Quitting /e/ : why?

Using /e/OS
1

That’s it for me, I’m leaving.

It’s been years I’ve been using /e/, here is why I leave:

  • In years I’ve seen no new feature (yeah this top menu was a feature but it wasn’t a great one).
  • Bugs are not rare.
  • I disagree with the path taken by /e/ in many ways:
    • Trying to get /e/ for every phone makes a poor OS for every phone. We can’t aim for greatness this way. We need something great to make people quitting iOS or Android.
    • The name /e/, I can’t even understand how some people may have believed it was a great name. Even for someone knowing the brand and with an account on the forum, it’s usually a trouble to find the website or some parts of it (.foundation? wut?).
    • The communication is really poor (low quality gifs on Twitter, I once exchanged in english with a person important in /e/ and suddenly got an answer in german: I don’t speak german, nothing in my profile was in german, wut?).
  • There is a huge performance impact by using /e/ on my FairPhone 3 (it was nice for my Xiaomi before I should say).
  • The launcher is buggy since many years.
  • A new brand was announced to be announced (?) in june and finally not (?).

It’s really unclear what /e/ aims to be.

For sure, today, it’s not a professionnal solution in any way.

I am not angry against /e/. I really had hope and I have waited.
I could have left in silence, but I care about the project.

I don’t see myself coming back instead of something really surprising, and I’m pretty sure this won’t happen.

I’m going back to Android, with a very few apps, I tend to use my smartphone as a phone and my computer as a computer.

I wish you the best /e/.

5 Likes
2

Thanks for the feedback.
We do have a lot of challenges and there are delays and issues in the execution. That being said we do put in our sincere efforts to meet our goals.
On the choice of switching OS …it is a free world. I firmly believe that one should choose his own path in life and not depend on others to make their decisions …this is true even in the case of the OS.
Select and use the OS that suits your needs. /e/ cannot and will never be able to satisfy every user. We try to cover the widest range of devices and users and do not focus on select devices and niche users. That is the path /e/ has chosen and will continue on.

14 Likes
3

I thought there would be more replies. Valid criticisms. I think the main one is the focus on making a useful experience for many people and devices instead of focusing on certain unique features on a small set of specific devices. For me that is the main feature of /e/. I might have use one of the other AOSPs but my wife is completely non technical and /e/ is the only one that I felt comfortable for her to use. After a couple months it is still working great for her.

When you say you went back to Android do you mean back to stock ROM for your device? Why not another AOSP?

jv

1 Like
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People like choices. Phones, cars, refrigerators, restaurants… If you’re going to be successful in business, you have to cater to more than one person’s preferences.

5

Yes! I give up too, sadly.

6

@Manoj

One thing I am sure of, is your sincere effort.
I am really not leaving for you, more because of the quality of the OS and it’s management.

@newts

Actually I’ve converted my beloved one too! :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

It works, but she doesn’t really like her experience with this OS too.

She feels the gap of performance and stability between Android and /e/.

She also sees the little bugs here and there never fixed as a sign of a low quality product.

That’s why she asked me to put back Android on her phone. It’s frustrating for her to have bought a nice phone to get a poor experience (subjective point of view).

And to answer you yep, I went back to FairphoneOS.

And my experience with it is so much better!

We can not compare Google and /e/, of course the budget and capabilities are very not the same.

Though, on my previous Xiaomi and my actual Fairphone, seeing no real improvement in years didn’t build trust.

And I choose FairphoneOS for simplicity and support. I believe I’ll get the best experience with this dedicated OS to my phone. :slightly_smiling_face:

I’m happy I can contribute to /e/ in this way. :sparkles:

@TDunlap

Well, this is a business decision that depends on many things.

I kind of disagree with you. First I don’t believe there is a general rule as such. Second, well, you see well why I’m leaving.

1 Like
8

I am a new convert to e/os.

Whilst I am enjoying it, I agree with OP, in that I am surprised a small foundation looks to support so many makes/models. Apple struggles to maintain its iOS on a small hardware base. I think e should pick a few makes to support going forward, and announce what there are, so in 3/4 years they are only supporting those makes (no sudden drop of existing manufacturer support).

Name, I don’t care about a name, I reviewed a few OSes before picking e, the easy installer and app store swung me. But maybe a “funky name” would attract new users.

I hope e delivers on its road map.

I also hope all users have made a donation to the cause, either financially or time wise (by the tech people).

1 Like
9

I strongly disagree: one of the great selling points for me is that /e/ OS enables people to continue to use their devices, and not have to discard devices which still work. The more devices that are supported, the more people can get off the unsustainable roundabout of “upgrading” to a new phone every couple of years. I think /e/'s model - of officially supporting a good number of devices, while helping and encouraging volunteers in the /e/ community to unofficially support even more - is a great model, and is working very well

6 Likes
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The problem is e is a small concern, spreading itself too thinly and not appealing to a large market.

For long term survival e needs a genuine initial easy installer with OTA updates to newer versions of Android.

If e announced they would only support Fairphone and a few others from 2024, people would know which phones to buy from now on.

What trendy user wants a phone running in effect Android 8 in 2021, with no OTA update to the latest OS?

3 Likes
11

using /e/OS, the OTA updates occurs about every month or every couple of months.

.

you probably more want to talk about upgrades than about updates…

12

Update and Upgrade are often interchanged. Hence why I clarified with update to the latest OS.

Even Apple who have a little experience with software, have on their site " See how to update to iOS 15. "