Daily driving a Linux phone, but why?

April 24, 2025

As a follow-up to a post describing what would be involved for me to daily drive a Linux phone, you could wonder why this would in any way be better than Android. After all, an Android phone will still be needed and remain charged, even though I won’t need to carry it around.

It’s like using a paper notebook and calendar. It’s not about what’s most comfortable or easiest. It’s about a journey to question how we are forced to live our lives and to learn how to live (marginally) differently. It’s also about a better balance between security and privacy. Many will point out that a Linux phone is less secure than Android or iOS, but that highly depends on your personal threat model. Linux phones and their apps are all open-source and do not depend on ads or surveillance to sustain some nefarious business model, which means there is much privacy to be won.

My LGv40 Thinq in fastboot mode

The PinePhone Pro’s hardware is slow. Very slow. It has been called “beyond outdated” on Reddit, though that doesn’t mean much to me, seeing that there are four computers from the 1980s less than two meters to my left when I’m writing this. But no matter how fast a phone is, it will never be as fast as my paper calendar or notebook. The PinePhone Pro fast enough to have Firefox play videos or music without interruption, and the navigation and running apps have no problem keeping up with me. And while an app is loading, at least it’s not overstimulating me.

The PinePhone Pro also has a few advantages over my FairPhone, to be honest. It’s lighter and smaller, for one thing, and it has a proper 3.5mm headphone jack. I have a USB-C to 3.5mm cable for my FairPhone, but I always have to re-insert it a few times before it’s picked up. This just works.

As mentioned in the other post, I’m not planning on using the PinePhone Pro. I unlocked the bootloader of my LGv40 Thinq some time ago, and it has a Snapdragon 845 SDM845 SoC, so I can use one of PostmarketOS’s mainline guides. I’d love to use this phone again. Of all my Android phones, it was my favourite. It’s even smaller than the PinePhone Pro while simultaneously having a slightly bigger screen, it’s much faster too and still has a 3.5mm jack. It also has wireless charging, excellent cameras and a fingerprint reader on the back

But let’s see first if I can get it to boot.