Hey all, I am very excited to have learned about this phone! I'm running GrapheneOS on my daily driver, but am interested in being pure linux. These questions come from the perspective of someone who works with Linux daily on desktop and server, and uses postmarketOS on a secondary device.
- How does the hotspot work? This is something I find myself using regularly on my daily driver, but have not had a chance to test out in postmarketOS.
- Are calls, texts, and MMS reliable?
- I use Signal as my primary communication method. I know Flare exists and I have used it on pmOS. However, it feels very incomplete without red receipts or marking other messages as read. I know axolotl exists. Does anybody use that or have another solution for Signal?
- How does device encryption work? Is it like LUKS, where you have to type in a passcode on every boot?
- Does the FLX1s have a fingerprint reader? Lilliputing's article says it does, but the store page does not indicate that it does.
- How is the Android App Support? From the little bit they showed on their YouTube channel, it seemed pretty smooth. Does anybody have any experience using normal apps? I understand that Play Integrity isn't available, so some things like banking apps may not run.
- What is the desktop experience like when connecting this phone to a docking station?
- Lastly, what smart watches do you guys use, if any? I have the Pixel Watch 3, and I love all the health tracking capabilities. But, of course, I'm feeding all of that data to Google. I know about the PineTime and AsteroidOS, are there clients for both of these on the phone side? Or are there other watches that work well with it? I'm particularly interested in a watch with EKG, but I know that's unlikely to happen.
- How do photos and videos look from the camera? I don't need them to be cinema-grade, but I'd like them to look decent for posterity purposes.
For the apps and services that aren't available natively, I've been able to use the web version of most of them on pmOS. That has been pretty decent, but I'm hoping that Android App Support will allow for even more apps to be installed natively.
Sorry for so many questions. I was disappointed to see that there weren't any video reviews of the device itself or its predecessor. If I wind up getting one, I hope to make a decently in-depth video review. Thank you for any info you can provide!
I think you will get answers if you post one question at a time.
For 5: no finger print reader.
For 7: There will be an official dock in the Furilabs shop after the delivery of the first FLX1s.
For watches there is a few FOSS new options... BangleJS 2, Pinetime, Watchy (with specific firmware), a Pebble Time 2 (pre-orders are up now)... There are apps such as Amazfish that will pair with a lot of them. Unfortunately I don't know of any watch that will work on Linux that has EKG though, only heart rate, steps, sleep tracking, and notifications.
I had an FLX1 before I decided to sell it and get a pixel 9 until the new FLX1s came out. It was decent, but it had terrible 5G support in the US so it didn't even stay connected to 5G without causing major issues, so I always opted to just turn off 5G. There was ocassionally issues with 4G too but toggling cellular on and off again usually fixed it, or a reboot would. MMS worked and so did SMS. With that said the new device should have a new modem with new firmware, and supports more bands, so I expect it should work very well in the US.
Unfortunately nobody except furilabs knows about the dock right now, and it's been delayed since the phones were delayed. Manufacturing is slated to finish in early december now, and it's now unknown when the dock will release. I personally think I may hold off buying until the dock is released, as that's a massive part of why I want the new device.
As for signal, I'm positive you can use that within the android app layer they have called andromeda. It worked pretty well back when I had the device, although some apps didn't such as stardew valley due to some graphical issues, and a few propeitary apps. My bank doesn't require a certified android device to run their app at least right now, so my banking app worked fine, and I also had no issues with some other apps like paypal. That could change, but at least when I tried it that was my experience. It was enough to get by and run what you need, but I know google wants to make it as hard as possible to use 3rd party ROMs... They've even intentionally broke RCS on GrapheneOS before, as well as delayed the source code for Android 16 QPR1 ASOP for two months when for years they had always released it the same month.
And yes, device encryption requires a password on boot at least from what I remember. It's possible they may integrate it into the login screen eventually, who knows.
There is no fingerprint reader, and the camera quality was pretty decent on my device. However, I know the new device has different cameras, so it may be different, and it will never be quite as good as say something like a Google pixel device which is in another league hardware wise.
