After five years of development, the release of the /e/OS 1.0 mobile platform, founded by GaΓ«l Duval, creator of the Mandrake Linux distribution, has been published. At the same time, the Murena One smartphone prepared by the project was presented, aimed at ensuring the confidentiality of user data. The project also provides firmware for many popular smartphone models and offers editions of the Fairphone 3/4, Teracube 2e and Samsung Galaxy S9 smartphones with the /e/OS platform pre-installed. In total, the project officially supports 269 smartphones.
The /e/OS firmware is being developed as an offshoot of the Android platform (using LineageOS developments), freed from being tied to Google services and infrastructure, which allows, on the one hand, to maintain compatibility with Android applications and simplify hardware support, and on the other hand, block the transmission of telemetry to Google servers and ensure a high level of privacy. Implicit sending of information is also blocked, for example, accessing Google servers when checking network availability, resolving DNS, and determining the exact time.
To interact with Google services, the microG package is preinstalled, which eliminates the need to install proprietary components and offers independent analogues instead of Google services. For example, to determine the location by Wi-Fi and base stations (without GPS), a layer based on the Mozilla Location Service is involved. Instead of the Google search engine, it offers its own metasearch service based on a fork of the Searx engine, which ensures the anonymity of sent requests.
To synchronize the exact time, the NTP Pool Project is used instead of Google NTP, and the DNS servers of the current provider are used instead of Google DNS servers (8.8.8.8). The web browser has an ad blocker and script blocker enabled by default to track movements. To synchronize files and application data, a proprietary service has been developed that can work with NextCloud-based infrastructure. The server components are based on open source software and are available for installation on user-controlled systems.
Another feature of the platform is a significantly redesigned user interface, which includes its own environment for launching BlissLauncher applications, an improved notification system, a new lock screen and a different style. BlissLauncher uses a set of automatically scaling icons and a selection of widgets specially developed for the project (for example, a widget for displaying a weather forecast).
The project also develops its own authentication manager, which allows using a single account for all services ([email protected]) registered during the first installation. The account can be used to access your environment via the Web or other devices. In the Murena Cloud, 1GB is provided free of charge for storing your data, synchronizing applications and backups.
By default, the package includes applications such as an email client (K9-mail), a web browser (Bromite, a fork of Chromium), a camera program (OpenCamera), an instant messaging program (qksms), a note-taking system (nextcloud-notes), PDF viewer (PdfViewer), scheduler (opentasks), map software (Magic Earth), photo gallery (gallery3d), file manager (DocumentsUI).
Among the changes in the new version of /e/OS:
- Added support for more than 30 new smartphones, including ASUS ZenFone 8/Max M1, Google Pixel 5a/XL, Lenovo Z5 Pro GT, Motorola Edge/Moto G/Moto One, Nokia 6.1 Plus, OnePlus 9, Samsung Galaxy S4/SIII, Sony Xperia Z2/XZ2, Xiaomi Mi 6X/A1/10 and Xiaomi Redmi Note 6/8.
- A firewall has been added to limit installed apps' access to user data, block in-app trackers, and provide fictitious IP address and location information.
- An App Lounge application installation manager has been proposed, providing a single interface for searching and downloading third-party programs from various sources (F-droid, Google Play). It supports installation management of both Android programs and self-contained web applications (PWA, Progressive Web Apps).
- Devices that are supported at a stable level are equipped with Google SafetyNet tests, which test protection against common security issues.
- A widget has been provided to view account parameters.
- A new user interface has been proposed in programs for reading email, messaging and working with the camera.
- A new eDrive service has been implemented that supports synchronizing files from the device to an external server in real time.
- The BlissLauncher color scheme has been redesigned and a removable weather forecast widget has been added.
- Bug and security fixes have been carried over from LineageOS 18 (based on Android 11). The program for working with cards MagicEarth 7.1.22.13, the web browser Bromite 100.0.4896.57, the email client K9Mail 6.000, the messaging program QKSMS 3.9.4, the calendar scheduler Etar 1.0.26 and the set of microG services have been updated.
The Murena One smartphone prepared by the project is equipped with an 8-core Mediatek Helio P60 2.1GHz processor, Arm Mail-G72 900MHz GPU, 4GB RAM, 128GB Flash, 6.5-inch screen (1080 x 2242), 25-megapixel front camera, 48-, 8- and 5 megapixel rear cameras, 4G (LTE), Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, NFC, USB-OTG, microSD card slot, two nanoSIM card slots, 4500 mAh battery. The declared price is 349 euros. Dimensions 161.8 x 76.9 x 8.9 mm, weight 186 g.
Source: opennet.ru