Linux on Android smartphones - TuxPhones - Linux phones, tablets and portable devices

You can now live-boot postmarketOS on Android phones

To spread awareness of the Linux ecosystem, the very first "Live CDs" played a crucial role: by taking away most of the fear of overwriting their hard drives, they allowed more people to test and effectively use any spin of the Operating System, and by keeping the filesystem in RAM,

Linux on Android smartphones

Another Xiaomi device platform is getting Linux support

By now, most readers will be aware of the quick progress of Qualcomm phones in the mobile Linux ecosystem. This became especially true with the SDM845 platform, powering the near-stable Linux ports of devices like the Oneplus 6/6T and Poco F1 which we often mentioned in the past. However,

Flashes

Kupfer is a postmarketOS-like Arch Linux spin for phones

In the last years, the number of Linux distributions aimed at smartphones and tablets has grown considerably. What was initially a land of projects like UBPorts, Armbian and postmarketOS has grown to interest projects like Manjaro, and several Debian and Arch spins. However, the newborn Kupfer does not look like

Flashes

More support for UNISOC and Spreadtrum chips lands in the Linux kernel

UNISOC (and formerly Spreadtrum) chips have always been a very popular choice for Android device manufacturers. However, they were not commonly known for having wide mainline compatibility. Similarly to Rockchip and AllWinner, these chips became popular for their fast performance and relatively low prices, to the point of being used

Linux Kernel

Linux kernel needs more phones and tablets, says developer

Running the penguin kernel without numerous Google patches, proprietary drivers and heavy, restricting manufacturer modifications on Android phones used to be still considered, at most, an intriguing niche topic up to recently by most people. But the continuous efforts of mainlining ARM devices has been finally noticed by some kernel

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WayDroid brings lag-free Android app integration to the OnePlus 6/6T Linux port

The OnePlus 6 and 6T are quickly becoming among the most popular Linux phones around, thanks to near-full, stable mainline Linux support, active community and fast-evolving features. The latest improvement to be deployed by its main maintainer, Caleb Connolly, is full support, including graphical acceleration, for the popular Android compatibility

Linux Smartphone

New, rugged Volla Phone X runs Android and Ubuntu

A relatively small German phone start-up, Volla, became famous in the mobile Linux community after introducing the first Volla Phone in early 2020. After one year, a concluded Kickstarter campaign and a partnership with UBPorts Foundation for complete Ubuntu Touch support, Volla has teased a new device in their "Community

Wearables

Google just made sideloading Android Wear apps harder

Android Wear smartwatches are an extremely common breed of wearables. Being full of features and comparatively cheap, it is increasingly common to spot them on people's wrists. While the OS is far from flawless, partly due to the heavy Java-based software stack, bringing to usually lower the standby time than

postmarketOS

Linux on your smartphone: everything you need to know in 2021

One of the main issues with modern smartphones is the extremely short lifespan of this category of devices, which makes even high-end ones painfully slow within years. In fact, studies have shown that it takes the average European, American or Asian user less than two years to dump their old

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⚡ Ubuntu Touch is coming to the Google Pixel 3a

After Ubuntu Touch OTA-13 adding official support for a series of Oneplus (3/3T) and Sony Xperia (X*, XZ) devices, the most popular Linux distribution for phones is expanding further, with Ubuntu Touch developer Alfred Neumayer announcing upcoming support for the 2019 mid-range Google Pixel 3a smartphone. I really can&

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⚡ Official "Fedora Mobility" project targets PinePhone (and more)

After several years of inactivity, the official Fedora Mobility SIG team has been revived to work on bringing the popular Linux distro to the PinePhone in the immediate future, but also aims for expansion to other devices in the future. This interest may be originated from the work of @jhanikhil,

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⚡ WhatsApp and Anbox: the most popular messaging app now runs on Linux phones

As seen in several previous articles, almost all tuxphone-oriented distributions are actively working on supporting the Anbox abstraction layer in order to integrate Android apps quasi-natively with Linux ones. With Ubuntu Touch, postmarketOS, PureOS and Mobian supporting it, the project is getting a new wave of users from this segment

Linux on Android smartphones

Using a Google Nexus 5 as a Linux phone, in 2020

One of the main objectives of Linux is to give new life to older devices, and many projects are proving this by running (somewhat) modern UIs even on ancient smartphones like the Nokia N900. However, specifications increased very quickly in the subsequent years (2011-2013), bringing to much faster portable devices

Linux on Android smartphones

Large Maemo Leste update brings camera and TV output to 11-year old Nokia N900, PowerVR GPU support for Motorola Droid 4

In pre-Lumia (read Microsoft) times, Nokia phones used to be extremely widespread and praised for their very durable and innovative designs. Their relatively simple interfaces included some of the most advanced features one could expect on a phone, and the company even developed some essentially full-Linux smartphones with the Maemo

Ubuntu Touch

Xiaomi Redmi 4X receives unofficial Ubuntu Touch release

Despite all the work on "pure" Linux distributions for smartphones in 2020, Ubuntu Touch is likely still the safest choice for most devices, and the only one ready for complete daily usage on some Android handhelds. The relatively popular Linux distro, initially released several years ago and later abandoned and

Linux on Android smartphones

Announcing "Can My Phone Run Linux?": listing over 200 Linux-supported smartphones

It took a while, but Can My Phone Run Linux? is finally available at many.tuxphones.com in its earliest release. This web app lets you know if you are one of the (likely many) lucky owners of a smartphone that supports some kind of Linux flavour, such as Ubuntu

Manjaro Phone

Official, Plasma-based "Manjaro Phone" teased on Twitter

Over the last year, there has been a peak in smartphone oriented Linux distributions, probably due to the huge interest in projects like Purism's Librem5 and, more recently, the entry-level PinePhone. Another exciting development for this new segment of Linux devices is that Manjaro, the popular Arch-based (yet user-friendly) distro

Linux on Android smartphones

Xiaomi Redmi 4X might get an unofficial Ubuntu Touch porting soon

Launched in 2013, Ubuntu Touch used to be one of the most ambitious projects by Canonical. This OS, based on Ubuntu LTS and the Unity 8 user interface, was probably ahead of its time, promising convergence between desktop and mobile applications. However, after a failed Indiegogo campaign that didn't reach