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I really wanted to like it back when it came out, such an ambitious move from Gnome 2. In screenshots it looked so pretty, like I wanted to eat it with a piece of cake. I was very excited about the prospect of having Linux + Gnome on a tablet or phone with their new touch controls and interface. But I was disappointed when loading the first liveCD and found it "clunky" on my desktop. Still is. And I'm sorry but I can't stand the GTK3 style. I use Fluxbox as my WM and those stiff, wide, unfriendly window decorations just make me want to run in the other direction.

I'm sure it will be a much better experience on the Librem Phone. That's the form factor it was made for.

This is why I don't have a handheld surveillance device / smart phone. But it doesn't have to be this way. Purism, for example is making decent progress on a handheld computer that doesn't, though I doubt there's much they are doing on the radio side to protect the user from the predatory carriers.

The problem with the people who opt-out of such things is you don't hear about them so much. They exist.

He's a well-known tech guy. He (and we) should be able to get someone to rig up a physical switch to make/break the battery contact connection, right? All the privacy/security people complain about this, but it seems like this would be a simple thing to agitate for.

Or to pre-order.

Correct, I want this to become a sustainable product so I can leave the spyware behind. Whether that actually happens, I'm still uncertain.

I'm not sure what any of that has to do with the notion of Trump being a person who runs, but here's a solution for your problems

https://puri.sm/

While not yet released, check out the librem 5 (linux inside). It checks off those privacy boxes nicely.

https://puri.sm/products/libre...

I know they're not out yet, and yes, I have an Android phone that does a lot more than an equivalently priced iPhone, but I'm sort of looking forward to getting away from Android too.

That company is a just a monument to bullshit. Stuff like "does not track you", how do you have a cell phone that can't be tracked? Even the most basic cell phone is trackable by its very nature. This nonsense that it doesn't lock you into an ecosystem? So do its apps run on other platforms? No of course they don't, if you buy apps for it you're locked into its platform just like iOS or Android.

Then there's nonsense like this: "Unlike the rest of the industry indulging in fads and forcefully replacing the most standard audio connector to gain “control of the accessories market”". Clearly they don't understand that Bluetooth is a standard that these companies do not "control", or maybe they just assume their potential customer base is completely stupid.

"Lifetime updates"? But no model for how they will actually fund development of these updates, we all know this claim to be bullshit because you need to fund it somehow and developers don't simply work for free so unless you're paying them at some point the updates will stop.

In the end it's still open source software running on top of closed source hardware and software.

I know they're not out yet, and yes, I have an Android phone that does a lot more than an equivalently priced iPhone, but I'm sort of looking forward to getting away from Android too.

Yes, but they've gone a long way towards disabling and neutering the management engine. Their progress is impressive.

https://puri.sm/?s=Management+...

Purism is already far down along this path, with good quality hardware.

Available right now? Samsung Galaxy S5. It's water resistant, has a replaceable battery, has wireless charging (not natively, but Samsung make a replacement back cover with the reception coils built in), is made of plastic (so it's got good radio properties and won't break when it hits the ground), has good LineageOS support (so guaranteed updates) and is available pretty cheaply because of its age. We hit peak Samsung four years ago; it's all been downhill from there.

Just don't be an idiot and buy one from a network operator (seriously, why do people even do that?).

Future use? Probably the Librem 5 (https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5/) which will have far less restrictions on what you can do with it.

https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5/

Best Option. It's pre-order, so you'll have to wait a bit, but the wait is probably worth it.

You're welcome.

Here you go: https://puri.sm/

Android is not the operating system we're looking for. Sure, it's more open than IOS but as other readers have pointed out it's not exactly a free and open ecosystem. Also Google's direction is obviously away from open source with their Android P offering. Librem looks like one of the best options currently but I guess you need the weight of a big company behind it and good relationships with the handset manufacturers to make it work.

> What I want are HARDWARE switches for: microphone, cameras, and radios on my devices. Funny how many devices USED to have such things in the past.

Ask, and ye shall receive: https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5/ (development prototypes are currently being produced, first orders are expected to ship in January 2019).

Your Slashvertisement got lost in mod-0 hell, but I'm going to bump it anyway.

> What I want are HARDWARE switches for: microphone, cameras, and radios on my devices. Funny how many devices USED to have such things in the past.

Ask, and ye shall receive: https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5/ (development prototypes are currently being produced, first orders are expected to ship in January 2019).

Kickstarter funding completed awhile back on a slashdotter-spec'd phone: https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5

Librem 5, the phone that focuses on security by design and privacy protection by default. Running Free/Libre and Open Source software and a GNU+Linux Operating System designed to create an open development utopia, rather than the walled gardens from all other phone providers.

A fully standards-based freedom-oriented system, based on Debian and many other upstream projects, has never been done before–we will be the first to seriously attempt this.

The Librem 5 phone will be the world's first ever IP-native mobile handset, using end-to-end encrypted decentralized communication.

I tried to explain this to a friend recently. I believe that Apple tries its best to protect my privacy because its business model is selling devices. That is not Google's business model. If you think that you can protect your privacy while doing business with a company who's model is sell your data then you're dreaming.

I wish there was a good, third, open source alternative. Maybe Librem will see the light of day.

https://puri.sm/

Not just Windows.

Librem 5 is a phone that focuses on security by design and privacy protection by default. Running Free/Libre and Open Source software and a GNU+Linux Operating System designed to create an open development utopia, rather than the walled gardens from all other phone providers.

I'll just leave this here...

I'll just leave this here...

I'll just leave this here...

You can order a Librem 5 from Purism that will do this. Its main purpose is privacy and security, but is essentially a Linux computer in a phone form factor. https://videos.puri.sm/promo/l...

This is not really a "random distribution".
It's really debian with some small customizations.

The company behind it makes secure FOSS laptops (and soon phone).

Check out https://puri.sm/

PureOS is what Purism use on their laptops, which are clearly intended to be freedom-respecting.

Not yet, but there will be in 2019.

The Librem phone hits all of my requirements, and will be my next phone in 2019. It's not cheap, but its feature set is awesome. Some highlights (in no particular order):

1) Runs pure Linux, which allows for installing many standard Linux distributions.
2) Has hardware kill switches for the radio and microphone.
3) Encrypted calls between Librem phones.
4) No tracking.

There are other great features, too. It's the phone I've been waiting for since I first discovered smartphones.

Librem 5 from purism is a linux phone in development. [1]

Sure, it's not shipping for another year, but the company has shipped plenty of (well-regarded) linux laptops, and even gone so far as to figure out how to shut off intel's AMT in their newer machines. [2]

[1] https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5/
[2] https://puri.sm/learn/avoiding...

Librem 5 from purism is a linux phone in development. [1]

Sure, it's not shipping for another year, but the company has shipped plenty of (well-regarded) linux laptops, and even gone so far as to figure out how to shut off intel's AMT in their newer machines. [2]

[1] https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5/
[2] https://puri.sm/learn/avoiding...

I'm in the same boat as the OP, trying to milk a bit more life out of a phone that is pretty much falling apart (Galaxy S II). I want to get away from Android, and refuse to be a walled-gardener with Apple.

Most promising lead I've found is Purism's Librem 5 phone, which is still a yearish out. Runs their flavor of Linux by default, but promises to be able to run pretty much any distro you want. Hardware kill switches for privacy concern things like webcam, WiFi, etc.

I don't own any Purism stuff currently, but it seems like they are doing things right. I'm hoping that the phone doesn't end up vaporware, but it seems like that it unlikely; they've got a range of several Linux-focused laptops released.

From there, I guess the question becomes what GPS navigation software options are available from Linux, since that was another primary listed requirement.

If you can wait a little bit, there will be Librem 5

There is, or will soon be, an alternative to the Big Brother in your pocket problem. Purism is working on a smart phone ( https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5/ ) with microphone ( and other ) hardware kill switches so you know that the damned thing can't bug you.

To the person making the comment about the cell phone burning a hole in your pocket in your pocket if it was always recording, not at ALL true. Oh, and bandwidth allowance may not be an issue either if there was an understanding between, say, google/apple and ISPs, plus government monitors. There is a reason why many new phones are designed in such away it is surgery to remove the battery which is the only sure way to be sure it isn't monitoring. There was a reason Snowden had cell phones put into a microwave when the reporters were meeting him: he knew they can always be listening/watching, regardless of settings by the user. The limitations people HOPE there are on a cell phone in regards to limitations are an illusion. Don't believe me? Try using apps like WeChat for awhile. your battery would not be dead either (certainly not on the new phones with the non-removable battery). I know because I've had conversations using apps that have gone one for hours which barely put a dint in the charge and my phone did not require a recharge for several days after. But I digress.

Any device that can listen and has access to the Internet is probably listening. There is a project that claims to plug this hole called Purism ( https://puri.sm/products/ ) with a hardware shutoff switch for the "holes" that are on by default on. And don't forget, Google was recently caught with their hand in the cookie jar, taking user location data even if you turn it "off" on your phone. The Cell phone, like these vocal response devices, are in essence trojan horses. No one should be having devices that listen 24/7 in their home. If we don't fight to protect our privacy, government and private business will assume permissions has been given. It used to be one had to break into your home, plant bugs, and monitor close by to do the kind of intrusive monitoring that can be done just by putting out devices people think are "cool" or convenient. It's like Mark Twain's whitewashing chapter in Tom Sawyer: We pay to let people into our home and take our data.

There are people doing something about this situation.

https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5/

I'm a "fanboy" of freedom, privacy and choice. And the reasons I specifically mentioned android VARIANTS and not Android is because I KNOW android has spy hooks in the OS (and in iOS as well). Yes most do have issues, but we do the best we can with the best knowledge we have, which I try to add on Slashdot. I'm sceptical in general and to my sadness have been proven invariably right.

If you are actually interested in a phone that is supposedly made for public benefit (rather than government/corporate interests) as this company claims to be one. (time will tell)

https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5/

It's supposedly an open source PHONE, not just an OS. It's the same price as a new iPhone or Android upper end phone but hopefully will empower YOU, the one who pays for it. Your welcome.

https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5/

This is why I'm looking hard at the "Librem 5" linux phone for my next handset.
It has hardware switches for camera / wifi & bluetooth / baseband radio. When it says those services are off, it means it!
https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5/

Starting today, our second generation of laptops (based on the 6th gen Intel Skylake platform) will now come with the Intel Management Engine neutralized and disabled by default. Users who already received their orders can also update their flash to disable the ME on their machines

First of all neutralized, then disabled. The next step is to completely remove it.

This is one of the reasons why I was looking at Purism laptops. They've recently announced they have completely disabled the ME. My Librem 15v3 arrived yesterday and now I'm free...

Check it out...
Purism Librem Laptops Completely Disable Intel's ME

P.S. I am not an employee. Just happy to promote all the good things this company is doing.

For my next phone I'm gonna pony up and buy one with a pure full GNU Linux distro.

The problem is that there aren't many thing on the market yet.

Best contenders are :

• Jolla they are the former Nokia engineers that used to work the Maemo/Meego system for Nokia'sr N800 / N900 / N9 series of phones until the whole Elop/Microsoft disaster shit-show happened.
  Now they are making Sailfish OS which is a continuation of the same development (but have now renamed the core from Meego to mer).
  They used to have some inhouse hardware (Jolla 1 Phone) then some manufacturer failure (Jolla Tablet), then some third party partner ship (Jolla C / Intex Aquasih). Their latest product is Sailfish X, done in partnership with Sony Open Devices, to Install Sailfish X on Sony Xperia X (single SIM version [the dual sim version isn't officially supported, but according to forum it works too), *not SIM-locked only* [SIM-locked phone cannot have their bootloader unlocked]). It's still an early beta, but if you're patient and willing to through the first few months of bugs, it might be worth giving it a try
  it's a full blown GNU/Linux under the hood, using modern features like Wayland, Systemd, etc. using RPM repositories for software distribution and significative developper community.
  Darbacks for your specific target is that to make deployment on smartphone easier, it does rely on same (closed source) drivers that the chipset manufacturer provide for smartphone (using an adaptation layer called libhybris), so you still have manufacturer blobs, and some bits of the infeface still aren't under a copy-left license yet (but Jolla plans to, and in the main time the source is visible any way, as the interface is mostly QML and Javascript anyway. With lots of patches available in the communities too)
• Purism has successfully crowdfunded their librem 5 smartphone.
  Good news is that they plan to develop a 100% pure Linux opensource phone with no blobs (partly by selecting chip with 100% opensource support, and partly by isolating problematic chips like baseband modem into separate chips that only communicate with the main chipset over a standard protocole - there's no "baseband modem actually serving as the chipset's northbridge" as in Qualcomm)
  the drawbacks are that it's still in development (obviously), and that it uses a chipset that is either completely antique (currently their test are done on Freescale i.MX6, because that the only one with 100% opensource drivers supported by upstream kernel) or might be less exciting than other phone (they hope to be able to shift to FreeScale i.MX 8 as opensource support improves).
  they plan pure linux interfaces, mostly gnome and KDE Plasma Active (yet another QML-based interface).
• Samsung is doing Tizen, which is a distant cousin of the Meego/Maemo family. But I don't know how much there is an active community

And I think that's about all currently active project of GNU/Linux phones, now that Ubuntu Touch has dropped the ball.

(Also, not interesting for you, but Sailfish OS, on their official commercial product support a proprietary compatibility layer - Alien-Dalvik by Myriad - that enables Android Apps (though currently only at 4.4 KitKat level).
Purism has promised to consider some container based solution (andbox -based, perhaps ?) to bring compatibility to Android Apps.
Tizen can download from their application store OpenMobile's Application Compatibility Layer.

So none of these will suffer from "not part of a big app ecosystem" networking effect)

"Why can't my phone be my PC? Plug in a monitor, wireless keyboard, and voila! "

You CAN!

https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5/


:-)

I do not have nor is it even remotely likely I'll ever have a smartphone.

So "I don't have a smartphone" has become the new "I don't have a TV" thing to be proud of !~~~

Jokes aside....

They're a security nightmare, completely incapable of being secured against intrusion in even the most basic ways, due to a complete lockdown of the OS and the software loaded onto the phone. Worse, many of them have been found to be completely compromised right out of the factory.

On the other hand, there are viable alternative :

- Sailfish OS by jolla is an example of a system that is not locked down, vast parts of it are opensource (under copyleft licesne), most of the remaining not yet copylefted parts are "source available" in practice due to being written in QML + Javascript, and only a few bits are actually closed source (the alien-dalvik android compatibility layer, predictive text and microsoft exchange client).
Currently they are launching a new official version for the Xperia X smartphone, in partnership with Sony's Open Devices program.

There are even ways to run android app using opensource component (currently SFDroid, with Andbox aimed by the community somewhere in the future).

That covers your problem of "The OS that came with my phone contains crap and I'm not even allowed to remove it, because I'm shut off admin access on my own hardware".

And if you are not comfortable with blobs (like the platform driver) running on your phone (nearly all current chipsets). Or even worse - the remote-blob running baseband modem working as a the chipset's northbridge and being in charge of sensitive component like RAM (like on most Qualcomm chipset) ; there are alternatives too :

- Purism has managed to finance their Librem "sort of crowdfunding" campaign and will build a smartphone based around opensource.
Yup, indeed, it's an awfully old and under-powered chipset (currently prototyping with i.MX 6, with hopes to more to i.MX 8 if that one gets similar upstream vanilla kernel support). But this chipset will run 100% copyleft opensource code, and the problematic parts (like modem) will be isolated in separate chips that don't have access to any sensitive part (can't see the main system RAM, unlike Qualcomm's modems) and will be restricted to only talk over a standard protocol with the main system.

That covers you problem of "NSA can remotely turn on my phone and start spying on me". Just flip the hardware switch and disconnect the modem, the rest of your phone will continue to work as *you* intended.

You're right, I own a One+3 and it is a great phone.
I have been thinking about getting the next model but this news certainly drives me back to Nexus/Pixel or better, the Purism phone.
Among others it promises pure open source Debian-derived Linux and hardware switches on the camera and microphone.

As a matter of fact, now I'll contribute to it's development: https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5/

Oh yes, about the 'Linux is to blame' troll(s), it's not the Linux part that's at fault here, it is One+ their OxygenOS shell that does the spying.

Purism exceeds $1 million in funding for Librem 5 Linux-based smartphone

"The most popular mobile operating system on the planet, Android, is already based on Linux, but with Google in charge of it, many consumers cannot depend on it for privacy. With that said, Purism is planning to fight the impossible fight against Android and iOS with the "Librem 5" smartphone. This is a device that will run a privacy-focused Linux-based OS called "Pure OS," but the hardware is wide open for any OS, really. Purism is trying to raise $1.5 million through crowdfunding, and earlier today, it reached a significant milestone -- $1 million! Maybe the fight isn't impossible after all..." - via BetaNews

In the news:

https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5/
https://news.ycombinator.com/i...
https://news.ycombinator.com/i...
https://www.reddit.com/r/linux...
https://www.reddit.com/r/linux...

https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5/

We don't need another "phone OS"... instead we need the hardware to mature to make porting existing OS to it feasible, there are plenty of OS out there already, the phone functionality is then mostly down to user level apps and touch UI (not saying that there isn't a lot of work that goes into that of course). The closest we are going to get to this in the immediate future is https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5/

The way I see it, smart phones are currently in the 1980's stage of personal computers, Amigas', Ataris', Acorns', BBCs', Amstrads' etc, sometimes they use the same CPU architecture, but there is little similarity in terms of a compatible hardware platform and all current consumer hardware vendors do not provide open source drivers anyway.

Hopefully Purism, with their Librem phone and PureOS, will survive, if only as a niche product. Designed to be a super secure phone based on Debian.

https://puri.sm/

But if there aren't many apps for it not many people will adopt it. If not many people adopt it, no one will write apps for it.

A pure GNU/Linux mobile phone

https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5/

Security, integrity, user control. Libre software and hardware. That's why it is needed.