Murena One is a unique smartphone. It was developed by Mandrake Linux creator and excels commitment to personal data protection and replacing Google’s services and applications with the open source operating system / e /, which includes.

You already know how the smartphone industry is doing. You are either betting on Android (and Google) or iOS (and Apple). And nothing but Microsoft once buried Windows Phone. Unfortunately, the promising “Linux Mobile”, which a few years ago showed as an alternative (Firefox OS, Tizen OS, Ubuntu, Sailfish, webOS …), also declined.

Enthusiasts looking for other things install Android ROMs to get out of Google’s control, hack jailbreaked iPhones, get out of Apple’s “prison”, or wait for the rebirth of Ubuntu Touch or the advancement of GNOME 40 on mobile, and that big company to bet on them. In addition, the general public has no alternatives.

Murena one

Murena founder Gael Duval, then the creator of Mandrake Linux, was tired of the mobile duopoly and also the massive data collection. Together with other developers, he created the open source operating system / e / and now the terminal has arrived, where it is showing fruit.

That must be said if you are only looking for hardware, you can forget about it of this terminal because it has better features / price. It has a 6.5-inch LCD display, an eight-core MediaTek processor, 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage expandable with microSD cards.

The cameras aren’t bad, with a triple sensor in the main (5, 8 and 48 MP) and a 25 megapixel front for selfie. The terminal also includes a slot for two SIM cards for the use of two telephone lines and is compatible with all European and most American operators. It does not support 5G, only 4G LTE.

Software, its great value

The true value of Morena One lies in the software. It should be noted that / e / does not attempt to rediscover gunpowder and is a android fork which replaces Google services and applications with others. It combines functions from the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) source trees and others from LienageOS.

Most (not all) Google services on / e / OS are removed and replaced by MicroG services and open source implementations without links to Google services. This includes libraries and apps that provide Google Play, Maps, Geolocation, and News for Android apps.

/ e / OS does what it can Break free from top-level Google services. For example, Google’s default search engine has been replaced by Murena’s own metasearch engine. Other Internet services, such as Domain Name Server (DNS) and Network Time Protocol (NTP), use non-Google servers.

The map application is based on the Mozilla Location Service and OpenStreetMap, and the developers are working on their own personal voice control assistant. It has some progressive web applications and e.g.l The application installer is based on third-party storage cleanapk.org.

Of course, you can also install most Google apps and thousands of existing Android apps using the App Lounge. As a gateway to the Play Store, it relies on signing in to a Google Account, which can be annoying for anyone who wants to break all ties with an Internet giant. Simply, not yet possible replace Google’s e-commerce and software commerce system.

/ e / OS does not capture any user logs, using applications, or tracking a user’s location. Also, because most applications depend on backendy in the cloud Murena offers its own cloud (1 GB free) and cheap plans that include email and an online office suite based on OnlyOffice.

Murena One will be available in June in Europe, the United States and Canada for a price $ 369. If you do not want the terminal, you can / e / install and test the system on more than 200 supported models from Google, HTC, Motorola, OnePlus, Samsung and Xiaomi. Downloads and other information are available on their website.