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Comment by nickjj | Hacker News Reader

Does anyone have a success story of using a non-Android / non-iOS smartphone as their main phone?

I've been on a flip phone and never owned a smartphone but a recent role I'm taking requires having a smartphone for email / Slack access.

I know it's a matter of picking between 2 lesser evils but has anyone avoided both and went with an open Linux based phone that has a really nice user experience and decent battery life? All of the research I've done leads to Linux / open phones just not being there yet, even phones that cost $900 like the Purism Librem 5. The Librem 5 looks like it came a long way in the last year and I am really rooting for them to succeed, but is anyone using a current one as of today or know of a viable alternative?

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Get a pixel 4a and put CalyxOS on it and you're good. Only use it for work and keep your flip phone for personal stuff for maximum security I guess. Going from a flip phone to ANY smart phone is going to be a massive upgrade in terms of capability, even the librem phone, so I don't really know what you're going on about there.

I'm still waiting for my Librem 5, ordered in early 2019. Although to be fair, I chose to be in a later release group, in order to benefit from design iterations, bugs being worked-out etc.

I say don't change your setup for them; get a dedicated device… consider a tablet. Having two devices is a pain, but it'll improve your work-life balance when you have to actively decide to carry it. You'll also never accidentally send something personal to a coworker.

I use an older iPhone in airplane mode. I get over a week of battery life. I forward calls to my personal if I'm away from wifi and on-call, and they do not get my personal phone number.

I was considering "upgrading" my existing phone instead of carrying 2 devices. They said I can use a personal phone and I wouldn't have to install anything company specific or have random audits done. In return they would pay half the monthly phone cost. Since I would be on-call a tablet might be too bulky to carry around, the idea with the smartphone from their POV would involve being able to respond by email or Slack in case a downtime event happens. Probably wouldn't technically need a phone number tho.

But yes, the above has flaws in that there's always a 0.01% chance I send something to the wrong person if my contacts co-exist in 1 app. I'm dumb when it comes to smart phone capabilities, maybe there's a way to 100% silo off 2 sets of contacts or profiles? It's something I'll need to research.

I've considered trying, since I'm buying a second line as a "distraction-free tool" for the daytime hours.

I think the easiest thing to do (aka the #1 method of de-Googling) is to run certain versions of Android that have the play store removed, that has a version of android built from the AOSP with an alternate store like F-Droid enabled.

If you search "AOSP phone" or "de-google android" you could get places.

The other thing I have thought about is getting a Pine phone.

"AOSP Treble GSI" is another good top-of-the-rabbit-hole search term.

tldr if you have an even somewhat recent unlock(ed)/(able) android device, you can probably drop a very pure AOSP build on it pretty easily.

I had a Microsoft Lumia and used it into the ground until the screen died. It was a good phone, lacked some critical app support, but otherwise was a very solid smartphone alternative to iOS and Android. And you could even replace the battery! I can't say that is MS were still in the game, things would be markedly better, but at least there would be a decent, if distant, 3rd place smartphone platform.

We all have had, but in the past. it isn't feasible now.

I mean, you can buy "safe" smartphone, but first you can't prove beyond reasonable doubt that it is actually safe and private, and second, you attract more attention because the same phones are being bough by the criminals.

I've been heavily considering getting a PinePhone, when a new iteration comes along. I only need my phone for calling and texting, anything on top of that is just icing on the cake. If I can run all my favorite GTK apps on it, then I'll consider it a slam dunk.

The best way to root for them to succeed would be to support them.

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