Leaving Apple&Google: first 100% ungoogled Android phones go live on refurb HW

This is a fantastic idea for so many reasons. Selling a recycled phone is great for the planet. And installing a non-Google OS is a huge help to people who don't want to fiddle with all that.

Kudos to you!

Hesitant to criticize because the world badly needs companies like e and refurbishing is noble, but this feels like bad optics for a company trying to lure people away from the giants. Refurb screams unprofessional ebay tier seller to me.

Why not something like Xiaomi brand new, the process to degoogle them is incredibly painless while anything new in the Samsung line is horrendous to flash if not impossible.

Does anybody know how security updates work with these devices? I assume Samsung will continue supporting S7 and S9, but for how long, and do these patches make it to /e/? I'm always skeptical of privacy grandstanding when little information is available about the security properties and processes of a system. One can have security without privacy, but certainly not the other way around.

did i understand right that instead of a google account you need a /e/ account to access stuff? so that instead of trusting google, i need to trust /e/?

I was hoping to spiff up my old Galaxy with a faster OS, but the bootloaders are locked on the Snapdragon S6 and up in the USA and China.

Not yet for sale. No announced availability date.