Buy European

The Volla Quintus appears to be almost identical, to the Daria Bond that is sold in the UAE. Specs look identical from what I could see and the only difference I can make out are very minor design changes in the back side shell. Volla's marketing and statements are pretty misleading about that. I am not saying they should not work with Chinese OEMs but they create the impression there was meaningful customisation going on from their side, maybe there was but it looks very much off the shelf from an OEM model.

At the same time Volla also sells Plinius. It is actually a stronger phone, for a lower price than the Quintus but looks very much like the strongest Gigaset phone (which is lower mid-range), so should be actually manufactured in Germany (as much as any phone in Europe could possibly be I think). It is bewildering that they don't put the Gigaset model square and centre.

Isn't Nothing practically a Chinese brand with just the marketing department working in the UK?

to add another (german) brand: https://www.shift.eco/

I had the shiftphone6 back in 2018 and I believe it had an alternative OS installed, in any case I can't remember the google play store pre-installed (correct me if I'm wrong).

They are all so fucking huge! Can't anyone make a good <= 6" Phone anymore?

Wait what? Jolla? Not only does that company exist, they are also making phones again? Really wasn't expecting to see that name ever again.

I'll pick Jolla. I hope their new phone will be good.

Fairphone has an atrocious update policy. They do not care for security.

I bought a fairphone 6 recently. It works as you would expect any phone to work with no noticeable downsides.

I paid extra to have /e/OS preinstalled. I could have bought the android version and upgraded it myself, but I wanted to support open source development. I want to try Ubuntu touch, but it hasn't been updated for the fairphone 6 yet.

I can't use any banking apps on /e/OS by default, but that's because the apps require google play services for "security". Enabling these services is possible, but would defeat the purpose of getting the phone to de-google. Bank websites still work, just slightly less convenient.

I dislike the case. It leaves more of the phone exposed than I would like. It does seem to protect the phone from most drops though.

I'm still disappointed by the lack of headphone jack, but I hate Google more.

I was surprised that my favourite feature became the hardware switch. I rebound it to the torch. For moments when you want a light for just a few seconds, it's so much more convenient.

I just wish there was a way to get the Fairphone in the U.S. I love the repairability aspect and I already use LineageOS as my main OS to keep my devices as long as possible. I also have access to a 3D printer to build accessories and parts for them too.

A good idea if you can't buy Euro is to buy used and flash LineageOS if your device is supported. I'm using a Pixel 4a 5G as my driver with LineageOS since I know how to repair it and I have easy access to parts for them. (Thanks to buying bulk parts from local offices near me that used them.)

the only problem I have is that I cannot install my banking app 🫤

If one of these phones runs GrapheneOS, I would be interested.

Isn't HMD like Finnish

I just want a dumbphone with a decent camera