Various questions from a wannabe shiftphone owner (non German speaking)

[piccobello]

Hello folks,

I'm interested in buying a shiftphone: my biggest issue is that I don't speak a single word of German. I have a few specific questions, please be so kind as to point me in the right direction, I can ask machines to translate pages once I know what to look for, the hardest thing is to come up with the right German keywords..

First and foremost, a question on the shift6mq:

• With shift8 coming out, I guess many shift6mq users will want to upgrade, sending their old device back. What happens to these devices? I would be interested in buying a refurbished shift6mq, or even a second hand one that's in good condition. I did not find any open ads in the forums though, and the shift6mq is simply sold out on the site. Any idea on how to get a decent shift6mq is appreciated, thanks!

Then more questions on Shift-OS Light for shiftphone8 (from the perspective of a LineageOS user who does not mind to switch):

• Does the shift8 ship with ShiftOS (incl. google) pre-installed? If so, is it possible to install the Shift-OS straight away?
• Does Shift-OS Light support or include microG? (I don't need google apps, however some of the third party apps I need require it, hence the need for microG)
• Does Shift-OS Light support or include F-Droid?
• Does Shift-OS Light support or include Aurora Store?
• There is a LineageOS rom for the shift6mq. Any news on a shift8 LineageOS rom? I expect it should come out some after the phone starts shipping massively?
• Does Shift-OS Light include SeedVault Backup?

Please quote the question you're answering.

My background in case you care: after several years using a Fairphone 2 with LineageOS+microG, I gave up as the internet has made it unusable (too slow loading sites), and some spare parts are sold out (mic stopped working, batteries still in stock are too old). FP3 seems too old already, and later fairphone models don't include a radio. I am an old person who cannot understand why on earth one should stream radios that are still sending radio signals (be it FM or DAB). Hence my choice to switch to a shift8 (which has DAB+) or shift6mq (which has FM).

Danke schoen!

picco bello

 

[Silva]

Does the shift8 ship with ShiftOS (incl. google) pre-installed? If so, is it possible to install the Shift-OS straight away?

ShiftOS-G has to be the default , otherwise Google won't officially certify your device. So yes every device will have Google Services by default.
Installing the light version requires it to be released first (hasn't happened yet for the shift8).

I am an old person who cannot understand why on earth one should stream radios that are still sending radio signals (be it FM or DAB). Hence my choice to switch to a shift8 (which has DAB+) or shift6mq (which has FM).

The Shift8 does no longer ship DAB+ as it wasn't working well enough and was scratched off the feature list.
The FM Capability requires a passive adapter from usb to wires and from the reports so far isn't easy to get working.

 

[Dwain Zwerg]

I guess many shift6mq users will want to upgrade, sending their old device back. What happens to these devices?

They are evaluated, a minimum €22 deposit (plus current market value) is transferred to the sender, refurbished if necessary and then sent to the next person on the waiting list. When the waiting list is eventually empty, the used SHIFT 6mq's will be regularly offered in the shop as ‘refurbished’.

I did not find any open ads in the forums though, and the shift6mq is simply sold out on the site. Any idea on how to get a decent shift6mq is appreciated, thanks!

There are occasionally people who sell a SHIFT 6mq privately in the off-topic area of the forum. There are also sometimes offers on eBay. Otherwise you can write to Shift support so that they can put you on the waiting list.

One of the problems at the moment is that very few of the people who have borrowed a SHIFT 6mq from SHIFT until their SHIFTphone 8 is delivered are still waiting for their SHIFTphone 8.1 (there was the 2G debacle).

Does the shift8 ship with ShiftOS (incl. google) pre-installed?

Yes, a SHIFTOS-G 6 (based on the googled AOSP 14 with a few customisations from SHIFT) will be delivered. They have to, because otherwise they would be kicked out of the Open Handset Alliance and would therefore not be able to release a googled phone for the people who want a googled phone. The next SHIFTOS-G 7 will be based on LineageOS 22 (or possibly even higher (depending on whether SHIFT releases Android 15 for the SHIFTphone 8 or continues with Android 16)); also googled, also with minor customisations from SHIFT.

If so, is it possible to install the Shift-OS straight away?

You probably mean SHIFTOS-l (without Google services)? This is relatively easy to install and is almost always the current SHIFTOS-G, just without Google apps. In the Shift system updater, you will find a three-dot menu in the top right-hand corner where you can select to run a local update. If you select a SHIFTOS-l previously downloaded from https://downloads.shiftphones.com/otter, you will have SHIFTOS-l after installation and a subsequent reset to factory settings. However, SHIFTOS-l is not yet available for the SHIFTphone 8.0 / 8.1 because SHIFT is still dissatisfied with the stability of SHIFTOS-G (although it is already Google-certified) and does not want to have two construction sites at once.

Does Shift-OS Light support or include microG? (I don't need google apps, however some of the third party apps I need require it, hence the need for microG
Does Shift-OS Light support or include F-Droid?
Does Shift-OS Light support or include Aurora Store?)

SHIFTOS-l does not come with microG. However, important prerequisites for spoofing microG are in place, so that a simple installation as a user app is sufficient to make microG fully executable. As far as I know, F-Droid is pre-installed and the AuroraStore must also be installed.

There is a LineageOS rom for the shift6mq. Any news on a shift8 LineageOS rom? I expect it should come out some after the phone starts shipping massively?

LineageOS 21 is almost complete. However, the devs have started to work on a release of LineageOS 22 for SHIFTphone 8.0 / 8.1, because they do not plan to release LineageOS 21 for SHIFTphone 8.0 / 8.1 (they want to start with LineageOS 22 right away). However, this work was still necessary for the custom roms /e/OS, CalyxOS and iodéOS. There is already a community version of /e/Os U that has been adapted for SHIFTphone 8.0. CalyxOS and iodéOS are not quite ready. At least there is a GSI of iodé (General System Images can be installed on any device, regardless of whether it is supported by the respective operating system), which several forum members (including me) are working with.

 

[Dwain Zwerg]

I had probably forgotten to reply to this:

Does Shift-OS Light include SeedVault Backup?

No. SHIFTOS-l cannot do this yet. However, Shift is not satisfied with the general Android backup option from Google (either via Google Drive or via ADB). They therefore want to change this at some point and have an implementation of SeedVault for both SHIFTOS-G and SHIFTOS-L in mind. However, it is uncertain when this will happen. As far as I know, SeedVaut is currently only supported by iodéOS and CalyxOS. Both are working on a release for phone 8.0 / 8.1. iodéOS is also available for the 6mq and CalyxOS was available previously.