anyDr0id,

@CalcProgrammer1 @Dariusmiles2123 and then the

h3ndrik,

wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Devices

If you want Linux on your phone. But Android is probably easier to use. Something like LineageOS or /e/ works pretty well. I’m not sure what kind of phone to recommend for that.

lemmyreader,

What phone should I buy for max 150.- (around 180$) second hand?

e.foundation by means of Murena sells phones with /e/os installed. Cheapest currently at discount about $200 but is out of stock last time I looked. e.foundation did sell refurbished phones (and does ?) but the price were always over $200 I think.

TheDrunkard,

Chances are that your banking apps will not work on any OS that isn’t maintained by Google.

aasatru,
@aasatru@kbin.earth avatar

Waydroid might help with that, but no guarantees.

nossaquesapao,

If the app requires safetynet, it probably won’t.

Dariusmiles2123,

From what I’m seeing on the /e/os website and their list of compatible devices (doc.e.foundation/devices), a lot if phones would get « safetynet »(even if I don’t really know what it means).

nossaquesapao, (edited )

deleted_by_author

    •
    Dariusmiles2123,

    Thanks for the answer👍

    I’m trying to learn a maximum of information before buying any phone, but it’s difficult to find answers sometimes.

    nossaquesapao,

    Perhaps you could try experimenting with your older phone before buying something and risking naking some mistake. I believe this rom is compatible with it:

    xdaforums.com/…/gt-i8730-t-rom-unofficial-7-1-x-l…

    Although a bit dated, doing that can help you get more experience with the process of u lockingthe bootloader, flashing a custom rom, etc.

    Note: I was going to edit a typo in the previous comment, and accidentally delet it, sorry.

    Edit: just found out that lemmy has the option to restore accidentally deleted comme ts. Awesome.

    Dariusmiles2123,

    Oh thanks 🙏 I guess I’m gonna try this first.

    ikidd,
    @ikidd@lemmy.world avatar

    GrapheneOS has a sandboxed Google Play that works fine with any banking apps I’ve used. You can also move them to a work profile to segregate them further and still used them.

    smeg,

    In my experience it works with most, but one of mine recently decided to implement the “Play Integrity API” which broke it on GrapheneOS

    liam070,

    Fairphone with e/OS.

    aasatru,
    @aasatru@kbin.earth avatar

    A 2nd hand Fairphone 4 should also have good support for Ubuntu Touch, so might be worth considering.

    poVoq,
    @poVoq@slrpnk.net avatar

    You need to first investigate what kind of protections your banking app has, as that will be most likely the largest issue with anything non-stock Android.

    BearOfaTime,

    Pixel is hard to beat. You can get a 5 for about $170. Run Lineage, DivestOS, or Graphene.

    lemmyreader,

    Pixel5 appears EOL with GrapheneOS though the 5a may be fine ?

    Dariusmiles2123,

    Oh is it? It’s one of the cheapest second hand phones I’ve been investigating.

    That’s something I don’t understand and would need someone to explain. How can it become end of life on an alternative OS? It’s as if someone was telling me my computer was too old (not not powerful enough) to run Linux.

    lemmyreader,

    20240521002024052100

    Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5 are end-of-life and shouldn’t be used anymore due to lack of security patches for firmware and drivers. We provide extended support for harm reduction.

    grapheneos.org/releases

    Dariusmiles2123,

    But why is it riskier to have an end of life phone? As far as I know, my girlfriend MacBook Pro from 2012 was end of life for macOS (not receiving updates) and I installed Linux on it and it doesn’t seem more at risk than my newer Surface Go with Linux too. Is it different for phones?

    CapillaryUpgrade,
    @CapillaryUpgrade@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

    Yes it is (sadly) very different for phones.

    When an the OS for an Android phone is created, the Linux kernel is forked, and the firmware/drivers for it’s hardware components are laid on top (instead of being upstreamed to the kernel). When the manufacturer decides they no longer care about that phone, they stop updating firmware and that will no longer receive updates. You might use a rom that still updates everything else, but these critical parts won’t get updated anymore.

    The newer Pixel generations get 5-7 years of security updates (IIRC). I believe IOS devices get 5 years.

    Android and arm has (/had? I might be partly out of date) a lot of out of tree (not included in the upstream Linux kernel) code which makes booting it on Linux a shit show.
    This is also why so few devices are supported by the Linux-phone-OSs.

    Dariusmiles2123,

    Thanks for the explanation. It’s a shame as it’s the perfect way to create mountains of e-waste.

    MxRemy,

    I’ve been wondering this too, thanks!

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