This Linux phone seems good-it runs a mobile version of Debian Linux. Not as much storage as the BraX3 but all the hardware seems like it works in Linux!
I did notice that it runs an old kernel-maybe that’s what we need in Ubuntu Touch to get all the hardware working?
Here is one of the articles I found. This is almost a BraX3!
I have the FLX1, so some of my observations would not be valid.
Last time I tried, the UBPorts available on it is an older version with no way to upgrade (I tried). Maybe that’s changed.
The FuriOS which is based on Droidian is surprisingly usable. It would never be something I’d hand to my mom, not even my wife, but if you are somewhat linux-savvy, it can be a daily driver. I did so for months before succumbing to android (at least I’m using iodeos). Running android apps was a bit hit or miss. I didn’t need it for the basic android stuff, but rather something I just couldn’t work around, such as using the Sam’s Club or Costco App to use my membership card or do the scan in store thing (Sam’s Club only let me access the membership card, and Costco wouldn’t even load), the Taco Bell app to make an order (this worked), different banking apps to do banking app stuff (some worked, many didn’t), charging apps for the car (didn’t work), etc. It also really dragged the system down when Waydroid (I forget what FuriOS calls it, but it’s just a fork of Waydroid) was running, so I tried keeping it off. Basically, I had to carry around another phone for those times that my main one wouldn’t do the one thing I needed, whether it was to let me charge my car on a long trip, do banking, or because I want to do the Mobile Pickup at the Sam’s Club cafe vs waiting in line 15 minutes.
If I could have dual booted FuriOS and actual android…I would likely still be using it as my daily driver. I got used to all the quirks, it was rather nice actually. Loved that it had full desktop firefox (I really miss having containers on the android version).
Edit: Oh, and last I checked dual sim wasn’t actually supported, that was a bit of a bummer since it means I can’t use a cheap annual plan for talk/text and a “free” data sim for data (free as in it’s already paid for, might as well use it).
Their new phone says it dual boots android and Linux plus it has dual Sims now!
It says muti-boot on their page.
The way those “Linux” phones work it would be much better to have only one installation with the option to either launch a Linux GUI or the normal Android Framework, you could even switch in real time.
Their new phone says it dual boots android and Linux plus it has dual Sims now!
It says muti-boot on their page.
Awesome, I will have to dust it off and try that out. I love the idea of having a “real” Android install for those times when Waydroid just isn’t enough. And since Android is where you would likely have a lot/most of your confidential info (like bank apps), it makes it easy to to cross the border without worrying if someone is going to copy the phone…they can copy the linux phone if they can figure it out, but they wouldn’t get the actual Android phone (since it lives on an sd card…heck you could just not use the OS on the actual phone and just dual boot linux or android from the sd card, that would be awesome…except for the performance hit).
Ask them before u buy if that’s what they mean by “multi-boot”!
Respectfully, I think your post misleads people about what mobile Linux OSes are. Sure, when running on Android hardware they use a modified Android kernel, stripping out some parts, adding some others. And they use Halium, an abstraction layer, to talk to the blobs in the firmware. We do want phones that can use the modem, camera, etc.
But the whole userspace is replaced. Systemd, a proper Terminal, SSH, Snaps.. the quotation marks around Linux in your post feels a bit rich. And you definitely couldn’t just live switch between Ubuntu Touch or FuriOS and Android like the former are just a skin or GUI. They’re just totally different operating systems.
George also has a Pine phone that he has been able to flash with dd to get mobile Linux working. To get UT working on the BraX3 we need to depend on Halium along with Android tools like adb and fastboot.
I’m thinking the end result is what matters, but if Google makes fastboot not work on a BraX3 then I’ll wish I had a Pine phone!
Pinephone is an excellent project. I really wanted to go with that when first looking into getting a smartphone. Eventually I decided it just didn’t fit my needs.. needing the phone for my business, Ubuntu Touch was just more daily-drivable for me.
But to my mind, we all benefit when various open source projects succeed. I totally agree that mainline Linux is the preferable way to go in the end, but meanwhile for some of us that’s not a suitable daily phone, and UT are doing good things for the mobile Linux world too.
Fragmentation can sometimes seem like a detriment, but it seems inevitable in the open source world, and can have its own merits. If not for UT, I’d likely have gone to some sort of AOSP thing and wouldn’t be donating and helping in my small ways to any non-Android, non-iOS mobile operating system.
Crossing my fingers for great things for Brax 3. I still hope to maybe get ahold of one if the UT port becomes stable.
Well, I personally like UT better than Android. BUT the browser in UT is just old. I’ve gone to a couple web sites that just don’t work. They think I’m in Android and want me to upgrade my browser!
There are other browsers available in the open store but none seem to meet the requirements needed to use a financial budgeting app by Ramsey Solutions (every dollar app on the web).
This works on a Linux computer but not in Ubuntu Touch:
If you’re on Ubuntu Touch 24.04 you could try the version of Morph based on Qt 6. Otherwise, there’s a LibreWolf based browser called uWolf, and a Firefox clone called uFirefox - but that one isn’t listed in the app store, you’d have to download and unzip an arm64 build from gitlab, then open it in Open Store. uFirefox works for me, but has some keyboard related glitches. There’s also Merezhyvo in 24.04 - Chromium based browser. Really the answer is to upload 24.04, I just haven’t done it yet 
Yup-this UT is 24.04. I tried UWolfe and just tried it again. It is tiny on this screen and with a bluetooth keyboard I can not even type in an address. I didn’t know about firefox and will look for that in gitlab. I have Merezhyvo installed for an offline Bible and had to shrink things there to be able to see everything on this screen.
I was watching videos of how other people are using Ubuntu Touch and they are able to hook another display into the phone. I don’t think we can do this on the BraX3 as there is no video coming out on USB-C. I’ve tried that and mirroring via a WiFi connection and have trouble.
That firefox app for UT finally got me logged into that app! Thanks! 
But now it says go to a computer! 
Ahh, the struggles of using an alternate mobile OS. UT really works for almost all my needs, but sometimes it can take some trial and error to find solutions that work. I was hopeful that Morph Qt6 would be the solution.
There’s work in progress to get Mir 2 support which should make it easier for folks to get desktop Linux apps working more smoothly. The keyboard and display stuff can be tricky.. desktop Linux apps mostly aren’t really made for mobile. More broadly, the whole OS is moving to Qt6 sooner rather than later and as such the default browser, Morph, will be way more up to date. Browser stuff has been a pain point for a little while for sure.
Few smartphones have video output over USB-C, which is too bad. Notably the Fairphones do, which many European UT users have. The other way is by Miracast. It’s not perfect, and seems to be varying degrees of laggy depending on the device you’re sending it to. I have a Microsoft Miracast dongle that I plug into my computer monitor. Latency seems well under 0.5s, but I wouldn’t know how to measure it more precisely. I don’t use it that much, but it does work well when I want the bigger screen. It’s a very nice feature of UT how it just changes to desktop Linux once plugged in.
I have a wireless miracast dongle. How would I get UT to use it?
Well, I’m still on 20.04, but it’s probably the same:
System Settings → Brightness & Display → External Display, then it’ll scan for Miracast devices and you select yours and watch it turn into a desktop. One of the core developers, Alfred, is using his UT phone as his computer for all his developing, and for running the Q&As on youtube. Although his is a wired USB-C connection. People have varying levels of glitchiness with wireless, perhaps depending on the dongle?
Doesn’t find my miracast adapter that way in 24.04. Is there a link for your adapter?
I have been using the flx1s since release. It does work great. I have been able to run .deb and flatpaks, almost all work, some just don’t work on mobile. Andromena (a fork of waydroid) works great, been able to use every app I could on a de googled android.
What else do you wanna know ?
Oh and it has kill switches. modem, mic, camera
Is the screen the same size as the BraX3? Oh, and can u cast it to a monitor with a miracast wireless adapter?
About the same width, the brax is longer though.
Furilabs has its own dock that came out a couple weeks ago. I don’t have one, but from the videos and reviews I see in the matrix chat it works great.