Cool, except... What alternatives are there? With the caveat that phone calls (roaming too), SMS and mobile data must work reliably. Is there an alternative that provides this? Librem 5 maybe? Last I checked neither PinePhone nor Purism were there yet.
The problem with Android based "alternatives" is Googles licensing. The licensing agreements for Googles apps require that Google gets to decide which android forks device manufacturers are allowed to sell if they don't want to be completely cut of from Googles ecosystem. So if you actually plan to use it for anything bigger you wont even be able to find a manufacturer willing to touch it, even Amazon had problems getting the Kindle produced. Any attempt to de google Android will be stuck as a niche product for enthusiasts.
It sounds interesting but I cannot connect the dots.
So, the Google-authored apps' use can become illegal in future on a specific ("bigger") fork of Android you say? But that's just the license terms of Google apps. I don't understand what would a manufacturer be afraid of, exactly? (Does Kindle need any Google apps?...)
Most big manufacturers currently sell Google approved Android with Google apps. Selling even one not approved Android device voids the license for Google apps on the manufacturers entire existing lineup as far as I understand. It is either all or nothing.
Imagine yourself convincing Samsung to dump entire warehouses filled with Google (TM) Android phones and any chance of future success in that market in the trash over a handful of ebook readers. That is what Amazon had to deal with.
> Selling even one not approved Android device voids the license [...] on the manufacturers entire existing lineup
Ummm, that is not how licenses work legally, so I had trouble believing that exact link in the reasoning chain.
But I went and check... And you are right. It turns out that Google Apps are services, by which I mean they are governed by ToS not the license. And with ToS anybody could be cut off, duh.
I've been using SailfishOS for 3 years now as my daily driver, never had any problems with calls, sms or mobile data. Roaming or not. It is not a fork of android but if you get the paid version you get android app support on it. At one point I even got microg on it to see if my banking application would work and it did. Officially they support a very small number of phones, I think only some sony models.
