Fxtec's Pro1-X is the first smartphone available with Lineage OS preinstalled. The Pro1-X also boasts a physical QWERTY keyboard and supports Ubuntu Touch.

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The F(x)tec Pro1 is an unusual smartphone by contemporary standards. It has a large screen that covers most of the front of the device. But there’s also a physical keyboard that slides out from behind the screen when you need it, allowing you to use the phone like a tiny laptop.

First launched in 2019, the F(x)tec Pro1 was originally available with a custom version of Android, the phone also has an unlocked bootloader and support for running the Linux-based Sailfish OS or Android-based LineageOS.

Now F(x)tec is launching a new version of the phone that comes with a choice of Ubuntu Touch or LineageOS pre-installed. The F(x)tec Pro1-X is available for pre-order through an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign and it’s expected to ship to backers in March, 2021.

Meet the Pro1-X, a beautiful high-spec physical keyboard smartphone that offers LineageOS, Ubuntu Touch or Android right out of the box. Enjoy this exclusive Linux For Everyone interview with the team behind the phone, hear more about the partnership with XDA and much more!

If you happen to love Linux or Android, adored the Nokia N900 and miss the glory days of physical keyboards on your phone, say hello to your early Christmas present. UK-based F(x)tec and renowned smartphone community XDA have joined forces to create a beautifully crafted, privacy-focused smartphone that not only looks terrific but marks a significant first: The Pro1-X ships with pure Android alternative LineageOS out of the box.

That lead paragraph was probably enough to hook many of you, so if you want to skip the finer points feel free to jump straight to the Indiegogo page (it’s not a fundraiser; the phone is already built and on sale for a limited time).

What’s especially attractive (aside from that Sapphire Blue exterior) is that you can also get the Pro1-X delivered with Ubuntu Touch preinstalled. Or you choose the more traditional and opt for Android. That’s a refreshing amount of choice for a consumer-grade smartphone.

The F(x)tec Pro1 is one of the only modern smartphone to feature a physical keyboard. Soon it will also be one of the phones available with a choice of the Android-based LineageOS or Linux-based Ubuntu Touch operating systems.

The makers of the phone have launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign for the F(x)tec Pro1-X, a slightly updated version of the phone that has the same basic design but with a a blue case, an optional spec bump (more memory and storage), and new OS options.

Prices start at $499 for Super Early Bird backers of the campaign, but once those are gone you’ll have to spend $649 or more to reserve a phone that won’t ship until March, 2021 at the earliest.

As a rule, you don’t really have a choice for operating systems for your phone. You don’t have access to a desktop-class OS if you run Android, for example, but you also won’t have the apps or simplicity of Android if you use a conventional Linux flavor. Fxtec wants to give you the option, however — it’s upgrading the Pro1 with the crowdfunded Pro1-X, an updated version of its keyboard phone with the choices of running Android, LineageOS, or Ubuntu Touch “out of the box.”

The team-up between Fxtec and XDA Developers promises more flexibility than you might be used to from a phone. Ubuntu lets you run a full-fledged Linux desktop environment when you connect the phone to a monitor, mouse, and keyboard. This is also the first phone to ship with LineageOS, according to Fxtec, giving you a ‘purer’ take on Android with more control over apps and privacy.

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Will this change your stance on Fxtec’s design? Not necessarily. Like the original Pro1, the X will likely appeal most to hardware keyboard loyalists. You can get similarly priced phones that are faster and take better photos. Support for LineageOS and Ubuntu may broaden the audience for the phone, though, whether you want more control over Android (but don’t want to install LineageOS yourself) or like the thought of a phone that doubles as a PC.

F(x)tec has launched a second-gen “Pro1 X” smartphone that runs the privacy-oriented LineageOS or Ubuntu Touch on a Snapdragon 835. The 6-inch screen slides up to reveal a keyboard.

UK-based F(x)tec has joined with the XDA community to launch a reboot of its Pro1 phone on Indiegogo, this time replacing the mostly stock Android stack with a choice of pre-installed LineageOS 16 or 17.1 or Ubuntu Touch. The phone also supports Android 9 Pie, and will eventually support Sailfish and other options.

The hardware is much the same as the Pro1. You get a Snapdragon 835 and 6-inch, 2160 x 1080 AMOLED touchscreen that slides up to reveal a QWERTY keyboard. You can now choose 8GB LPDDR4 as an alternative to 6GB and there’s now a 256GB microSD card option in addition to 128GB. The Pro1 X also boasts a Sapphire Blue housing.

F(x)tec has announced a rather unique smartphone that combines a slider form-factor, a physical keyboard, and a choice of operating systems a rare combination for 2020.

The F(x)tec Pro1-X is an angled slider smartphone equipped with a 5.99-inch AMOLED monitor featuring a 2160×1080 resolution as well as a five-row 66-key landscape QWERTY keyboard.

The handset is powered by a relatively outdated Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 system-on-chip that is accompanied by 6GB or 8GB of LPDDR4X memory as well as 128GB or 256GB of UFS 2.1 storage that can be expanded using a microSD card.

F(x)tec Pro1 Android smartphone was introduced last year with the main differentiating features being its sliding keyboard. The company also mentioned support for Android-based LineageOS as well as Sailfish OS, but those need(ed) to be installed by the user. FX Technology has now unveiled F(x)tec Pro1 X smartphone with similar specs, except for the blue case and the option of having additional memory and storage, as well as official support for LineageOS and Ubuntu Touch thanks to a collaboration with XDA.

As a rule, you don’t really have a choice for operating systems for your phone. You don’t have access to a desktop-class OS if you run Android, for example, but you also won’t have the apps or simplicity of Android if you use a conventional Linux flavor. Fxtec wants to give you the option, however — it’s upgrading the Pro1 with the crowdfunded Pro1-X, an updated version of its keyboard phone with the choices of running Android, LineageOS, or Ubuntu Touch “out of the box.”

The team-up between Fxtec and XDA Developers promises more flexibility than you might be used to from a phone. Ubuntu lets you run a full-fledged Linux desktop environment when you connect the phone to a monitor, mouse, and keyboard. This is also the first phone to ship with LineageOS, according to Fxtec, giving you a ‘purer’ take on Android with more control over apps and privacy.

The battery is rated at 3,200 mAh. The Indiegogo page says you can talk up to 10 hours, and keep the phone in standby for a whopping 480 hours.

According to the CPU and GPU benchmarks on the same site, it did better than most competing devices, except for the OnePlus Nord, and even then it tied neck-and-neck for GPU performance. As such, one could definitely consider this to be a pretty decent gaming machine in your pocket. Connect to an external monitor via USB-C-to-HDMI, and use the phone like a desktop. You get the best of both worlds, really.

Naturally, you’re probably going to think that, based on the hardware, the price tag is steep. And you’d be right. The off-the-shelf price is $900. That’s almost double what the OnePlus Nord costs. And as much as I’d like to say you can get it cheaper, you still can while pre-orders are live, but not by much. All of the early bird prices are gone right now — the first 30 customers who pre-ordered could get it as low as $500! I almost got mine for $600, but for some reason, Indiegogo had a problem with my order. Not sure if I just didn’t make it in time for the deal, or something’s wrong with my credit card.

XDA has been around since the dark ages of smartphones and has proven a fertile ground for mods – including CyanogenMod. Now the XDA team has decided to get in the driver’s seat and make a phone of its own.

It partnered with F(x)tec to build the hardware so it can focus on the software. Fittingly, it chose LineageOS, the phoenix that rose from the Cyanogen ashes. But that’s not all, Ubuntu Touch OS is supported out of the box.

The team managed to get HDMI out working (over USB-C), so you can hook up a large monitor and peripherals to turn the phone into a Linux desktop. Ubuntu can work perfectly fine on the phone's own screen as well with a gesture-based UI and can run Android apps inside AnBox.

The phone – dubbed Pro1-X – is based on the F(x)tec Pro1. XDA asked for more memory, so the X comes with 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB storage (up from 6/128 GB). Other than that the device is largely unchanged.

In case you missed it, the phone has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard hiding behind the 5.99” OLED screen (1080p+, 18:9). The phone measures 14 mm thick when closed and weighs 243 grams. When opened, the display is held at an angle.

After years of rumors and plenty of April Fools’ jokes, we actually made a phone! The new Pro1-X is an adaptation of the Pro1 launched by our friends at F(x)tec last year and features more RAM, more storage, and more importantly, it runs a different platform. The first smartphone to run LineageOS out of the box, there’s plenty of reasons to like the Pro1-X but here’s one that we haven’t revealed until just now: we will be donating an amount per device to the Linux Foundation, to go towards supporting free, open-sourced software.

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That’s not all though: the Pro1-X is also only available via the Indiegogo campaign, and will not be available to buy afterward. Miss it, and well, you miss the world’s first smartphone running LineageOS out of the box. As if that wasn’t enough, it’s also the most powerful Ubuntu Touch OS smartphone ever made, with the HDMI-out allowing you to just plug a cable in and use a full Ubuntu desktop experience using nothing more than the keyboard on the phone, and the screen as a trackpad.

There have been many rumors and running jokes over the years that XDA would, and probably should, make a phone. Our history with alternative platforms such as LineageOS (and CyanogenMod that came before it) has meant that XDA has been at the forefront of helping develop viable alternatives to the primary platforms available on smartphones.

Today, we’re super excited to announce that we’ve finally done it – we’ve made a phone. Earlier this year, we partnered with F(x)tec to discuss how we can bring an alternative platform to a wider audience. The F(x)tec Pro1-X does just this: it’s the world’s first phone to run LineageOS out of the box, and you can also get a version running Ubuntu Touch OS.

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For years, we’ve teased that we’re planning to create a phone. So why did we finally do it? This year especially, privacy has become more important than ever before, and LineageOS is known for letting you go beyond the controls you’d find on a traditional Android smartphone. In particular, the Privacy Guard – in LineageOS 16, which was replaced by AOSP’s Permissions Hub in LineageOS 17 – allows you to only share the data you want to share, and not share the data you don’t want to share.

We’ve also seen that the popularity of LineageOS and other platforms across our community has grown over the past few years and there’s more interest in these alternative Android distributions.

Beyond just LineageOS, there’s a large community of Ubuntu users who’ve always dreamed of having a smartphone running Ubuntu Touch, and the Pro1-X is the first Qualcomm-powered smartphone to run Ubuntu Touch. Not only that, we’ve also managed to get the HDMI-out feature working, so you can plug an HDMI cable in and connect it to a big screen, and use the display as a trackpad.

With less than two days left to go in this crowdfunding campaign, this is your last chance to reserve a special edition version of this unusual phone.