Hardware Murena 2 Review

Murena are a company I hadn't heard of prior to late last year. Based in the EU, their goal is to deliver smartphones and services that put user privacy first, this resulting in both the birth of /e/OS, and the phone we're looking at today that runs it.


On the surface the Murena 2 looks like like any other slab of a modern smartphone. We've got a 6.43 inch 1080x2400 AMOLED display, along with 8GB of RAM, 128GB of internal storage, which is itself expandable via Micro SD, a 4000mAh battery, and three cameras. With the cameras we're looking at a 64MP wide lens, a 13MP telephoto lens, and a 5MP ultrawide lens. You do also get a 25MP selfie camera on the front, and from my playing around they're all serviceable enough. There's no frills or fancy features on offer here, but that's not really a deal-breaker for me. To complete the feature set we finally find a fingerprint reader on the power button, and it works incredibly well. I have found some annoyance in the fact it's active even when the screen isn't, leading to me unintentionally unlocking the phone a few times. It would be nice to see this remedied; when the scanner is on the power button anyway, the expected behavior to me would always be that the button should be pressed first. In terms of battery life you can expect it to get you through a full day, that being stretched to two if you're using it especially lightly. I never felt myself particularly wanting for battery life when using the phone as a lighter user, but power banks are always an option if you're particularly glued to your device.


In terms of the larger spec sheet there is one standout surprise in 2024, and that's the lack of 5G support. Being in the UK I've managed to get the phone setup on Smarty (which itself runs on the 3 network) without issue, but for modern smartphones 5G is just something I'd expect to see, even on a midrange device. Given 3G is only just being phased out at the moment, I don't think the lack of 5G will realistically affect usage for the phone's lifespan, but it's a shame all the same.

The body of the Murena 2 is something I haven't personally come across in a while, with a rougher textured plastic back being wrapped in an aluminum metal frame. It's an incredibly nice feeling device, with the plastic back being the surprise standout for me. It makes the phone feel significantly sturdier than something like a glass-backed iPhone, and the rough plastic feel makes me less concerned for scratches than something like an aluminum back. It feels like a phone that's already in a case, and I like that a lot. If this back were easily removable and replaceable they'd have really had a winner here, but sadly that's not the case.

Looking at the display, you can see noticeable bezels, with them being more pronounced on the top and bottom of the device. On top of this you have a hole-punch selfie camera taking away a little bit of real estate. I don't think this is terrible, and realistically in day to day use it's not something you notice too much. It's a nice screen with great blacks, and good enough brightness to be used outdoors in direct sunlight.


Now there's the elephant in the room I've yet to talk about: the privacy switch. It's a gimmick, I won't beat around the bush there, but I do understand why it's a gimmick some people would be excited by. I'm sure I'm not the only person who finds themselves talking with family about interesting tech only to see it pop up mysteriously on adverts in the following days. The privacy switch gives peace of mind by physically cutting the connection between the phone and both the camera and microphone. On top of this you also get a slightly more typical switch for disconnecting, putting you in a neat combination of airplane mode and do not disturb for when you really just need a break. While I still do feel they're gimmicks, they are a notable feature of the phone that do exactly what they advertise, fitting in nicely with Murena's larger ethos and the privacy-first nature of the phone. This is naturally supported further when we look at the OS working behind the scenes.


Though this review is covering the Murena 2 phone, it is perhaps the software it runs that's the more interesting point. Especially so when it's publicly available for free and can be installed on devices by Samsung, Google, and OnePlus among others. At its core, /e/OS is a completely clean version of Android with all trace of Google pulled out. You don't need an account to use the phone, and there are easily accessible and digestible settings to block trackers in apps. At a glance you'd be forgiven for thinking this were just another regular Android phone, and I do think that works to the credit of /e/OS.


Going into this device I really had two concerns: how am I getting my apps, and will the apps I want actually work? Basically, what kind of price am I being expected to pay for the additional privacy features on offer. Much to my surprise, there wasn't all that much of a trade-off at all, with a few caveats. Replacing the Play Store, Murena have created App Lounge. This is an Android storefront that pulls in a combination of web apps, open source apps via F-Droid, and commercial apps via the Google Play API. When searching for an app, you can filter your results to only show apps with no trackers, those that are open source, or strictly web apps. On top of this, many of the more popular apps also feature a privacy score, ranking them out of ten based on the permissions and trackers that are detected in the apps. Apps like Facebook and TikTok unsurprisingly score a 0 in this department, but you're still free to install them if you do rely on them daily. Even better, you can download them without a Google account thanks to App Lounge's anonymous login feature. It's a well-rounded package to ease you away from Google assuming you don't rely on any paid apps. These are still supported, but you will need to sign in using your Google account to App Lounge, with the additional asterisk that the apps need to be purchased outside of App Lounge itself.

Beyond the App Lounge, the other major addition that you'll be interacting with is the Advanced Privacy settings, and this has seen some decent updates over the time I've had the device. Advanced Privacy is presented to you as a simple widget on the surface, allowing you to toggle whether app trackers are blocked, as well as enabling a fake geolocation and hiding your IP address. While the first option is enabled by default and recommended, the other two provide messages with further context to let you know the down sides of using them. Geolocation spoofing is an obvious one, with some apps relying on your real location to function properly, but the IP address hiding actually uses the TOR network. What this means in a nutshell is that your internet speed will take a hit, and that you might run into issues with some sites or apps recognizing an IP address that's maybe been abused in the past and punish you for using it. It's great to see these settings available so readily, and I'm happy to see Murena being proactive in spelling out what's going on to make the OS easier to use for the average user. Those messages can be hidden after seeing them once, so they're unlikely to become an annoyance.

For those wanting more information and some fun stats to go with it, Advanced Privacy also has an app that allows you to look at how many trackers have been blocked and how many you've allowed through in the past day, month, and year. I like this a lot, and the additional breakdown per app is pretty interesting, giving you insight into which apps are your worst offenders. Genshin Impact ended up being quite a big one for me, despite only using it for ten or so minutes past the initial download due to performance issues.


When it comes to games the Helio P70 isn't exactly a powerhouse, but I've found it capable enough. Call of Duty Mobile ran fine out of the box, but as mentioned the phone did struggle with Genshin Impact even on the lowest settings. Despite this, the larger point to celebrate is the fact that these games do in fact run without Play Services. This can't be said for every game on the App Lounge, with Fire Emblem Heroes being one notable mobile title that got into a loop of errors after finishing the tutorial. I think this is because the game checks for an active subscription to the game's premium pass at that point, and gets confused with the unnatural setup. I do think Call of Duty Mobile has its own subscription too though, so I can't say I have a concrete method to saying one game will work over another. If you're an avid mobile gamer I can understand this being something to put you off.

I've had no issues running emulators, and with popular ones like DraStic now free it's more accessible than ever on something like App Lounge without needing to sign in. It should go without saying that your older titles all run fine on this, but you should taper expectations when getting to GameCube and beyond. You'll find some lighter titles like Kirby's Air Ride running fine, but the majority of your big hitters are going to struggle. I'd argue the long screen isn't the most ideal for the 4:3 content regardless.


All things considered I've been genuinely surprised at just how easy it's been to use the Murena 2 as a normal phone, as odd as that might sound. Murena's /e/OS does a great job of making me more aware of trackers and the like, while really not sacrificing much that I would want from a vanilla Android system. If I had to pull criticism, it would be in the real lack software support for the phone's unique switches. The hardware kill switch for the microphone and camera are pretty cool, but it's a shame to see the camera app itself just freeze with an unspecified error if you flick the switch with it open. It feels like it wouldn't have taken much to have given a more specific error, and have the camera app check for an active camera on an interval instead of just staying frozen until you close and reopen it. These things are small, but I can see it being something that could be annoying if you happened to leave the privacy switch enabled while the phone is in your pocket and wanted to take a quick picture.


Having given /e/OS a shot on and off for around half a year now, I can say I'm genuinely impressed by how easy it's been to adapt to a Google-less phone. For me personally, the lack of a Play Store was always the kicker, and the simplicity of the App Lounge goes a long way in making the OS as approachable as it is to a newcomer to this space. For some I can understand it not being enough. If you're actively using Google's services or are already deep in an ecosystem like Apple's, an alternative like this isn't going to pull you over no matter how accessible it's made. For those on the edge though who might have been considering a way to get started, Murena have something good here, along with a range of devices outside of the Murena 2 that can be bought with their /e/OS already installed to remove another hurdle. It's one worthy of consideration.