I just recently found out about a mobile Linux company called FuriLabs. They made a fork of Droidian called FuriOS and are offering a phone for sale that uses it called the "FLX1". The phone has a 5000 mAh removable battery, a headphone jack, is IP68 rated for waterproof, 128GB of storage, 6GB of RAM, and has an 8 core SOC in the Mediatek Dimensity 900. FuriOS plans to offer monthly updates to the stable branch, plans to collect zero data from the user, and allows using normal Linux programs on your mobile device. They seem to ship to a variety of countries. If you want a phone that can be fixed, isn't a throwaway, and want to use an OS that is closer to straight Linux on your phone then this is very interesting. It looks like a good addition to other such devices like the Volla phones and Teracube 2E.
The main website for FuriLabs is here:
The store page for the FLX1 is here:
https://furilabs.com/shop/flx1/
The company has a Github page where their code can be found:
@publiclewdness I'm sorry but that device is not interesting at all. It relies completely on the giant hack that is libhybris/Halium and will thus _always_ have an outdated kernel and won't be able to run everything we know from Linux mobile (Plasma Mobile, GNOME Mobile, etc). If you're going to do that anyway you might as well just buy an already existing Android device.
Why this when you can get say a second-hand OnePlus 6 instead and flash mainline Linux on it?
Not interesting at all to you but can be interesting to some. Not everything that uses "mainline" has an up to date kernel. For instance on my Pinephone CE I never once had an up to date kernel using PostmarketOS or Mobian. My issue with the OnePlus 6 is that it has a non removable battery. I don't like using throwaway devices when I can help it.
@publiclewdness I bought a (likely refurbished) OnePlus 6, and it has great [unsuspended] battery life on mainline(with only 3300 maH). Just because the battery's not user-replacable doesn't make it a throwaway.
But the 5000maH battery for Furi FLX1 makes me wonder if this device will ship with graphics hacks leading to inefficient use of power, hence the need for a larger battery... (Librem 5's 4500maH low unsuspended life is usually attributed to having separate modem and wifi cards).
I was happy and impressed with the 4000 maH on the Teracube 2e, and the 5000 maH on the Volla X23. I think the Pinephone and Librem battery issues have to do with the modem if I remember right but could be wrong. Call it what you will but I believe having a removable battery to be a huge plus and no one has presented an argument as to how it is not. Not all of us want to carry a battery pack or a second phone or have to charge multiple times a day.
