A well-recognized German security expert - Mike Kuketz - today published a quick opinion about /e/ on his blog. To summarize his critical opinion he puts forward 2 arguments that should not be new to us:
- the unknown origin of apps (cleanapk.org)
- Android Nougat devices that do not receive official Updates anymore (he is explaining that 53 out of the 92 supported devices are based on Nougat). He said: “I do not believe that e.foundation is backporting the security updates for Android Nougat - this in fact reduces the selection of (usable) devices to 39.” Seems he is wrong on this point. Could be worth clarifying this issue with him.
And after all, that could be an issue - in my opinion - that should be communicated better on e.foundations’s website.
Please find here his conclusions translated into English and further below a link to the entire blog article (in German):
"Conclusion: /e/ wants to be the all-round carefree solution for Android users who like to simply work without Google - which is absolutely understandable. Whether this can succeed, however, is questionable. Even an evaluation based on paper does not really allow a recommendation for /e/. Android Nougat (7.x) does not receive security updates anymore, so it is more than questionable to offer or advertise /e/ support for these devices. But also the unknown origin for apps (cleanapk.org) leaves a queasy feeling. Are they unmodified apps or who is behind this offer? And also the mistakes in “de-googling” Android and LineageOS don’t exactly make me jump for joy.
Tip: Technically experienced users should rather install a LineageOS or implement the article series “Take back control” That is perhaps more complex, but you learn a lot and get more control over the system and its data."
(translation is based on a DeepL translation with some personal refinements)