Sometime in 2020-2021 I made the switch from the latest version of Android OS on a Samsung S21 to /e/OS on a Teracube 2e. Later, in late 2022 I enrolled in Murena's beta testing of the /e/OS on a Fairphone 4. This review will cover my experience so far with the /e/OS, Murena's NextCloud cloud services as well as the Teracube 2e and Fairphone 4. A quick note on my cellular service and location: I use Pure Talk which piggybacks off of AT&T and have only used these devices in the USA.
A note on technical specifications: I'm not going to list all of the specs and privacy and right-to-fix features, but you can find them at the following sites:
A note on technical specifications: I'm not going to list all of the specs and privacy and right-to-fix features, but you can find them at the following sites:
- Teracube 2e: https://myteracube.com/pages/teracube-2e
- Fairphone 4: https://shop.fairphone.com/en/buy-fairphone-4
- Murena: https://murena.com/smartphones/
- e Foundation: https://e.foundation/about-e/
How's /e/OS?
/e/OS is quite amazing to me as a privacy-minded anti-surveillance capitalism person. It is remarkably similar to any usual Android experience, but the OS has been de-Googled and features like app-privacy ratings, location and IP cloaking, and app tracking notifications have been added! The current version as of the time I'm writing this is 1.9 and that's what I have installed. I've been using it since before v1.0, before 2021. V1.9 is based on LineageOS 19 which is based on Android 12. All of the features and convenient UX a user of Android 12 might be used to are working, especially if you take advantage of their cloud services which really makes /e/OS shine as the only privacy-first, open source option that doesn't require much technical know-how, nor immense patience and sacrifice.
Issues I've run into with /e/OS:
- The /e/OS v1.9 update erased my latest notes in a case of bad timing and what I assume is a bug. On the day that I downloaded and installed v1.9, prior to the installation, I had taken some notes in the /e/OS Notes app. I noticed that throughout the day the Notes app was unable to connect to the Murena NextCloud in order to save my notes in the cloud, so as far as I know my notes were only saved locally on my phone. That night I downloaded and installed v1.9. When I opened Notes I found that the locally saved notes were gone.
/e/OS is quite amazing to me as a privacy-minded anti-surveillance capitalism person. It is remarkably similar to any usual Android experience, but the OS has been de-Googled and features like app-privacy ratings, location and IP cloaking, and app tracking notifications have been added! The current version as of the time I'm writing this is 1.9 and that's what I have installed. I've been using it since before v1.0, before 2021. V1.9 is based on LineageOS 19 which is based on Android 12. All of the features and convenient UX a user of Android 12 might be used to are working, especially if you take advantage of their cloud services which really makes /e/OS shine as the only privacy-first, open source option that doesn't require much technical know-how, nor immense patience and sacrifice.
Issues I've run into with /e/OS:
- The /e/OS v1.9 update erased my latest notes in a case of bad timing and what I assume is a bug. On the day that I downloaded and installed v1.9, prior to the installation, I had taken some notes in the /e/OS Notes app. I noticed that throughout the day the Notes app was unable to connect to the Murena NextCloud in order to save my notes in the cloud, so as far as I know my notes were only saved locally on my phone. That night I downloaded and installed v1.9. When I opened Notes I found that the locally saved notes were gone.
- The /e/OS upgrade to 1.0 on Teracube 2e wouldn't work because of an issue with the boot loader. Eventually (months later), they released a patch which required some manual steps by users. The steps were not too technical, but I imagine some users could have found it difficult.
- I have an issue with my VPN where when I turn off/restart my Fairphone 4 and I'm on WiFi, then the VPN is unable to automatically connect (I have it set to Always On). This could be an issue with the VPN, my network, or /e/OS, but I suspect /e/OS because the behavior has changed with new versions of the OS.
- Personally, I've only had one app that I used on Android/iOS phones prior to switching to Murena which is incompatible with /e/OS. However, I only use about twenty apps regularly and I find the App Lounge to have strange omissions and search results so your mileage may vary.
How's the Fairphone 4?
I've been using the Fairphone 4 with /e/OS from Murena for about six months now and the experience has been great overall. It's a little bigger and heavier than I prefer, but is in line with any average iPhone or Android smartphone. The camera is high quality and generally better than I need. In general, my apps run with no problems in terms of performance (see issues below). I love that this phone is so comparable to high end devices that cost twice as much, yet it also allows me to easily replace the battery and has a smaller environmental footprint. The battery life is plenty for me as well, comparable with any high end smartphone I've used, maybe slightly better in fact.
Issues I've run into with Fairphone 4:
- An issue with either /e/OS or Fairphone 4 means that it is inconsistent about recognizing my SanDisk 256GB SD card. I don't recall having this issue with the Teracube 2e using the same SD card. My SD card has all of my music and podcasts on it. At times this has been quite frustrating and most recently it has been occurring on every time I power off and then power on the phone.
- Sometimes when taking pictures with the default /e/OS camera app on Fairphone 4 there seems to be a memory/CPU issue where the camera app becomes unresponsive for a period of time (anecdotally, less than 30 seconds). This is frustrating in the moment as it can mean missing a good photo.
How's the Teracube 2e?
I used the Teracube 2e with /e/OS from Murena for about one year and the experience has been great overall. I love how small and lightweight it is. The camera's picture quality could be better, but for me it is ok. In general, my apps run with no problems in terms of performance, but there is no doubt that this phone is not for power users because some tasks take longer (see issues below). I don't really use my phone for anything computationally intensive so having lower technical specs is not a big concern for me. I love that this phone is one-third the cost of high end ones, yet it also allows me to easily replace the battery and has a much smaller environmental footprint. The battery life is plenty for me as well, comparable with any high end smartphone I've used, maybe slightly better in fact.
Issues I've run into with Teracube 2e:
I used the Teracube 2e with /e/OS from Murena for about one year and the experience has been great overall. I love how small and lightweight it is. The camera's picture quality could be better, but for me it is ok. In general, my apps run with no problems in terms of performance, but there is no doubt that this phone is not for power users because some tasks take longer (see issues below). I don't really use my phone for anything computationally intensive so having lower technical specs is not a big concern for me. I love that this phone is one-third the cost of high end ones, yet it also allows me to easily replace the battery and has a much smaller environmental footprint. The battery life is plenty for me as well, comparable with any high end smartphone I've used, maybe slightly better in fact.
Issues I've run into with Teracube 2e:
- Sometimes when taking pictures with the default /e/OS camera app on Teracube 2e there seems to be a memory/CPU issue where the camera app becomes unresponsive for an extended period of time. Sometimes to the point where I have to restart my phone in order to get the camera app to work again. This is pretty frustrating. I did try decreasing the quality of the photos, which helped but didn't totally fix the issue.
- In general, the Teracube 2e seems under-powered in RAM, CPU and camera specs, but for me this is a positive thing because I want to use my phone less. For power users this phone is almost certainly not going to cut it.