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Review of /e/ – Android-based alternative for mobile phones

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Re: Review of /e/ – Android-based alternative for mobile phones

#81

Post by em-bee »

soufron wrote: post #51

I have used /e/ as my main phone for 1 year - and I am a heavy user. It’s a bliss! I also got a phone with /e/ installed on it for my 73 years old mother. She loved it. It’s really surprising to see how the bigtech monopoly has nothing to do with the quality of their services, but everything with their unfair practices - Microsoft yesterday, Google today.

pretty much the same story for me. started 3 years ago, and got a phone for my 70 year old mother almost two years ago. she gets help to install new apps, but otherwise it works just fine for her.

Re: Review of /e/ – Android-based alternative for mobile phones

#82

Post by 0xbadcafebee »

unethical_ban wrote: post #71
0xbadcafebee wrote: post #13

"We are making a mobile phone ecosystem that lets users escape the permanent and industrial harvesting of their personal data." I have never heard any normal person ever talk about data privacy. It feels like there's this giant bubble that the tech world lives in, and they are the only people who care about this issue.

What is your point? You're using loaded terms like "normal" to contrast with people who are tech hobbyists, and you sound as if it is bad for an organization to care about something moral if few people care for it.

Because it's like a trope now where a tech person builds a thing that bothers them but nobody else, and meanwhile most people are like "I just want to do X, why is it so hard". Like why does my Android phone take up 15GB just for system files? I care about having free space more than data privacy. Security would sure be nice too, seeing as I use banking apps from this thing.

Call me crazy, but I think most people care less about Nike knowing what their shoe size is, than they care about keeping their bank account safe or not running out of storage.

Re: Review of /e/ – Android-based alternative for mobile phones

#83

Post by thomaszander »

fsflover wrote: post #11
alexb_ wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately for that idea, I would like my phone to actually just function normally, and have support for programs that Android uses. You are making perfect the enemy of good here.

I'm using Pinephone as a daily driver (and waiting for Librem 5 to replace it) and avoid all proprietary Android apps. But you in principle can install them with Waydroid or Anbox. See also: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32396685 .

You can wait for the Librem 5 for a very long time, they haven't shipped any significant software update for a long time for mine and its in the state that if you turn on auto-suspend (i.e. don't always go at full 100% CPU) it freezes and needs a hard reboot.

Linux on phone is still very much in the enthusiasts-only phase. Not for me, not for most. And I'm saying that as someone that is a KDE/Linux geek!

Maybe that will change, but for now the e.foundation OS has most definitely a large potential audience that those phones are not going to be able to fill just yet.

Re: Review of /e/ – Android-based alternative for mobile phones

#84

Post by mgdlbp »

eldaisfish wrote: post #21
softfalcon wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A solid product name is important for marketing, to be sure. However, it's also a way that native English folks prejudice against foreign products that are arguably very useful and valuable. I'm not saying you're wrong in doing what everyone does and allowing the marketing naming to sway your decision. However, I would gently suggest that you take a more critical approach and evaluate the actual product instead of le…

something named /e/ has literally no obvious means of pronunciation in any human language. This really is on a different level of stupid for a name. You mention Kubernetes. I raise you Microsoft Kaizala. That is such a stupid name in English even though i recognise and know the language it is from - Marathi. Naming is a delicate game and there are numerous examples of brand names that transcend language - Ikea, Nissa…

but but, /ɪˈkeːa/!

edit: hmm... that settles it then: the pronunciation is simply, /e/. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki//e/

Re: Review of /e/ – Android-based alternative for mobile phones

#85

Post by evilos »

rglullis wrote: post #80
evilos wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you put work into something meant for others to use, and then make it hard for people to find it?

Who said that is hard to find it? Is it hard compared to what ? How much does it cost (in times and resources) to make it "easier" to find it? The people working on it are doing it for free (as in, it cost me literally nothing to download and install /e/OS on my phone) and you think you still feel entitled to get "good marketing" on top of it? If you think that the product is lacking in some part, how about you CONTR…

It's like if your buddy created an awesome website that provided a great free service and then called it jflasdjfjasdfjkereifsd.yzy

You'd wonder they shot themselves in the foot like that. It would've been easy to give it a good name but instead they severely limited the potential of their hard work for seemingly no reason.

It's not entitlement, it is confusion.

Also why are you so confrontational?

Re: Review of /e/ – Android-based alternative for mobile phones

#86

Post by 0xbadcafebee »

renewiltord wrote: post #45
0xbadcafebee wrote: post #13

"We are making a mobile phone ecosystem that lets users escape the permanent and industrial harvesting of their personal data." I have never heard any normal person ever talk about data privacy. It feels like there's this giant bubble that the tech world lives in, and they are the only people who care about this issue.

All the Apple billboards in SF on 280/101 tout their Privacy right now.

A Ford billboard might have a picture of a fancy cupholder to advertise their car has more cupholders; doesn't mean everyone's walking around talking about cupholders. (Though they will if they see that billboard)

Re: Review of /e/ – Android-based alternative for mobile phones

#87

Post by em-bee »

Grazester wrote: post #14

I feel like I wouldn't use this based on the name alone. How do I say it? forward slash ee forward slash? I don't understand why anyone would think it was a good idea to name it this!

the original name was eelo. then they discovered that eelo was a trademark owned by someone else. /e/ was a stopgap measure, while they were looking for a new name. already some years ago they said they had a new name, but they were working to make sure the name was rock solid (trademarking it in several jurisdictions i guess).

i think murena is that new name. i don't know why they don't use that for the OS. but i guess it's because once you have a brand, it's difficult to change. maybe over time when murena is more well known they will try to rebrand the OS too.

branding is hard. rebranding is even harder. especially if you don't have a large marketing budget.

Re: Review of /e/ – Android-based alternative for mobile phones

#88

Post by squarefoot »

From the /e/ Foundation website:

"The easy-installer beta version supports 15 devices"

This is the #1 problem, but it's not /e/ developers fault, as supporting devices is a time consuming and costly activity, and the risk of bricking an expensive device is just too high for normal users to want to try. Manufacturers are to blame. It's not a technical problem but rather a political one; manufacturers should be forced by law to unlock boot loaders and publish at least the bare minimum documentation enough for porting software to devices that became obsolete either by the introduction of a newer version, or after support has ceased. Until that happens, I'm afraid we'll see more and more projects supporting only a very small part of the available devices.

Re: Review of /e/ – Android-based alternative for mobile phones

#89

Post by jqpabc123 »

devonallie wrote: post #36

I love LineageOS and have used microG services for so long but forks like this strike me as sad as needing to assimilate to the look and feel of iOS. It comes off as cheap and unoriginal. Now this is harsh criticism I understand but I do appreciate how much effort it must have taken to make all of these app forks. I only wish the effort was spent building something more interesting.

I use /e/OS with Discreet Launcher. It does not mimic iOS.

Re: Review of /e/ – Android-based alternative for mobile phones

#90

Post by jqpabc123 »

ReadTheLicense wrote: post #22
mrsteveman1 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I understand it: The Google related things that are excluded from AOSP are things that Google doesn't want them to be there, for whatever reason. The Google related things that are excluded from this project are things that users don't want them to be there at all, i.e. everything Google related.

My point is, there's practically nothing Google related in my phone already. I am going through the settings and apps and can't find anything. Is LineageOS special in this regard? I thought this is the common AOSP experience, I had it the same with other ROMs.

AOSP by itself still contacts Google --- without any additional apps or services installed. /e/OS has described were/how this occurs.
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