Hello all!
Due to the recent statements by Google (as well as their track record the last few years) I’ve decided I do not want to use Android as a phone operating system anymore. But Apple is just as bad, if not worse. So I’ve decided to build my own custom device.
I am working on building a phone using a single board computer, right now I’m using the raspberry pi 5. This is still a proof of concept, but I want to share my ideas with others, so like minded individuals can start messing around with this idea in their own homes to further this goal.
You can view more images of the device here, as well as the step by step instructions here (these are still very rough and incomplete) https://github.com/muhammadmanwar/cheaphone OR https://codeberg.org/muhammadmanwar/cheaphone
Right now it just runs raspberry pi OS, with a different desktop look and feel. Everything that normally works in a pi 5 works on this device, additionally I am experimenting with a Mobile Broadband modem, to allow the device to text and call, as well as access internet, like a normal phone off wifi
The total cost is around 200 dollars, not including the 3d printer to make the custom case.
This project is barely off the ground, and I’ve got a lot to learn before I can stop relying strictly on the raspberry pi 5, my end goal is to custom design SBCs, and release those designs for free alongside the plans for the device, so that interested parties can select their own System on a Chip to use for the device. I need to get into designing boards, I’m interested in trying Stephen Hawes’ Lumen PnP (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlkTcxh-9gA) for that phase.
But that’s for the future, for now, I’m hoping to get more people interested in the prototype so that I’m not the only one noodling around on this idea. I’d love some feedback, and if anyone was willing to put one together for testing, I would appreciate it greatly!
https://furilabs.com/shop/flx1s/
Just reading the reviews and it sounds like it’s got problems. GPS doesn’t work, mobile data is sketchy. That’s what I’m talking about. I’m fine to tinker and massage most of my devices into a working state, but not my phone. I can’t be messing around with terminal commands trying to get my gps working when I’m out on a trail for example. Can you imagine if there were an emergency and I first had to try and figure out why telephony was suddenly down before I could call emergency services? My phone is the 1 device that HAS to work flawlessly every time.
Which reviews had you read? Earlier reviews of the previous model aren’t going to be as accurate as a lot of updates have led to improvements. You’re not wrong that things aren’t fully out of the woods (as is inevitably the nature of things, at this point in time) but most people who drive it daily have said that things just generally work, usually, these days. Their Matrix/Telegram channel may offer a more accurate depiction of the current state of things.
Now, Android/iOS level performance may be what’s necessary to make the cut for you (that sounds sarcastic, for some reason, but I genuinely mean that as neutrally as possible) but I figured I’d mention since people will often mention the Liberux NEXX (a device which doesn’t even exist, yet) without even mentioning this one and it’s by far closer to an actual possibility of being daily driven out of everything else out there.
EDIT: for example, here’s a review from a few months ago: https://clehaxze.tw/gemlog/2025/07-20-flx1-actually-usable-linux-phone.gmi. Again, I don’t want to make it sound like bugs don’t crop up occasionally (I don’t we can expect otherwise this early in the game) but I do think this one’s potentially actually feasible at being a daily driver far closer to what you’re looking for comparatively to anything else out there, at the moment.
Doesn’t it run an Android kernel?
It does; but that wasn’t a blocker that OP mentioned (I read “pure” as Linux kernel with GNU coreutils).