By Renaud Labracherie (@RLesnumeriques)Share:

11

Without playing the iOS joker card, is it possible to calmly use a smartphone without Google? This is what we will try to see with our summer experience.

Outside of Android (Google) or iOS (Apple) no salvation for our smartphones? If there is a plethora of more or less exotic ROMs (based, for the most part, on Android), few are those that have succeeded in attracting a large number of users. Capricious installation and requiring computer skills, lack of technical support, unguaranteed durability... The pitfalls of using an alternative system are numerous and often prohibitive for the general public. However, a simpler and more elegant solution seems to be emerging for those who want "something else" for their smartphone and free themselves from the often too curious Google services: /e/.

A story of freedom

The story of /e/ is linked to that of a Frenchman: Gaël Duval. For readers who have spent evenings burning installation CDs of Linux distributions on their PCs, this name must evoke some good memories, and in particular that of Mandrake Linux. Already at the time, Gaël Duval dreamed of freedom and of doing without Windows or macOS. Mandrake Linux is quickly becoming one of the most popular Linux distributions, not only in France, but also in the world due to its relatively easy installation and KDE by default.

Personal data: take back control of your smartphone

Gaël Duval's new hobbyhorse, respect for personal data is at the heart of the /e/ ecosystem for smartphones. Discovered...

Of course, it would have been easier to use a Huawei smartphone already devoid of Google services to take advantage of a "de-googled" Android, but the idea of ​​entrusting your personal data to a Chinese juggernaut is hardly more pleasing than that to let Google suck its digital life. The choice of an alternative OS, still based on Android, was first made on transparency. Indeed, and unlike iOS, Android or Huawei's recent HarmonyOS, the operation of /e/ from open source software bricks is completely auditable. Of course, without solid computer knowledge, an audit of an operating system is not easy, but this possibility remains an important guarantee of confidence.

Week 0: find a candidate

The first step in our summer without Google (at least in the operating system, we will come back to this...) is to unearth the "guinea pig" device. It is quite possible to order a pre-installed telephone on the store on the foundation's website /e/. In addition to a few Fairphone or Gigaset models, you can find a refurbished Samsung Galaxy S9 there, billed at just over €350. However, we decide to opt for a manual (and much more complex) installation of the system on a more affordable second-hand smartphone. The OS being compatible with 152 mobile models from different brands, we are spoiled for choice. We set our sights on a Xiaomi Redmi Note 8T, unearthed around 150 € in second hand. The screen turns out to be correct, just like the photo module... but under the in-house OS. It remains to be seen how these characteristics will be exploited by /e/.

Week 1: installing the /e/ system

By digging on the site to retrieve the installation instructions for /e/ on our Note 8T, it becomes clear that we did not choose simplicity. A graphical installer is indeed available, but it only works with the Samsung Galaxy S7, S8 and S9. It doesn't matter, it will take more to discourage us, and it's not the English tutorial that will dampen our enthusiasm. If the manipulations are not insurmountable, let's say it bluntly, the installation of /e/ on a smartphone is not within the reach of the first comer; it is necessary to have good computer skills, to understand what ADB or fastboot is, to install several software on a computer, to perform a number of restarts, and this by crossing your fingers so that the logo appears, proof that the phone is not completely blocked.

Download and setup

The first step is to install ADB and fastboot on your computer. To help you, know that many tutorials exist, whether you are on Windows, macOS or Linux. You must then switch the smartphone to USB mode; for this you need to switch to developer mode and allow OEM mode. Nothing too complicated, since all you have to do is go to the Settings panel, About the phone and press Build number seven times to switch to developer mode. To enable USB Debugging and OEM Unlocking, go to Additional Settings, Developer Options. The bowels of the operating system are then accessible to you.

For the rest, it is preferable to use the Windows operating system, the recommended tools being most often available for Microsoft software. The next step is to unlock your phone's bootloader through the Mi Unlock app. You must first register a Mi account on the smartphone and therefore have a SIM card installed. Surprise, this operation requires a validation period of... seven days! It is also necessary to create a Mi account in order to be able to connect the mobile to the Xiaomi application which will authorize the unlocking.

Once the bootloader is "opened", you can install the system /e/ and "play" with fastboot. Connect the phone to your computer using a USB cable and then boot up by pressing the Volume Down and Power buttons simultaneously. On Windows, open a console by typing CMD in the Windows 10 search bar, then enter Fastboot Devices to verify that your computer recognizes the smartphone. All you have to do is send the data (recovery and system image /e/) to the mobile, hoping that everything goes well.

After a few endless minutes – including the first long and distressing ignition – the Redmi Note 8T displays a rather successful welcome screen.

Find its brands and its applications

The first steps under /e/ are quite classic: configuration of the language and the Wi-Fi network, definition of biometric data, but also linking the smartphone with an account. On Android, the creation of a Google account is mandatory and gives you access to many services and applications such as Gmail (contact, calendar...), Maps, YouTube, GDrive. It is very effective and therefore very attractive.

The /e/ system lets you create accounts with multiple providers and even with Google. It also offers a suite of software associated with the /e/ account built around NextCloud with, here too, an e-mail, an office suite, storage space (1 GB offered), all with permanent synchronization.

The icing on the cake, the developers of /e/ are also working on the possibility of hosting your /e/ server yourself, and therefore of managing your personal data on your own.

/e/ Clean and easy to use OS

The developers of /e/ have cleaned up the source code of most interactions with Google servers, which makes /e/ OS one of the few truly "degoogled" systems (the list of removed parts is available by the way ). Indeed, most other alternative OSes use the source code without removing bits of code that are too curious. Thus, your smartphone under /e/ OS will not try to connect to a Google server as soon as it is powered on to send some valuable information: IP address, geolocation... /e/ does not use Google's geolocation system , nor even its DNS servers which are usually defined by default. Here, the 9.9.9.9 server is implemented.

The Redmi Note 8T accepts the installation of Android 10, enough to take advantage of an interface that is certainly refined, but pleasant to use. Everything is quite fluid, apart from a few delays when opening application folders, and the work done is rather impressive. One downside, however, is the lack of gesture navigation. Here, the Home and Back buttons are still displayed at the bottom of the screen. An interface that is a bit dated therefore, which should be changed quickly to stay up to date and up to date with users.

A rich and considerate app store

If /e/ OS does without Google, users a little less. For them to adopt this system, they must be able to install the applications they use regularly and do not want to give up, such as Facebook, TikTok, Spotify or Netflix. /e/ OS has a fairly well-stocked store.

Initially, we were able to download the main apps, but we will naturally come back to this point during our experience with, in particular, banking or photo apps. Note that it is also possible to install the Aurora application store and thus benefit from an even greater number of software.

Admittedly, the /e/ OS store is a little austere compared to the Google Play Store, but above all it offers a privacy analysis of downloaded applications. The scores calculated, using the analyzes of Exodus Privacy, make it possible to inform users of the number of tracers and other trackers that these programs contain, as well as all the permissions requested. And that sometimes sends shivers down your spine. Without wishing to limit users, /e/ wishes above all to make them aware of the protection of their personal data. However, and if you really care, nothing prevents you from installing Gmail or Maps, even if it may seem counterproductive.

Despite a somewhat tricky installation and requiring solid computer knowledge, /e/ OS turns out, at first, rather simple and not very penalizing to use. See you soon for episode #2 of our experience with a dive into the real world and more intensive use of the smartphone, including GPS, banking applications and the camera.

Deputy editor and "great" evangelist of RAW, he is also passionate about all forms of cooking.