Are there ANY phones in America supported?

/e/OS Devices
1

I have been watching this OS for almost 2 years now waiting for a phone to become available in America. Although I am quite certain there has been progress with the eOS, I sure haven’t seen any on the website. Still no way to buy a phone in America, still no way to send a phone in to have eOS put on it, still no easy way for a user who isn’t a geek to install it themselves. To be honest, I have seen zero progress in any of these areas.

This is baffling to me as I know there are so many people here who are about ready to simply discard their phone to avoid tracking, E could not build enough phones to handle the demand with nothing for advertising but word of mouth and a youtube video.

I have gotten to the point where I am ready to start leaving my phone at home and do without it because a burner phone that still tracks you is not really a valid option.

So… what I did is go out and find a geek I could pay to install this on a phone for me. Not crazy about letting a stranger work on my phone but if that’s what it takes to get a secure phone, fine. All set, right? Wrong!

I wanted to put this on a Samsung S7 since I can get a new one reasonably cheap and guess what, none of the model nuber of the Samsung S7 that are sold in America are supported by E. Look at an S7 edge and S9… same thing.

Had I known there was zero effort to make this OS available in the largest market in the world, I would not have wasted almost two years of my time waiting for it.

Are there ANY phone models sold in the US that this OS can be installed on? I really don’t want a sub-standard piece of hardware and imho, anything not made by samsung is sub-standard. However, if there is another makers phone that can be obtained over here that will run eOS, I would consider it.

I don’t know how many people are working on this project but it seems to me that not having a sellable product in the largest market in the world in almost two years time is seriously disregarding a significant profit to be made hand over fist. There are millions of people starving for a nongoogle/nonapple phone over here. Do these people really want to make money at this or is it a hobby for them?

2

Hi there,
why are you complaining about /e/ and not about the USA phone carriers AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon & Co.?

These phone carriers and Samsung are responsible for distributing different Samsung models with the same name but different chipsets in Europe and North America.

EMEA¹: Exynos Chipsets
USA, Canada China: Qualcomm Snapdragon Chipsets

¹EMEA (Economic area - Europe, Middle East, Africa)

The fact that the boot loaders of the North American Samsung devices are locked, i.e. do not allow any changes to the operating system, is also the responsibility of the phone carriers AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon & Co. American carriers first - that is the motto! And that everything has nothing to do with /e/ (!)

Samsung Galaxy S7 (USA) models are: G930A (AT&T, Cricket), G930P (Sprint, Boost, Virgin Mobile), G930V (Verizon), G930T (T-Mobile, Metro PCS), G930R (US Cellular), G930U (Unlock model)

Samsung Galaxy S8 (USA) models are: G950U (USA Unlocked), G950A (AT&T), G950P (Sprint), G950T (T-Mobile), G950V (Verizon), G950R4 (US Cellular), G950W (Canada), G950S/G950K/G950L (South Korea), G9500 (China)

Samsung Galaxy S9 (USA) models are: SM-G960 U, SM-G960 U1, SM-G960 W, SM-G960 0, SM-G960 8

You can buy an ¹EMEA phone in online shops, but you have to expect higher costs due to the USA import regulations, customs & co. as well as shipping. The working time for flashing with /e/ OS will cost less than the due Amarican import fees. If you need more assistance, please write me a PN message

6 Likes
3

Thank you for your reply archje!

You didn’t answer my question directly but to extrapolate, I am assuming the answer is no, there are no US phones supported.

Please keep in mind that most of us out here don’t read up on phone chip sets or the internal vendor/mfg cellphone geopolitics. It doesn’t mean we’re stupid, our areas of expertise are in other fields, that’s all. We just want a freaking phone that is secure, private and less trackable.

Where you guys who are really smart with this stuff come in at is when you figure it out, put it together as a marketable product and then sell it to everyone else who needs or wants it.

All kidding aside, I honestly think I am complaining to the legitimate source of my frustration. Who else am I to complain to? The carriers and the manufacturer are following regulations set by the FCC and probably half a dozen other agencies. Between that and the unholy relationship that google has with all governments, not to mention their economic power to force their will on hardware mfgs, there is nobody to complain to.

Isn’t that the point of this entire project? To be able to break free from being a node on the evil empires simulation? If we could complain to the evil empire and get somewhere for it, they wouldn’t be much of an evil empire now would they?

So anyway, I’d like to think of my original post as sound economical advice more than a “complaint”. We are the largest phone market in the world since they can’t count China in, I doubt the Chicoms would be very welcoming of the eOS into their market.

Seems to me and please correct me if I’m wrong, but when there are already 8 to 10 model numbers of the S7 supported, each with their own tweaked build… why is it so hard to add a US model? The hardware can’t be that radically different that it’s a crazy amount of work considering the market share?

That’s a serious question, I don’t know, maybe it is?

To clarify some things regarding carriers over here from your post. You can use an unlocked phone on any of the major carriers that I know of. The only place you buy the locked phones are in a carriers store. if you buy it from anyone else, it’s unlocked by default.

I don’t understand your last paragraph. I don’t know if I can even buy a phone from Europe that would work in the US. All I know is that I have a friend of a friend who is an android phone geek and he tells me he can flash my phone per the instructions on this site. That was before I realized I couldn’t just buy a phone and do it.

4

I just wanted to add that IMHO the S7 is a terrible piece of hardware. The back of the phone is made of glass or of some crap similar to glass and mine started to break after a month or two without the phone ever falling out of my hands. Things got so bad that I could just exert a minimum amount of pressure with my thumb and I would just see the stupid thing crack before my eyes…

1 Like
5

I lilve in the U.S., Los Angeles area. /e/ is running on the ZTE Axon 7 (purchased directly from ZTE back when) and the Essential PH-1 (refurb via Amazon last year).

Given that /e/ originates in Europe it makes sense that most supported phones are those available in that area. As ROM developers would often point out, they build for devices they own. Blind building for some variants might be possible but you can’t provide support. You’ve probably noticed there are lots of unofficial builds for unsupported devices built by fans of the project. In this case that probably doesn’t matter though.

Currently, for U.S. users who want to use /e/ on a supported device, some work will have to be done. Chiefly, find which of the devices one may be interested in, check to see if it supports the same bands as your carrier (via gsmarena, phonearena, etc.), then see if it can be purchased locally (meaning Amazon, Newegg, and the like unless you trust person to person). Probably too much work.

I’d like to try /e/ on my Motorolas or G3 D851 but without Lineage support (Motorola potter and sanders) or someone who has the device (D851 which has LOS Q) there’s not much chance of that happening.

If we don’t already, we probably need some U.S. builders who are part of the /e/ team to get that wider support.

2 Likes
6

Essential phone, OnePlus devices, Xiaomi, ZTE? All available in the states from what ive heard. Essential should be a good cheap phone to pick up easy second hand in the states and not super hard to flash like sony xa2 or samsung.

2 Likes
7

To the last three posters… Thank you for the note on the S7. I had just picked it because it was cheap and still available new, if it ended up bricked, I wouldn’t feel so bad.

The rest of that information is valuable too, I will look at the availability of the ZTE and others mentioned and see if I can find a model number there is a build for that I can buy over here. I don’t really care what kind of phone it is at this point. I had just checked most of the Samsung phones and didn’t see any that I can buy on eBay or amazon.

Honestly, people are starving for a product like this over here. We despise google as much as the next guy I assure you. I have long thought someone could make millions by offering a product like this and no doubt they could raise the cash to do it in a first class manner with a cloud funding program. This project needs to be up sized! The market is there to support it.

1 Like
8

Unfortunately I do not think there are any US based ROM Builders on the team.
The point about servicing the US market is a good one though.
To start this discussion @marcdw are there any LOS ROM’s running on US built smartphones ?
If there are that would make the building process easy for us.

1 Like
9

The less-informed layman will not believe that Exynos and Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets are fundamentally different. In their words, the hardware is radically different. In addition, the boot loader is locked on Samsung USA versions.

By the way: As a European, I can use my EMEA¹ /e/ phone to make calls in North Armarika. I just buy the right prepaid SIM card for my USA trip. Why does it work? Because the supported LTE frequencies are almost identical.

S8 G950F (Europe) 4G LTE: Band (Frequency):
1(2100 MHz), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 12(700), 13(700), 17(700), 18(800), 19(800), 20(800), 25(1900), 26(850), 28(700), 32(1500), 66(1700/2100), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500)

S8 G950U (USA, unlocked version) 4G LTE Band (Frequency):
1(2100 MHz), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 12(700), 13(700), 17(700), 18(800), 19(800), 20(800), 25(1900), 26(850), 28(700), 29(700), 30(2300), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500)

Locked & Unlocked and Locked & Unlocked are not one and the same. You speak of full SIM card Unlock³. I’m talking about locked / unlocked Bootloader devices .

³Unlocked by Samsung lets you pick more than just your smartphone. You can choose your carrier, data plan, services, features and apps, so you can get your phone exactly the way you want it.

Locking the boot loader is not only done by Samsung. Everyone knows the current conflicts around Huawei’s mobile services and G5.

Huawei takes an even more radical approach. While Huawei previously enabled unlocking, there have been no more unlock codes issued worldwide since 2018. The bootloader remains locked to provide " better user experience " and to avoid problems with custom ROMs, a company spokesperson said.

None of this is inside information. All details are publicly available.

1 Like
10

There are. Quite a few actually but was surprised at how “old”. Looking through Lineage’s download list you see no support for current and not-so current flagships. Samsung for instance has no Lineage for S series beyond S5. Original Google Pixel is there but no later models.

One possible candidate is the Motorola G7 (river). Very inexpensive, mid-range (SD632), and carrier unlocked. Plus those little things like headphone jack, microSD, and FM radio.
specs
Currently supported by LineageOS with Q builds. XDA shows good development going on also.

Available directly from Motorola in the States for $230.

Given the way I use phones, mostly for messing with ROMs, I would probably get something like that. Never had an interest in flagships with " features" I wouldn’t use costing two paychecks.
Can’t say that I am unsatisfied with my G5 Plus and G5s Plus. Just no /e/. :grin:

2 Likes
11

Ok, the essential ph-1 looks like a decent phone and I can get one used for $75 or a refurb for $120…

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Essential-Phone-PH-1-128GB-4GB-RAM-5-71-4G-LTE-GSM-CDMA-Factory-Unlocked/143201594467?epid=238389529&hash=item21577aec63:g:DSoAAOSw~upea57u

Can anyone verify that the Mata build will work on that specific phone? I see that it comes with 7.1 nougat on it but says it’s upgradable to pie 9.0 and I also see instructions for doing that in the docs for the Mata build.

12

I’m on the Essential now running /e/ Pie. Whether you decide to get the phone or not, have a look at some of the recent threads in the Essential Category and elsewhere. In particular these three…

Updating to /e/OS Pie using fastboot, adb, and TWRP

Testing. Updating Nougat to Pie Without Firmware

Error in installation instructions, unable to make backup

I’ll be updating my back to stock post soon.

1 Like
13

Wow, that sounds way too complicated for me to trust a guy with no experience with /e/ to do. Most concerning is having reliable wifi and Bluetooth which are both must haves. If you get yours to a point where you are satisfied with it (it sounds like you are close) and you want to do mine, pm me and we will work out a deal.

14

Heh heh, oh no. My Pie setup is fine. The thread where I was doing all that testing was just me trying to figure out how someone can go to Pie from /e/ Nougat and keep data. The end result never worked out.

For you it would be much easier. You would be starting from scratch with a clean slate. Should be fairly straightforward.
That’s what I do after the testing.

1 Like
15

Ok, I’ll get the used one and then worst case, I’m out 75 bucks if he bricks it. I’ll report on the results in a week or two.

2 Likes
16

I recently installed the Pie version of /e/ on a PH-1 and can tell you it wasn’t easy. The documentation is lacking in some areas and wrong in others. My experience is documented here but I wouldn’t expect a newcomer to be able to find that info and follow it without any deviations.

I agree that it would be great if there was better support and wider adoption, but complaining and ranting doesn’t really help the situation.

As for your offer, I would be willing to do the install for you if you want to ship your phone to me. Alternatively, I could assist you with the install over video chat or something.

1 Like