The release of the mobile platform /e/OS 3.1, focused on user data privacy, has been announced. The platform was founded by Gaël Duval, the creator of the Mandrake Linux distribution. The project supports 253 smartphone models and creates firmware builds for the most popular ones. Customized device editions based on OnePlus, Fairphone, Teracube, and Pixel smartphones are distributed with pre-installed /e/OS firmware under the brands Murena One, Murena 2, Murena Fairphone 4/5, Murena Teracube 2e, Murena Pixel 5/7, and Murena SHIFTphone 8.
/e/OS firmware is developed as a branch of the LineageOS platform (based on Android), free from the ties to Google services and infrastructure to eliminate telemetry transmission to servers Google and enhance the level of privacy. Among other things, implicit information sending is blocked, such as requests to Google servers when checking network availability, resolving DNS, and determining the exact time.
The package includes microG, which offers independent alternatives to Google services, allowing for the absence of proprietary components. For location determination via Wi-Fi and base stations (without GPS), UnifiedNlp layer can work with BeaconDB, OpenWlanMap, openBmap, OpenCellID, lacells.db, and other alternative services. Instead of Google Search, the metasearch service Murena Find is offered based on the Qwant search engine. A metasearch service based on a fork of the Searx engine anonymizes the queries sent.
To synchronize the exact time instead of querying Google's NTP server, requests are sent to servers from the NTP Pool collection, and DNS servers from the current provider are used instead of Google's DNS servers (8.8.8.8). The web browser defaults to having an ad and tracking script blocker enabled. For syncing files and application data, a proprietary service has been developed, compatible with Nextcloud-based infrastructure. The server components are based on open-source software and available for installation on user-controlled systems.
The user interface includes a custom environment for launching applications, BlissLauncher, an improved notification system, a new lock screen, and different styling. BlissLauncher features a set of automatically scalable icons developed for /e/OS and a separate selection of widgets (for example, a widget for showing weather forecasts).
The project also develops its own authentication manager, allowing a single account (user@murena.io) to be used for all services, registered during the initial setup. This account can be used to access your environment from other devices or via the web. Murena Cloud provides 1GB of free storage for your data, application synchronization, and backups.
Included applications comprise: the Mail email client (a fork of K9-Mail), the web browser Cromite (based on Chromium), the OpenCamera app for camera use, QKSMS for instant messaging, nextcloud-notes for note-taking, MJ PDF for PDF viewing, opentasks for task management, Magic Earth for maps, gallery3d for photo viewing, a file manager, and the App Lounge application catalog.
Key changes in /e/OS 3.1:
- For Fairphone smartphones, VoLTE and mobile data transmission (VoWiFi remains disabled by default) are enabled by default. The camera app has implemented the ability to create photos with a resolution of up to 50 megapixels and improved audio quality in video recordings. Compatibility with third-party applications has been enhanced. Support for installing /e/OS through an installer has been added.
- The live caption feature for automatically generating subtitles for videos now supports text location changes.
- Updates and fixes from the LineageOS 22.2 platform, based on the Android 15 codebase, have been transferred (the /e/OS 3.0 was based on LineageOS 20/Android 13).
- The web browser engine has been updated to Chromium 138.
- The microG package has been updated to version 0.3.8.250932.
- The ability to use applications from Revolut, Yuh, web.de, GMX, and Yuka in /e/OS has been added.
Also available for order is the new Murena SHIFTphone 8 smartphone, which is a clone of the SHIFTphone 8 and comes with /e/OS. The smartphone features a modular design (comprising 18 replaceable components) and has a hardware switch for the camera and microphone.
Source: opennet.ru
