How easy is it to set up FDE on the FP6 with /e/ pre-installed?
Is this provided for in the initial set-up out of the box, or will I need to flash the ROM afresh myself?
How easily can you install /e/ or LineageOS on the FP5 with FDE?
When I installed LineageOS on my FP2 it was quite straightforward to enable FDE, but now the poor old thing is going the way of Biden and I need to replace it, so I’m very much hoping that the later designs haven’t repeated anything like the FP2’s features.
Senile FP2 Details
The issues with my FP2 give quite a funny example of what someone will put up with while too stuck in a combination of stubbornness and a poverty trap to get a new device.
- The broken main microphone was easy to work-around with a hands-free kit, and was practically a privacy feature, so I’ve gone for many years without it. However, the bouncy Micro USB connection has been a frequent nuisance no matter how much I clean it, with even very minimal use on a cable, so it has been annoying since bottom modules were no longer stocked and the guy who designed a USB-C alternative went incommunicado right before I tried to contact him.
- The original rubberised casing was nice, and I was sad when it started to fall apart where it joined onto its rigid backing. The instant explosive dis-assembly of case and battery caused by dropping the ‘slim’ case on to a rigid surface could be any mixture of hilarious and enraging depending upon the context.
- The random sudden reboots were probably the worst feature. I worked out after a while that they are far more frequent if my FP2 is left plugged in overnight, so counter-intuitively I can’t leave it on charge for risk of my alarms failing to go off and leaving me late for work as random reboots combine poorly with FDE, but that won’t completely stop it from doing so.
- The above two features would also sometimes compromise, where falling a very short distance or onto a soft surface would result in a reboot instead of exploding the phone.
- The supposed LTE compatibility, yet inability to make calls or texts or browse while supposedly having ¾ signal strength is bizarre, and I’m guessing possibly some of those springy connectors that dig ruts into the soft metal of the screen back having nothing to make contact with anymore might be why this happens, even despite cleaning the connections up, and why there is no signal at all half the time until I knock the phone on my desk in just the right way. Dancing around to find a crumb of real signal and hear the voicemails for the calls I never received has been good for getting me some fresh air and a little exercise, but not good for dealing with bureaucrats who will only phone you and nothing else.
- The latest feature that was only released last month is maybe the most fascinating one, as when something gradually comes loose inside, the screen will randomly start showing colourful heavy distortion and then either white noise or flat black until I give it a few good hard whacks on the nearest desk or wall in particular directions until whatever is loose re-seats itself again. It does this nearly every day now. Strangely, the touchscreen often still works while this provides no view of what is being tapped on.
- Along with this sometimes came the battery suddenly thinking it had about half or a quarter of the charge that it had a second before the phone was knocked, and charging it in this state can result in it taking a couple of hours to get hardly anything, only to then suddenly realise that it is fully charged. Knocking it in the right direction again could restore the ‘lost charge’, as if there was too much resistance on one of the connectors in some position, but sometimes it seemed like it really had lost that charge instantaneously. However, I think I’ve reduced the appearance of this feature by cleaning up the battery contacts a bit more.
No, I’m not exaggerating any of this. I wish I was, instead of understating it.
Looking at the difference in specs between the FP5 and FP6 (with /e/) on their respective shop pages (very minimal, and in several cases a step back), I’m baffled as to why the latter exists except to make it a bit smaller, more expensive, and regress to 25-year-old USB 2.0 speeds for some reason??
Did the FP5 have some serious flaws that needed to be resolved in the FP6 or am I missing something?
Neither one mentions encryption as an option anywhere on their shop pages though.
