Fairphone partners with /e/ to ship the Fairphone 3 with a Google-free OS

Fairphone, a company that sells socially conscious smartphones, is partnering with /e/ to bring a Google-free OS (based on LineageOS) to the Fairphone 3.

By  Mishaal Rahman Apr 29, 2020

Electronic waste is a major issue caused in part by the unwillingness of consumer electronics companies to support their devices for more than just a few years. Many Android smartphone makers only provide software support for 3 years, and only a handful of companies make smartphones that are easy to repair. That's why 3 people came together in early 2013 to found Fairphone, a company that designs smartphones with their environmental and social impacts in mind. Their smartphones are generally easily repairable and have an abundance of parts available on demand. The company has released three smartphones so far: the Fairphone 1, Fairphone 2, and Fairphone 3. The Fairphone 3 launched in mid-2019 with Android 9 Pie and Google Mobile Services on board, but the company also promotes open-source development for those who want to move away from the Google ecosystem. Now, you can buy the Fairphone 3 with a Google-free OS pre-installed.

/e/ is a Google-free LineageOS fork for several devices from Google, OnePlus, Xiaomi, and others

/e/ is a fork of LineageOS that aims to be completely free of everything Google. The first beta of /e/ is now available for a limited number of devices.

By  Doug Lynch Sep 14, 2018

There are many reasons why free and open source software is great. It allows someone to take a project and evolve it into something else that they see fit. Naturally, they have to follow the proper licenses that come with those projects, but when done right we can get software projects like /e/. /e/ is a fork of LineageOS that aims to be completely free of everything Google. Not only that, but there are a number of goals the developer has in mind for /e/ that more people feel are vital to a mobile operating system. This week it has been announced that the first beta of /e/ is now available for a limited number of devices (linked down below).