Murena Fairphone 4 debuts in the US with deGoogled operating system
If you want a de-Googled Android experience, the Murena Fairphone 4 might be the one.
What you need to know
- The most sustainable phone from Fairphone is finally arriving in the U.S. market.
- The Fairphone 4 comes through Murena with a deGoogled operating system dubbed e/os/.
- Users can install their favorite apps through "App Lounge," an alternative app store.
The Fairphone 4 is a highly sustainable, repairable, and modular smartphone launched two years ago. Murena is rereleasing the phone in the U.S., the company announced.
In a shared press release, Murena stated that its deGoogled Fairphone 4 has arrived in the United States. The deGoogled operating system developed by Murena is dubbed /e/OS and will be shipped with the modular Fairphone 4.
Simply put, the new Fairphone doesn't have Google and its Play Services. Users purchasing the device will have to download their preferred apps with an alternative store dubbed "App Lounge." Murena mentions there is a privacy aspect to it, as users can cut off "unnecessary permissions" and "trackers."
Users can take advantage of the "Advanced Privacy" tool to do so with its e/OS/ software. The operating system further promises to keep users' data safe by default. Additionally, all default apps the device incorporates are Open Source and entirely private, notes Murena.
The other key highlight of the Fairphone 4 when it was released back in September of 2021 included the company providing a screwdriver accompanying the device. It is meant to symbolize the device's ease of repairability, Fairphone's main compelling characteristic.
The Fairphone 4 was the company's first modular phone to come with an IP54 rating. Besides, it is also TCO Certified, a "third-party sustainability certification of I.T. products."
Meanwhile, the standard Fairphone 4 that shipped with Android 11 during the launch has recently received an Android 12 update this February. While the launch was limited to the European market back in the day, it is good to see the device coming to the U.S. — thanks to Murena.
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Users interested in purchasing the deGoogled Fairphone 4 can head over to the Murena website, and the device starts at $629.90 for 128GB and goes up to $699.90 if you want to double the storage and get 256GB. According to the website, the Murena Fairphone 4 will ship "within a week."
Vishnu is a freelance news writer for Android Central. Since 2018, he has written about consumer technology, especially smartphones, computers, and every other gizmo connected to the internet. When he is not at the keyboard, you can find him on a long drive or lounging on the couch binge-watching a crime series.