de-Googled /e/OS v1 Released Along with a New Brand 'Murena' for Smartphone and Cloud Services

/e/OS is a popular privacy-focused mobile operating system as an alternative to Google’s Android.

The operating system (fork of Lineage OS) eliminates any Google-related dependencies and encourages you to work without relying directly on any Google services.

Instead, it offers some of its solutions as alternatives to offer you a privacy-friendly ecosystem.

To streamline its offering, e Foundation responsible for the OS announced a new brand ‘Murena‘ that includes the operating system at its core, with new features and a new smartphone as well.

Murena or /e/ Foundation?

The eFoundation is here to stay as a non-profit organization, working on /e/OS. Hence, it is safe to say that this is not a re-brand.

However, Murena as a new startup company seems to be a separate commercial entity that will focus on encouraging mainstream users to try e/OS/ and promote the use of smartphones that support the operating system.

The creator of /e/OS mentioned the following about the company:

/e/OS v1.0: What’s New?

With the latest upgrade to the operating system, they aim to make things more accessible, improving the ease of use while still keeping privacy in mind.

A new app store (App Lounge) and a new privacy tool (Advanced Privacy) have been introduced with the update.

App Lounge: The new application installer lets you install numerous open-source applications and PWAs (Progress Web Apps). It also informs you of existing trackers in each application before you install it.

I believe the existence of a tailored app store will help eliminate confusion for new users, whether they should try installing the Play Store or F-Droid with /e/OS.

In addition to that, the Advanced Privacy tool will help limit exposing users’ data after they install third-party applications.

You will also find a Murena cloud service as a private email account service and cloud storage if you want to get away from the big tech. The email service offers features to also hide your original email address.

Murena One

The first Murena branded smartphone will be launching later in June and will ship to users in the USA, Canada, Europe, UK, and Switzerland.

The smartphone will sport a 6.5-inch display, with a 25 Megapixel front shooter, and a rear camera setup with three sensors that include 48 MP, 8 MP, and 5 MP.

We do not have clarity on the processor, but it mentions an octa-core chip coupled with 4 GB of RAM. All this is powered by a 4500 mAh battery.

In addition to its first smartphone, you can also purchase smartphones by Fairphone and Teracube from its official website that packs in /e/OS out of the box.