Why is this a problem?

If you can't even install software on it then its not an overly smartphone.

AOSP

Android Open Source Project

look inside

not open source

mfw

GraphineOS is the epitome of paying against your values then using foss without giving back.

Murena sells phones with e/os already installed, and there seems to be others too where you can buy a phone: iodé , jolla, pine64, pureos,

Soo, anyone ELI5. If Android is basically Linux, how hard would it be - given drivers are not an issue - so just make a Linux phone and mass produce it? You probably don't have that many apps, but it will be possible to call and/or use messaging apps.

I spent $500 on a Murena only for the thing to brick a month later because the cord or whatever connecting the rechargable battery to the rest of the phone somehow split off. Would've been open to shipping the thing back to them for a repair/replacement since a local shop was unable to do so, but they use UPS for shipping and there was no way in hell I was going to deal with the absolute mess it was to receive the phone to begin with a second time.

Probably this hard:
https://postmarketos.org/

By not using GrapheneOS obviously.

Also GrapheneOS is about security not about privacy or freedom. So GrapheneOS is just not really part of the discussion here.

You can, but no one will use it because you won't have Android apps on it. The lock in is real

Dude holy shit, modular emmc AND RAM, AND modem??! This looks sick as hell!!

Saw someone else mention sailfish! There is also PostmarketOS I've recently seen footage of it running on a OnePlus phone and it looks way more stable than I'd expected!!

Edit= apparently just 2 oneplus phones and sparse other phones are supported, and stability varies per device =/ you can check here to see if your phone's supported!

Well, the market is really very small. There's also the PinePhone Pro (which is discontinued) and Librem 5, Volla Phone, Mudita Kompakt. But, of couse, that whasn't Ipone 16 pro max.

Though graphene is shopping for phone OEMs rn, hopefully there'll be a graphenephone soonish.

You're not disproving my point that there is no feasible way for me as a consumer to have a functional device without begrudgingly supporting either apple or android in their walled garden bullshit. No amount of "voting with my wallet" will fix this without a proper alternative

Thank you, i appreciate the information. I will keep my eye on its development.

you don't have TrackPhone being sold at Walmart where you are?

So how come android is Linux but Linux don't run android apps? How hard it is to have a simulator like harmony os for unsupported apps?

Android apps are specifically using google ecosystems and would break without such things. It would also mean taking a developers app and putting it in a new market, this requires permissions and they might be under contract.

Linux can run android apps, but having a fully commercial device would need lots of new natives.

there are android emulators / compatibility apps like WayDroid that you can run on linux to simulate an android experience but they're not perfect -- and any App that processes payments (banking, utility, parking) outright rejects being in a container and has many tests for detecting so