My old basic phone finally broke, and I've decided it's time to get a smartphone, mainly so I can use google maps. I'm hoping y'all will be kind enough to give me some tips, since I don't really know where to start researching, and have zero experience using smartphones.

In a perfect world, my phone would boot just like Debian: at tty1. I'd type startx, my chosen window manager would come up, and maybe even some buttons like "call" or "text". I assume this still doesn't really exist without doing a ton of work. So I'll make a list of pluses:

- The "grid of apps" GUI is fine, I'd rather have that than something like Ubuntu's scopes or Microsoft's tiles.
- Maximum percentage of FOSS running.
- Minimum percentage of bloat, sneaky background tracking stuff, and attempts to make me download music or use a "cloud".
- Maximum control and configurability (while still being a useable phone without configuring it)
- I'd like to have a bash shell and SSH.
- Good security, which implies some sort of package manager with frequent updates instead of an "app store".
- Cheap is good, but not the most important aspect.
- Of course, I need to retain the ability to call and text.

To be clear, I'm asking for a cell phone model that will work with the big carriers, preferably which has some of these features out of the box. If that's not possible, I'd like to know if there are any somewhat easy, safe, methods of clobbering the OS to get some of this.

Thanks! And sorry for posting a question that probably comes up a lot, I did a bit of searching and couldn't come up with much that's up to date.

All I can say is what I use.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...9/#post5629958

Works OK for me.

There is a member here that will probably reply on rooting on what he has.

Hi crazy-yiuf,

It sounds to me as if you want a phone that is as close to an "old basic phone" as possible, with a few "smartphone features" that allow you to do a few "web-based" activities, such as accessing Google Maps.

There are a few projects out there that have made "attempts" at providing an alternative to the common Android and Apple iPhone alternatives, but frankly, to pursue any of them is likely to add considerable time and grief to your efforts.

My suggestion would be to get as simple a smartphone as possible.

Google has, until recently, offered the "Nexus" line of phones and tablets. More expensive "Pixel" models have recently been released. If you can get a hold of a less expensive Nexus model, the advantage these have are fewer applications added on by the phone company vendors and their suppliers.

Unfortunately, not even these will provide quite the simple environment you seek, but all is not lost. My suggestion is to simply place icons for the applications you are interested in using, and keep all of the others somewhere else on another page and you can only deal with them when you must do so or your needs change. With most Android implementations, it is easy to put the icons that invoke the applications you use on the main screen, and that's what I suggest to make your adjustment to this "non-basic" smart phone as simple as possible.

Also, the Android Forum, which you can find on the "Main Menu" just below the Linux Forum may provide some useful tips. I don't recommend attempting to run a "Linux Phone" unless you are willing to put a huge amount of time, research, learning, and more into it. There just isn't anywhere near as much information about doing that as there is taking a modestly equipped Android phone and getting it to work in an acceptable manner.

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I was in the same boat awhile ago. I got myself Motorola Moto E from Amazon, $70. The battery holds pretty good, I have wireless and other bells and whistles turned off most of the time.

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"The "grid of apps" GUI is fine,"
There are many apps out there that can manage your phone's desktop. Most are free but some of the high rated ones are for pay.

" Minimum percentage of bloat, sneaky background tracking stuff" Might get a Moto X pure.

Doubt this will happen unless you can undelete all installed google apps. " Good security, which implies some sort of package manager with frequent updates instead of an "app store"." Only one secure phone out there that is somewhat affordable.

Guess you could buy a hotspot and use a tablet running linux then use one of the phone apps. Dunno how google offers hangouts for free but things like Ooma and other voip work great over 2G data. I ran my house off of a 2G hotspot so you could get by with a tablet.

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Thanks for all the suggestions. Looks like I've still got a lot to research.

If you're going to buy Android just get a Nexus of some sort, it's the least painful to hack

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