/e/, a Google-free fork of Android, reached a milestone this month with its initial ROM release. It’s available for download, so you can kick the tires, with nightly builds delivered via OTA (over the air) updates.
El Reg interviewed the project’s leader, Gael Duval, in the summer. Duval launched and led the Linux Mandrake project. Back then it was called “eelo”, but has morphed into just /e/ – which autocorrect features won’t try to turn into “eels”.
The project is significant in that the European Commission recently noted how few people switch platforms. If you’re on Apple or Android today, the chances are you will be on the same platform, plugged into the same “ecosystem” of peripherals and services, in 10 years. So it wants more variety and competition within the Android world.
/e/ derives from LineageOS, itself a fork of CynaogenMod, so it can run on around 30 phone models including the Samsung Galaxy S7, and several recent-ish OnePlus devices.
Source: Open-source alt-droid wants to know if it’s still leaking data to Google • The Register
Robin Edgar
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