Part 7/11:
The enlightened goal of a fully free smartphone faces enormous hurdles. Despite the existence of custom ROMs like LineageOS, which bypass Google’s ecosystem, many proprietary elements remain embedded in device firmware. Efforts like the FSF-backed Replicant project attempted to create fully free Android forks, but adoption was minuscule. Most users are unwilling to trade core features—Wi-Fi, cameras, GPS—for software freedom, especially when the hardware vendors and app ecosystems are tightly controlled.