Review: The Murena Two with privacy switches
The Murena Two device takes the existing platform offered by Murena and takes it one step further. The organization already provided a de-Googled, mobile operating system which is compatible with the rest of the Android ecosystem. Murena also already provided cloud-based services based on open source technology and it offers software widgets to improve privacy on its mobile devices. People running /e/OS also benefit from having direct access to the F-Droid repository and anonymous access to Google's Play store. All of these features make Murena devices appealing from a security and privacy perspective.
The new Murena Two moves us one step forward in the evolution with hardware switches. Now we can quickly kill audio-visual input to the camera and microphone. Now we can instantly kill outgoing audio and electronic transmissions using the second switch. If I want to bring sound, tracking, or GPS signals to a suddenly stop, it's a flick of a switch away.
Something I particularly like about the new Murena Two over some other devices, such as the PinePhone, is the Murena hardware switches are on the outside of the case. When I tested the PinePhone I had to take the cover off the back of the device and use a small tool to adjust the privacy switches. With the Two the switches can be flicked using my finger or thumb without interrupting what I'm doing and while the device is still running.
This is a small, though interesting step forward. It sounds as though there are plans to add more functionality and the ability to customize the behaviour of the phone's switches in future operating system updates. I think this is good because it's making privacy more accessible to non-technical users and doing so while leveraging the existing Android software ecosystem. This makes the Two more attractive and easier to switch to for most users compared to other privacy and security oriented efforts like Manjaro's mobile operating system or UBports.