1 whole month using /e/ - And I'm in love

[Kaspr]

So there I was a month ago, my iPhone 6 performance was mysteriously getting worse and worse with each new update (even with a new battery and very well looked after hardware ). And I found myself looking at several Android phones thinking… "I love you guys, I really do. But I’m a well informed computer scientist, who knows far too much for his own good and I JUST can’t bring myself to kneel before the altar of Google. I just can’t, I know what you’re all going to do with my private data… and that data is MY data… I’m just not ignorant enough to use you… Believe me I WANT to use you Mr Samsung Galaxy… I REALLY REALLY want to, your a very handsome phone. But your software is evil… I just can’t do it… "

SURELY there MUST be something to break this terrible estate of affairs we find ourselves in! I told myself. SURELY there must be someone out there who feels the same. Someone ready and willing to rise up and slay the two headed monster that has up until now held us captive to this terrible, anti-consumer, predatory system we find ourselves in.

And then… the sun broke through the clouds, I looked up in awe, and God came to me in the image of a mighty Penguin, and the mighty Penguin delivered unto me the coveted third option… And it was good.

I have been running /e/ now on my Samsung Galaxy s7 edge for an entire month and it has simply been a joy to use. Almost all the functionality of my iPhone 6, and with none of the anxiety about what Apple or Google is doing with my data, outside of what /e/ can control. Open maps, open camera… I feel like a free man for the first time. It is an absolute pleasure using this phone with /e/. Even in beta, I’m still finding it hard to fault this system.

I just want to say a massive thanks to the /e/ team. I don’t need to tell you guys how important /e/ is. I just want to say well done to Gael and the whole team for not only taking the initiative, but also the time and effort to set us all free. It’s long overdue someone stepped up to the challenge, and I know moving forward the /e/ community is in good hands.

[MarcusE1W]

For balance the Linage OS team and the Micro G team should be honourably mentioned. They also lift a good bit of the work.

But I agree with you. /e/ is really a very useful package

[vespertilio]

I wanted to get google out of my life. So last April I bought a second-hand Nexus 5x and put Lineage on it. After a few months I moved over to /e/
I am very satisfied with both options. In almost every instance it works just as well as a googled phone, and google isn’t logging info everything thing I do everywhere I go. It’s really great.

[Kaspr]

For the record, “The Mighty Penguin” includes Linage OS - I researched ALL options in great detail. Props to Lineage team as well but all things considered, as a complete ecosystem including the community support behind /e/ - /e/ was a better choice in my personal opinion. Click on “About” on the Lineage home page and you get a definition of the word Lineage and a link to the wiki page. Nothing about what devices it works on etc. Click on “Community” and you have a bunch of links but no visible community, except for jumping on their IRC but, I havent used IRC since the 90’s as 1337 hax0r as it is lol. And I mean reddit is nice, but nothing in-house. https://microg.org/ has even less info

https://e.foundation/ did a MUCH better job at convincing me to take the time out of my busy schedule and take a chance. Also Lineage has had a lot longer to develop and grow. /e/ is still in Beta and is already a match for it, so the future looks bright for /e/. But I tip my hat to all who embrace the Penguin.

[jim-61]

I’ve been using /e/ for a couple of months and have had a mostly pleasant experience. A computer tech friend turned me on to Linux several years ago and he also helped me install /e/ on my phone. This is my first smart phone so I’m not very savvy at setting up email clients. My /e/ email account doesn’t work and I don’t receive email notifications but I’m finding myself using email less and texting more anyway so it’s really no big deal. Many thanks to the /e/ team for offering an alternative to being a willing participant in the spy machine network.