If you have ever dreamt of a fully functional Android without a bit Google, /e/OS is a befeating answer that would hopefully, help you realize your dream. In this whole article, I would be discussing e OS at lenght.
In recent years, concerns over users' privacy have grown to a degree that paved way for the emergence of non-profits seeking to give people alternatives that could effortlessly break them away from their absolute reliance on tech-giants like Google, Apple and Facebook.
Firefox and Brave browsers have being struggling against Google's Chrome in the internet browsers' sphere. Telegram have being favourably competing against Facebook's WhatsApp and perhaps; Facebook Messenger. And now, e OS is likely a foreseeable strong competitor for Apple's iOS and Google's Android in the smartphone operating system arena.
Okay. Perhaps, that's enough an intro. You may already be thirsty of getting to know what /e/OS actually is which is exactly the reason I am following this up with a brief history of the e OS.
What is e OS?
/e/OS which was formerly known as Eelo is a free and open-source Android-based mobile operating system. e OS is a fork of LineageOS and Android combined but with all Google-related services completely stripped off.
e OS is developed by the /e/Foundation, which was founded by French entrepreneur Gaël Duval who is the developer of the once-popular Mandrake Linux distribution. /e/OS is presented to the public as privacy software that does not contain any of the proprietary Google apps or services.
What's more relaxing is that the team behind the /e/OS challenges any member of the public to "find any parts of the /e/OS system or default applications that are still leaking data to Google."
/e/OS in History
In 2017, Gaël Duval proposed the concept of an operating system without privacy-invasive software as a non-profits project which would come to exist only in the interest of the public.
Later that year, Duval launched a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign with an initial goal of €25,000, and received at least €71,000 from contributors. - according to a Wikipedia page linked here.
eOS Presence
While /e/OS was officially announced in the year 2017, the operating system was not made available for any device until September 2018 when Beta versions of /e/OS was released for about thirty smartphone models.
By the end of November 2019, /e/OS had already supported about 89 smartphone models.
Presently, as at the time this article is being published, /e/OS has had 229 smartphone models supported including several flagships from Google, Samsung, LG, Sony, Motorola, Lenovo, HTC, ZTE, YU, Yandex, Xiaomi, Teracube, Wileyfox, Razer, OPPO, OnePlus, Nokia, Nubia, LeEco, Fairphone, Gigaset, Asus and BQ. You can find the full and updated list of currently supported brands and their respective models on the /e/OS official website here.
Additionally, there is also a dedicated page where /e/OS lists all their unofficially supported brands and their respective models. You can check the list from here: /e/OS unofficially supported models.
/e/OS: Cost and Availability
As long as your device is supported by eOS, officially or unofficially, /e/OS is free to download and flash on your device. Apart from that, the OS is entirely free to use on the long run.
Initially, /e/OS is limited to the European market but is now available to consumers in the U.S. In fact, eFoundation had partnered with Teracube to offer a version of its sustainable 2e model that comes preinstalled with /e/OS instead of Android. That phone is available to customers in the U.S. and Canada for $230.
As it is, it is now becoming impossible to use any smartphone effectively in the absence of cloud storage. In response to this need, /e/OS offers a cloud service that comes with a measly 1GB of online storage which is expected to be used for storing and syncronising your contacts, tasks, files, calendar and other data in the cloud. However, if you are serious about using it and supporting the foundation's mission, you're going to want to subscribe to one of the eFoundation's data plans. These cloud storage subscriptions start at 2€ a month ($2.35) for 20GB of storage and go up to 8€ ($9.40) for 256GB of storage.
/e/OS: Who Should Use it
Generally, if you fall into any of these categories, you should consider using /e/OS;
If you're concerned about your data privacy.
If you like tinkering with new software and OS options.
If you want to live a more sustainable tech life.
Who Should Not Use /e/OS
And again, if you find yourself to be intertwined in any of these categories; e/OS/ is definitely not for you.
If you live and breathe Google services maybe through your businesses or personal life.
If you always want or need access to the latest Android features as they arrive.
Although this could change soon, but if you must have the newest phone hardware, /e/OS is not an option for you as of yet.
/e/OS: in the long run
Among a number of other alternatives that have offered to achieve the same or similar set of goals as /e/OS, /e/OS seems to be more polished and reliable. Yes. eOS is not likely to unseat Google or Apple as the most popular mobile phone operating system. However, the OS could soon fill a sizable gap in the market especially among users who would prefer a trustworthy phone.
Already, the team has delivered on many of its initial promises to improve users' privacy and with solid Android apps support plus a strong relationship between users and developers, with these; /e/OS is starting to look like it would be around for the long-haul.
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