[pata]

Originally Posted by pata

No for the K1. Yes for the A6 (albeit with some bugs)

I really should clarify: it's not possible to Google Play Services right out-of-box for both the K1 and the A6. To get it on the A6 you either have to buy the Russian edition or install a custom ROM that hacks together features from the Russian and Chinese editions (details on XDA forum).

There’s no such path for the K1. Initial attempts to dig deeper into the firmware seem unnecessarily difficult (there are already some reports of bricked devices in the Indiegogo comments).

However, the K1 build is much closer to stock android than the A6 and I was pleasantly surprised to find that Google Maps installed successfully via Aurora store. I had been unable to get that on my A6. Maps is the only irreplaceable part of the GSuite for me so K1 actually has the edge here.

Originally Posted by cartz

Thanks very much for that. It makes it clear to me that the A6 is the best option for me. Fingers crossed we eventually get a quality smaller device, but in the age of big big phones I doubt it will be anytime soon.

The Light Phone II has finally been released which is closer to my ideal size for a small eink phone/reader. Both the K1 and LPII are $350 but one runs Android while the other... doesn’t. After I got over the disappointment about the lack of a display ‘fast mode', and started configuring my settings to optimize for refresh, the K1 has its charms. It's certainly good value compared to the LPII and decent value compared to the A6 (~$500).

p.s. be sure to double check that the K1’s LTE bands are compatible with your cellular provider if you want to use it as a phone