/e/OS named best smartphone for 2022 by Distrowatch
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Love to see it. I actually will have some time reserved Christmas day to try them out once again. I have a suitable phone inbound but am not yet completely sold on which of the AOSP-based distros to go for. This is for sure a tick in their column (there are a fair few).
Apologies for the belated response.
As a GrapheneOS user for the past 2 years, I can honestly say that the developers (and community as a whole) are among the most respectful and caring people that I have ever met. They do not hate Firefox but simply point out the shortcomings of it. No one involved in the project trolls people who are critical of the OS but instead will address the criticism with fact-based information. The lead developer as well as the moderators in the community Matrix rooms and the discussion board forum have zero tolerance for GrapheneOS users and community members trolling others or for any kind of disrespect towards others.
As for the recommendation to not use F-Droid, here is a well-written piece of information by a long-time GrapheneOS community member:
hi @gabehcuod - looks like wonderfall.dev is dead? hereās an archived version
that article is shortsighted IMO - while they make some good points, particularly about updates lagging behind the developer release, it fails to account for one of the most significant advantages of F-Droid and that is a significant lack of malware compared to all other repositories audited - of all, F-Droid had the best (lowest) score
another massive advantage is the lack of ad/tracking code which i consider to be malware because i define malware as anything (significant) which isnāt required for the expected functionality
in light of the above points, i think the following concerns mentioned in the article are largely irrelevantā¦
- The trusted party problem
- Low target API level (SDK) for client & apps
- General lack of good practices
- Misleading permissions approach
Googleās Play Store allows ads/tracking and contains malware, while F-Droid doesnāt, yet F-Droid is āweakening the Android security modelā? hmmmā¦
granted, F-Droid has issues with its model, but in the end it seems to me to be far superior in general for the end user
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An alternative to F-Droid is to install APKs from developers directly and update them with Obtainium.
Because you get the APK directly from the developer, youāre trusting their signing key. You donāt need to trust F-Droid or Google Play as a middle-man. I donāt know what the benefits are to using F-Droid. Maybe a guarantee they donāt depend on non-free libraries?
Of course, this doesnāt matter when application developers do bizarre stuff like this: GitHub - termux/termux-app: Termux - a terminal emulator application for Android OS extendible by variety of packages.
Security warning: APK files on GitHub are signed with a test key that has been shared with community. This IS NOT an official developer key and everyone can use it to generate releases for own testing. Be very careful when using Termux GitHub builds obtained elsewhere except GitHub - termux/termux-app: Termux - a terminal emulator application for Android OS extendible by variety of packages.. Everyone is able to use it to forge a malicious Termux update installable over the GitHub build. Think twice about installing Termux builds distributed via Telegram or other social media. If your device get caught by malware, we will not be able to help you.
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I donāt know what the benefits are to using F-Droid.
think about the vast majority of people that use Android - can they identify and remove remove ad/tracking components? can they read source code? can they compile source code (not every developer releases packages)? what would they compile it on? apparently a lot of people donāt even have a PC anymore
also thereās the huge convenience of a one-stop-shop that catalogs and categorizes the software
Given the recent issues cropping up with Auroraās Anon functionality this is a very helpful link to me 
This is also massively useful, thanks @itsMe. Iāve seen both sides of this in the wild, but an actual paper is always something I appreciate having to hand
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think about the vast majority of people that use Android - can they identify and remove remove ad/tracking components? can they read source code? can they read source code? can they compile source code (not every developer releases packages)? what would they compile it on? apparently a lot of people donāt even have a PC anymore
For the vast majority of free software, this isnāt an issue because they publish APKs. I wouldnāt expect most people to build apps and I certainly wouldnāt commit to that even though I know how. I havenāt come across a free software developer that doesnāt release APKs. Do you know of one?
Most people, including myself, do not read the source code of free software projects. We just trust itās good and that other people have read it. Itāsā¦not the best, but what can you do? F-Droid doesnāt read the source code either! They run some automated tests to check for certain things.
Additionally, Obtainium easily supports Signalās standalone āharm-reductionā APK, which cannot be packaged on F-Droid because Signal believes F-Droidās security is not good enough.
On the subject of F-Droid demanding the client be free of ads and trackersāthe ads part is certainly true, but trackers cannot be meaningfully defeated by focusing on the client. Most apps today are just clients that connect to a server somewhere, and that server is free to store, analyze, and distribute any information about you to anyone, and you wouldnāt have a clue about it. Even the most privacy-friendly client wonāt save you if youāre connecting to a double-crossing server, but of course, itās better to have a less chatty client.
also thereās the huge convenience of a one-stop-shop that catalogs and categorizes the software
In my experience, people donāt find new software on app stores; they get recommendations from friends or on social media. I could be wrong about this. This is a nice benefit for at least some users, though, Iām sure, so +1 to F-Droid.
The sad thing is I still canāt find a free software Japanese keyboard that isnāt in permanent alphaā¦ Iāve just resolved to not write Japanese on my phone.
I will reiterate the most worthwhile benefit of F-Droid is it only accepts software which does not depend on non-free libraries. A lot of Android software depends on Googleās libraries to support features like push notifications and sometimes obtaining your current location. But the other thing to consider is that if these developers are shipping a version of their software like that on F-Droid, you can probably get the same APK directly from them with Obtainium.
I think F-Droid has done a great amount of good for free software on Android, and continues to do so. I do much prefer Obtainium personally.
I, too, use Obtainium and recommend it to everyone. Itās quite handy and useful.
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The Fairphone is getting a limited release in the US and will have /e/OS preinstalled.
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Bought one. It will be here soon.
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please do report back, Iām interested in how it handles 
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Iām on day 4 of daily use.
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The phone is large. Not as large as an iPhone 14 supermax biggie tho. Itās also thick which makes it easier to grip. Both things I like because I have large hands and I hated the whole super slim, super slick phone craze that made you feel like you were holding a double edge knife by the blade. It is a bit heavier than the iPhone mentioned above.
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The hardware is all solid mid-range. I donāt play games on phones so it does everything fast enough for me without annoying lag. The screen is big and clear. The camera is midrange too which works for me since I donāt take many pictures. But if you have to have cutting edge tech then look for a premium phone.
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For US users: they are only recommending use on T-Mobile and the discount telecoms that use T-Mobile network. Iāve seen some speculation as to why AT&T is not recommended but itās all speculation so I wonāt get into it.
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eOS runs very smoothly. The version of eOS that comes with the Fairphone 4 is based on Android 12 and they promise updates for a really long time.
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5G works great. The phone seems to switch to 5G much faster than 4G on my old phone did when WiFI cuts out. Iām not sure if this is a phone thing or a 5G thing but it is more seamless.
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I wonāt get into a whole eOS review here. I like it because eOS just quietly works in the background like an operating system should. Itās not flashy nor is it full of high drama like Windows used to be. And unlike Apple they leave the app choices up to us the users. I really like the eOS app store since it gives a privacy rating for each app. eOS figures you are an adult and if you want to install an app with a terrible privacy rating they let you do it, but they try and warn you.
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Back to hardware. Things I donāt like. There is no little flashing LED notification light like most Android phones have had. I grew to like it over the years because I could tell something was waiting for me at a glance and I miss it. The weight takes some getting used to. I carry the phone in my shirt pocket and you can definitely feel it. But itās a worthwhile trade-off for Fairphone being built to be repairable.
If you have questions Iāll try and answer.
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I now own a Pixel 6a, which is the smallest device in the lineup. I still find it too big at times. Regardless of my palm size, I find it slipping out when I wear loose-fitting shorts (so, sports), which never happened with the iPhone.
Not so much a question as a ācan you corroborate this experience?ā
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The overlap in how we use phones is close enough to be a circle.
Typical question for a person with so much disassembled kit around about my desk, have you opened it up and had a poke about; if so, how does the modular nature of it feel?
Iām a pretty stubborn mender of friendsā phones, mostly iPhones, and to me the main hardware factor (ignoring the sea change of stopping waste, marketing etc.) is whether or not it feels like youāre actually disassembling a phone when you mend it. My Framework feels almost like tech Lego to muck about with, so Iād confidently recommend it (price tag notwithstanding) to people who havenāt done this kind of fine work before, but I wonder how this approach translates to something soā¦ small, relatively speaking
I canāt corroborate, sorry. Iāve been carrying my last 3 phones in my shirt pocket and all 3 would bounce out if I tried to do sports. I generally put a silicone case/bumper on my phones to offer some drop protection but also more grip surface. Perhaps that would help provide more pocket friction?
Iāve had a look and it looks very modular and intended for disassembly. Every component is held in place by tiny standard Philips screws. Things are layered so you may have to take a few things out to get down to, for example the screen.
The back is removable without tools. I had to remove the battery (no tools) to put the SIM card in then drop the battery back in place. Thatās when I had my look around, but I didnāt try and take anything apart.
From the looks of it, this is a legit repairable product.
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A couple of things I forgot from my review above.
A. There are two fingerprint lock readers: one on the on/off switch and one center screen. I forgot to mention them because I only use PIN lock. Because of uncertainty of US state and federal laws I canāt be physically forced to unlock my phone with a fingerprint if I donāt use it.
B. Dislike: There is no earbud jack. Not a big deal for me since I donāt listen to podcasts or music on my phone. But wired earbuds are dirt cheap and available at any dollar store, whereas rechargeable wireless earbuds just seem like an over complicated, not very green, āsolutionā to a problem that didnāt exist.
C. No wireless charging. Iām lazy so it was nice to just set a phone down on a charger plate on my nightstand and let it charge. But connecting a cable isnāt a big deal and Fairphone does rapid charging which is nice.
Iāve been carrying my last 3 phones in my shirt pocket and all 3 would bounce out if I tried to do sports.
Itās not so much while Iām doing sports, but when Iām wearing them, perhaps in the car driving to and from the sports center. Itās dropped out of my shorts two times since I bought it. And I donāt really have a shirt pocket, haha.
A proper case is a good suggestion. I ended up spending money on the default Google ācaseā for some reasonāI clearly wasnāt thinking straight.