this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2025
126 points (93.8% liked)

Open Source

40813 readers
412 users here now

All about open source! Feel free to ask questions, and share news, and interesting stuff!

Useful Links

Rules

Related Communities

Community icon from opensource.org, but we are not affiliated with them.

founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
 

The HIROH phone is apparently launching with /e/OS exclusively or before there is an Android version (which is great :)) ♥️

  • 16GB RAM and 512GB of storage expandable up to 2TB, giving you room for everything that matters.
  • A 6.67-inch AMOLED display and a camera system pairs a 108MP Samsung sensor with a 32MP Sony front lens for crisp, striking detail in every shot.
  • A hardware kill switch; disconnected completely the microphone and cameras at the circuit level, leaving nothing open for intrusion.
  • A software-based switch, to easily turn off all your radio signals, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFC.

https://murena.com/shop/smartphones/brand-new/hiroh-phone-powered-by-murena-pre-sale/

all 38 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Kajika@lemmy.ml -1 points 17 hours ago

it is sad to see people falling again and again on the same traps.

Murena is not our friend, it is very much business-minded, and /e/os is also lacking in privacy and customer respect (going straight to the worse of AI company with OpenAI, pushing/forcing you into their VPN stuff)

Here we have a 1200€ phone (who buys that? Tesla owners?) with 2022 hardware (Mali g615, really?) and amoled screen we never asked for (maybe Linux tech tips kinda folks want that yeah).

I like privacy indeed, give me linux please, don't sell me half-decade old hardware for insane price just because "hardware kill switch" (librem guys came back?). Don't shove amoled in my throat and give me my reliable audio jack. Then we're talking

[–] Fla@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 day ago

Limited offer: Pay 99€ now and receive a voucher to buy your HIROH phone powered by Murena for a total of only 999€ !

Ouch, im not sure what i expected but im not dropping a 1k on a phone.

I know the point of this is privacy, which you can't get through google but that's an awful lot of money.

For reference: My current phone cost me <£170 in 2022 (second hand) and i really have no reason to replace it yet.

[–] quickenparalysespunk@lemmy.dbzer0.com 33 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (7 children)

1200€???

ok.... i guess privacy is only for the rich

edit: privacy via this phone model is only for the rich. you nitpickers happy now?

[–] BCBoy911@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 days ago

/e/os can be installed on devices that can be purchased on the secondhand market for under $100. This is the opposite of "privacy only for the rich".

[–] irotsoma@lemmy.blahaj.zone 16 points 2 days ago (2 children)

The cost of the device is not being subsidized by all of the bloatware installation income, selling of personal info, etc. I think a lot of people don't realize that inflation really shot through the roof on the last decade and it's only because products are subsidized by the sale of your data and other unethical practices that product prices didn't go up. Food uses shrink-flation to hide inflation, tech uses selling your personal info.

[–] CucumberFetish@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Fairphone doesn't have any bloatware either (besides base google apps), yet their phones aren't priced 1k+

[–] irotsoma@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

But the specs aren't comparable. The Murena phone is a higher-end device than the Fairphone. And the Fairphone does get incentives/subsidies for the Android version which is one of a few reasons the Android version is cheaper than the version sold with /e/OS.

[–] CucumberFetish@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The /e/OS version of Fairphone 6 is still almost 50% cheaper, while providing slightly higher IP rating, 3 years longer warranty, schematics for board repair and a guarantee of 8 years of software updates. In addition to that, the phone is built ethically.

Murena phone has a faster GPU (2x) and up to 36% faster CPU, but only 2 years of warranty and 5 years of spare parts. Fairphone still has spare displays on sale for Fairphone 2, which came out a decade ago.

Hiroh phone also has a "sustainability" field in the specs, which is nice and empty

[–] irotsoma@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I'm just talking pure cost to manufacture for each. The cost of the hardware is higher: faster CPU, faster GPU, additional RAM, additional storage, higher end cameras, etc. That is where the cost of the phone comes from, so you can't compare cost of a Fair Phone to this one any more than you can compare the cost of a Pixel 9 to the Pixel 9a. Both have basically the same software, warranty, parts availability, etc., but the 9a was about half the price of the 9 because the "a" series is a lower-end phone overall.

[–] quickenparalysespunk@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

yeah, no doubt, it's not being subsidized.

low income privacy supporters don't want it subsidized either.

at the same time, they are in fact excluded from this model of phone.

in the universe of possibilities, it's possible to have an affordable phone with privacy intact that serves more communities, at some time in the past or future.

but not from murena, not right now.

tl;dr no duh.

[–] Fairgreen@lemmy.world 24 points 3 days ago (2 children)

To be fair making a phone is likely not a cheap endeavor

[–] HumanPenguin@feddit.uk 18 points 3 days ago

More to the point. Making a cheap phone is not an affordable endeavour.

Linux phone makers such as pine have discovered this in the past. As your first products are going to be low demand. Running a business on the profit margins of lower priced phones becomes hard. It seriously limits your ability to gain investments. Making competition with similar priced products insanely complex.

it's not.

I'm not blaming Fairphone nor Murena. the economy everywhere is not helping make things cheaper.

it doesn't change the truth that right now, privacy is for the rich.

[–] eldavi@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

us poor have to diy it like everything else. lol

[–] quickenparalysespunk@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] eldavi@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 days ago

i'm going to do it with a fairphone 2 or 3; depending on whichever i can find unused.

[–] vort3@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Man, I want to try it so bad, but I don't have a thousand EUR…

[–] DarkAri@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 2 days ago

I want it so bad but I live in the U.S where these types of phones are forbidden by our corporate/police state.

[–] pmk@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

They also have the CMF for 359 euro, you don't have to get the expensive one.

[–] mrus@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 3 days ago

s/rich/dumb/g

This device is not worth the illusionary pricetag of $1423 (converted). Whoever buys this has more pressing issues than their privacy.

[–] ByteMe@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago

I noticed today that you can also get fairphone 6 with eos

[–] triplenadir@lemmygrad.ml 27 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Headphones jack TYPE-C DAC digital headphone

is a funny way of writing "no headphone jack"

Not trying to be a hater, cool project, this just made me laugh

[–] quick_snail@feddit.nl 6 points 2 days ago

I'll be the hater. That's bullshit.

[–] lnxtx@sopuli.xyz 25 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Price:

How the PRE SALE works for you:

  • Pay 99€ today to reserve your device.
  • You’ll receive a 299€ coupon. (Prepaid 99€ + 200€ discount) by email.
  • Use the coupon in January/February to buy the device for 900€ instead of 1199€, retail price of the device.
[–] Lemmchen@feddit.org 13 points 3 days ago

Hahaha, no.

[–] ms_lane@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

Pay for a coupon that might not be honored

haha, no.

Why not call it a deposit? Is it due to the word 'deposit' having legal basis?

Considering where Murena is based I'd expect the price to go up a few hundred dollars before release. Probably negating any 'coupon' if it's even honored.

[–] quick_snail@feddit.nl 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] B0rax@feddit.org 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Bigger phones are easier to build.

[–] quick_snail@feddit.nl 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Wouldn't they be more expensive?

[–] B0rax@feddit.org 4 points 2 days ago

Depends. The only thing more expensive would be the screen. But everything else is less crammed, thus easier to design and integrate. Although it does not have to have an impact on price

[–] pineapple@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 days ago

Does it have a high refresh rate display? That'd pretty much the only quality of life feature I really care about.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 0 points 2 days ago

Only want to talk about a headphone jack. It's not the most important feature, but it's essential to showing the mindset of the builder.

Once we've talked about that, we can examine ANY other feature.

[–] Geodad@lemmy.world -2 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Isn't eos horribly insecure though?

[–] ilikecarrots@slrpnk.net 9 points 2 days ago

No, not horribly, but not as hardened as GrapheneOS for example. Their focus is more on escaping data collection and maintaining a high level of usability, as I understand it. @Fairgreen@lemmy.world

Yes it is, the people telling you otherwise are just unaware of its issues

GrapheneOS has a great post talking about some of this: https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/24134-devices-lacking-standard-privacysecurity-patches-and-protections-arent-private

[–] somerandomperson@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

true,

but this is c/opensource, not c/privacy