Dear community,
I just wanted to share how satisfied I am with the e-Foundation OS. Until recently, I was using a Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro. Unfortunately, the device is now broken and economically not worth repairing.
Now I am looking for a good new smartphone that supports the e-Foundation OS. I’m considering the Nothing Phone (2), Fairphone 5 or Xiaomi 13T Pro, but I’m also open to other brands and suggestions. My budget is 700,00 €.
Thank you in advance for your recommendations!
Hello. I think there’s a (unintended) mistake in your words above. I think you want a phone that is supported (very good by /e/ OS). If you want to support /e/ OS buy a phone from Murena Store (or make a donation). They sell FP5 from your list…
It’s difficult to recommend you something as you know best what you like to use or appreciate more in a phone.
I personally believe Nothing Phones are not good and have an embarrassing name (bad marketing… see my funny 3rd comment here: https://www.gsmarena.com/nothing_phone_1_will_initially_be_sold_through_an_invite_system-news-54772.php )
If you want a phone that is supported by /e/ OS check the list of supported devices: https://doc.e.foundation/devices
One Plus are easy to unlock so they might be your best bet; maybe a Oneplus 9 PRo ?!
I think highest quality phones are Samsung S and Note line + Sony Xperia ones.
Good luck!
Fairphone is the winning combo: Ethical phone and operating system 
With all respect for the Fairphone users I’d say that Fairphone have steep prices for the phones if you consider the components that the phones have but they suffer from lack of economy of scale. Maybe they’ll be able to improve on this in the future even though if I’m not sure they really want to (as they’re a company looking for profits)
I would recommend the Fairphone 5 since /e/OS support is most sophisticated for this Smartphone.
Nothing Phone (1) is also supported by LineageOS and I did an unofficial build which seems pretty useable:
For the Nothing Phone (2) I did also an unoffical build but do not know if this really work as I do not have feedback for this ROM:
The Xiaomi 13T Pro is not yet supported nor by LineageOS or /e/OS but chances are high that it will be in the future.
With all due respect for your privacy 
you might still want to add at least the continent (Europe?) you are living and will be using your future phone on. I’m heavily biased in favour of Fairphone, but for the time being, neither Fairphone themselves nor Murena sell the Fairphone 5 outside of Europe and Taiwan, so you’d have a harder time when it comes to hardware support if you live elsewhere.
I’m happy to help with your search for a new e-Foundation OS (e/OS) compatible phone! Here are some refined recommendations based on your budget and the options you mentioned:
Considering your mentioned choices:
Other options within your budget:
Additional factors to consider:
True, but this also is what a phone price today is if you try to source materials more responsibly and try to treat people along the production way more fairly etc. (anybody remotely interested can easily look up what Fairphone are doing).
Partly, but even if they would manage to scale up, the prices of Fairphones wouldn’t come down to the level of “unfair” phones, because with “unfair” and thus cheaper phones somebody along the production way pays a part of the price you don’t pay.
I’m not about to swing the moral club at anybody for their phone choice, any price for a smartphone is a lot of money in certain circumstances, but the goal is not Fairphones getting cheaper, the goal is industry standards of production getting more fair. The big vendors with their scale could cushion the inevitable price blow of adopting fair practices.
Nothing Phone (2):
There is an unofficially build for the Nothing Phone 2:
It works with some limitations…
Xiaomi 13T Pro
Which unofficial port is this?
@ronnz98 , it’s possible that what @warnersmith34 was referring to was the Nothing Phone 2a that was recently announced, rather than the NP2 for which you’ve made an unofficial build. Given that Nothing themselves has alluded to the unit being a budget release when it ships next month, I would submit that this is the more likely scenario.
The “low-budget” Nothing Phone (2a) [Aerodactyl] is expected to cost around 400 US dollars and run Android 14, Nothing OS 2.5. For the first time, the SoC from MediaTek Dimensity 7200 will be used instead of a Snapdragon processor.
Android 14 is currently not supported by /e/OS. A downgrade to Android 13 Nothing OS 2.0.X will not be possible. Accordingly, /e/OS will not work.
By the way: For this money, I get a like-new powerful Nothing Phone (1) 8/256 GB and a SoC Qualcomm SM7325-AE Snapdragon 778G+ 5G (6 nm) with OFFICIAL /e/OS-T V1.20 plus OTA updates.
Alas, the Nothing Phone (1) is not supported any anymore by LineageOS.
https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/Spacewar/
All devices, even the most expensive, are sold at a scandalously low price compared to what they cost to people and ecosystems:
Mining, with its destruction of living spaces,
wars, coups d’état, dictatorships, expropriations, rapes, population displacements, slavery, prostitution, residual toxic sludge etc…
Please buy a second hand device.
Good point.
Might be far-fetched for this thread, but some phones are better than others for a reason :
" Too often, people say that cybersecurity is just a matter for technicians and engineers. But when it comes to cybersecurity, we need a philosopher! What are digital ethics? How far do I go? Am I not in the process of transforming and dehumanising humans? Robot them? These are real philosophical questions. We need digital sociologists! What does this mean for the transformation of businesses? In human relationships, in hierarchical relationships. We need lawyers! Do I have the right to use this technology? And if I have the right to use it, we’ll continue. with the sociologist. Is there social acceptance of the use of this technology? When we talk about cybersecurity, we mustn’t stop at the technical notion of engineering sciences. We need the human sciences. "
(Marc Watin-Augouard)
That was also my intention: it’s better/preferable to use second hand devices which are higher quality than the new ones and are MUCH cheaper and also better for the environment. I have/had countless older devices.
Same goes for cars, although there I prefer an electric car. A 2-3% increase in efficiency does not justify a new vehicle if you factor the pollution and energy used.
This topic was automatically closed after 90 days. New replies are no longer allowed.