Open Source Phones?

Does anyone know if there is an open source phone out there? would be an interesting project to build.

Yeah, there is.
Which of the many projects were you looking at?
I presume you at least googled it, and came up with a boatload of dead projects and a couple of live ones?

Depends on the level of openness. I can’t actually think of any phones off the top of my head that you can build from parts?

If you want a DIY phone, get an RPi + touchscreen and some glue.

Otherwise the librem 5 phone exist if you want that.

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Pine phone, Planet Computers, Fair Phone and Librem 4 are various levels of open.

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ya I’ve seen a variety of different things like the fair phone and diy raspi phones but I’m thinking more on the software side of things I know Ubuntu was working on a phone os a while back but that didn’t seem to really get of the ground. I think it would be cool to be able to run something like Linux on a phone.

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The Ubuntu phone project fliped; It was ditched by Canonicle, but still running with the UBports team; I have my backup phone and tablet running it.

I wonder how hard it would be to get distro of linux to run on cell phone hardware even if it was just cli it would still be cool to see working.

well, Ubuntu touch is a version of Ubuntu. Just stripped down.

They require closed source binary blobs for bits of the hardware though

Do you know if there is a phone out there that is the most compatible with it?

If in US, you might get a OnePlus One, or a Nexus 5 for messing about, I’d go for them, or if you’re in EU, you might be able to get a BQ aquarius 4.5 or similar?

If money is no object, the Fairphone should be supported for a couple of OS’s, but iirc, it’s not very cheap.

#ProveMeWrong, #MostOpenPhoneIsLeastExpensive? I don’t know for sure. Or If oy want a challenge, there is a few other ones?

I’ve only got an Meizu MX4, and it runs fine, just no apps, but it got limited reception, so not so common

To be honest I’m not sure if cal them open source phones in any sense of the word. They’re just android phones.

The pine phone might be the closest working phone in regards to aligning with the ideology. Maybe the fair phone as well

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Planet Computers two phones can run debian and AOSP.

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The devices can be flashed to Ubuntu Touch. They do require binary blobs to work as actual phones afterwards.

The fair phone does seem the closest to open source software and hardware, maybe the pine phone? And I’ve heard of the Librium, but don’t know anything about it.

OP mentioned a preference for messing with the OS, so might appreciate a reasonably supported device, and an OS with which to dabble?

At least, that is the impression I get

I have only had hands on experience with one

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There is also the zerophone but its pretty much proof of concept.

Lineage not good enough?

Why do you even want a phone in the first place? Since the lockdown began, I started intentionally leaving my phone at home (because I knew something like contact tracing would be a thing). This is the most liberating thing I have done. I do carry my phone with me whenever I (rarely) go to the office, or when I’m sure I need to contact someone when I arrive, or if I need maps whenever I go to a new place. But whenever I’m out for a walk, or out shopping or similar, I just leave my phone at home. Best thing I started doing.

Aside from a Pi-Phone using KDE Plasma Mobile or Phosh, I doubt there are any usable phones that you can DIY. The best bet on open source ones are PinePhone and Librem 5. Alternatives would be phones that already run things like Sailfish OS or Ubuntu Touch. Big compromises would be to install LineageOS or GrapheneOS. All of them would be better than stock Android or iOS.

Pine is pretty much the best open sourced overall phone out there right now hardware-wise and OS-wise. Not sure how the firmware is doing. But development is ongoing.

Librem had so much potential but underdelivered and is also very expensive. They seem to be silent right now. Unsure how is the production going through with their “non-beta” hardware.

If you want the current best out there, it must be the Fairphone 2 on Lineage OS but its Europe only.

There is… None of them are very good and not anything I’d consider using as a daily carry. They just aren’t ready for prime time yet.

Pine Phone. Would be awesome if folks here got it and reported the journey/experience. I’m very interested myself but I have no time for it right now. If I’m being realistic I’d buy it and it would sit around doing nothing. The Pine team is on a roll and it appears their phone is able to adapt easily to use all the work other opensource phone projects have created.

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