I have a Pixel 7 with GrapheneOS that used to be my daily driver. It’s nice, but I’m trying to move away from doing everything on an Android or iOS smartphone, so I’m going the multi-device route. I still use my Pixel for banking apps on wifi at home and as a Briar server.
I got a OnePlus 6 to install Linux on because it’s one of the more well-supported options and I got it on eBay for $80. It works okay, but doesn’t check enough boxes to replace any devices. I’m waiting on an MNT Pocket Reform computer that I hope can be a better, albeit more bulky option.
I got a Mudita Kompakt as my phone primarily because of the switch that can cut power to the GSM module and the 4-day battery life. It’s slow, but calling, texting, and Signal work fine on it. I use it with a $10/month 30GB/month T-Mobile data-only plan and a VoIP phone through JMP. chat.
I use a digital camera for photography and a Tangara music player.
I got a physical transit pass to not need a smartphone for that.
When the PocketMage kit becomes available, I hope to offload notes and calendar to that. I’m also playing with replacing other smartphone functionality with a Meshtastic or NomadNet bot hosted on a server at home combined with a T-Deck LoRa device for things like live transit schedules and weather forecasts.
It is a lot of different devices that take up a significantly larger volume and are heavier, but what I’ve found is that I don’t need all of them all of the time and more often than not I still just have the Mudita Kompakt in my pocket.
Yeah I heard the Tangara team is taking a break. Hopefully they’ll start back up soon.
The other open hardware devices that I’m excited for are the Precursor once it gets more functionality and the Teufel MYND once it’s available in the US. There is, unfortunately, a lot of stuff out there that claims to be open hardware, but isn’t released under an open license or any license at all, and true open hardware end-user devices are few and far between.
The CPU on the Mudita Kompakt is a huge part of what makes it slow. There is definitely latency in Signal because of that. The OS is not open source and it’s pretty infuriating. There was an opportunity to create a device that the open source and security communitirs could rally around. Instead they decided to focus on pseudo-science and “wellness”, which is incredibly unfortunate.