The Murena One is designed for those for that privacy and security come as the most aspect when buying a new phone but can it really leave Google?
The latest Android creation Android 14 is focused on privacy and security but if you want even privacy this is where the Murena One comes into its own (On Paper that is). Now some of you might know that Murena has in fact been around for a little while now in the shape of creating the operating system for the Fairphone 4.
Now they bring you their own creation and we take a closer look.
First Impressions
The Murena One costs €290 now it’s important to know this phone has been built not to compete with the likes of Samsung, Google or OnePlus. This phone will be purchased if privacy is the most important aspect. The key features include:
- No Google Operating System uses Murena’s own /e/OS system which is open source.
- Users are provided with Murena’s own apps and Murena’s own cloud storage service.
- Ability to switch off location services if you want extra security
This device will attract a niche audience and could be useful as a secondary device for some users.
Unboxing
The Murena One comes in a very simple-looking box and when you open up the box the phone is shrink-wrapped to keep it extra safe. You also are provided with a couple of stickers informing people you are all about privacy!
You also get a pin to allow you to insert your sim card/MicroSD card. Last but not least you are provided with a USB- A to USB-C cable for charging but you are not provided with a charging plug.
Design
The Murena One only comes in one colour and that is back and the phone is made mainly of plastic giving it that cheaper feel. The phone comes with a 6.5-inch screen with a bezel similar to that of a Samsung Galaxy A23.
The phone also comes with a 1080P LCD display and they have gone into the archive and are using a Mediatek Helio P60 octa-core processor this is paired with 4GB of RAM & 128GB of storage. The phone is not the fastest on the market and you will notice quite slow navigation.
The phone is lightweight at 186g and on the back, it features 3 camera lenses – a 48MP primary camera this is fine for basic photography. This is paired with a 5MP portrait lens and 8MP ultra-wide lens.
Move to the front of the phone and you get 25MP front-facing camera ideal for selfies. Moving around the phone the fingerprint sensor is on the left side of the phone. In set up you are told it’s on the back so the fact they did not even know its location is red flag number 1. The right side of the phone comes with a volume control and a power button as well.
Other important design points to consider are that this phone only offers Bluetooth 4.2 and does not come 5G enabled. The phone also comes with a 4500mAh battery that will offer the user around 6 hours of usage which is hardly going to win any awards for longevity.
Software
The star of the show is the software and the Murena One does not come with Google what it comes with is its own operating system called /e/OS. This has replaced every aspect of what you would expect to see with Google. You have its own browser, messaging app and workspace apps that will do a job for you. It also comes with its own version of Google Maps called Magic Earth which is a closed source and just not as good as Google Maps.
Image Credit: The Verge
You also get a custom-built music player that looks very similar to Apple Music app however with this app you will have to upload your music via your computer. The phone does come with Andriod 11 with a number of pre-installed apps but having Android 11 just feels a little old school considering we are currently on Andriod 14 this was a slight disappointment but understandable when you consider the chipset.
What the phone does let you do is switch off location services in the setup of this phone and this will provide you with some additional privacy. Also in the set-up, you have the option of setting up your own free cloud account for emails and storage. You are given 1GB of free storage or you can purchase extra storage 20GB for €2 a month or 2TB for €24.99 per month.
Now the Murena One also comes with something called the app lounge which is where you can download your favourite apps. However, when you go into the App Lounge it will ask you to sign in using your Google account or use anonymous mode.
DO NOT SIGN IN WITH GOOGLE! This kills the whole point of this phone.
The app lounge is essentially an Aurora store which is not illegal but not 100% legal either. Let me explain the Aurora store pulls from Google servers and bypasses the need to have a Google account. It was seen on some Huawei devices after the issues with Google some users decided this was the way forward instead of just getting rid of the phone.
However, having a phone with this exact method to install apps could actually get you banned if you sign in using your Google account as it violates Google’s own terms of service. So it’s a little bit of a grey area so my advice is just to use the anonymous mode.
When you do go to download an app it actually comes with a privacy score for each app an example is Whatsapp which shows a privacy score of 8/10 with a list of permissions the app requires and what trackers the app comes with.
However, this privacy score is a little bit questionable as apps like Facebook appear as a 9 out of 10 score which can’t be right. So therefore just use the score as a guide and if you want to sign in by Google maybe just open a new account that does not link back to you.
Now on any normal Android phone, Google extends onto two main branches: app distribution which we have just discussed. The other is a services framework for third-party apps to use. The solution is to include microG which is an open-source replacement for Google services that aims to retain as much functionality as possible. Apps that rely on Google services will instead be calling microG and you can log in to your Google account with microG which provides the user with push notifications.
However, it’s not perfect with microG if the app requires Google to log into your account won’t work. So basically while microG does its best to be a drop-in replacement it’s not perfect. I think most people who buy this phone understand dropping Google can be restrictive.
Performance
When you consider this device for what it is a phone but it’s hardly a powerful smartphone, this phone is not suitable for gamers due to the software and lack of google play store some games like Minecraft won’t work. It’s not all bad with the Murena One you can still use most of your favourite apps by downloading through the app lounge and setting up a walk in the park.
What was quite interesting to have is when you swipe left from the home screen you will have access to recent apps but it’s the advanced privacy tracker that allows you to toggle a system-wide VPN sort of. You can deny access to all trackers, fake your location and even hide your IP address.
When the advanced privacy is switched on the speed of the phone gets slower as your using the Tor network.
Verdict
The Murena One is an excellent concept, especially if privacy is important to you. Unfortunately, this phone struggles to move away from Google successfully. The inclusion of the app lounge with its own version of the Aurura store could put your Google account at risk without fair warning.
Why would someone who is security conscious want a phone that just feels out of date already?
I was concerned with the use of the Mediatek Helio P60 octa-core processor which has been vulnerable to security concerns in the past and could be vulnerable to a new attack.
Would I buy this phone? The idea of being Google-free could be attractive to some but the questionable situation regarding the app store makes me question why you would buy this phone.
It was a good idea in theory but in reality, the Murena One has too many negatives to be able to recommend this device.
Product Rating
Design: 2.0 out of 5.0 stars
Software: 3.0 out of 5.0 stars
Performance: 2.0 out of 5.0 stars
Battery Life: 2.0 out of 5.0 stars
Value for Money: 2.0 out of 5.0 stars
Overall ranking: 2.2 out of 5.0 stars – 2.2-star rating
The Murena One is available for 290,83€ via murena.com
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