this post was submitted on 02 Jan 2025
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Enshitification
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GrapheneOS. Easy, quick, reliable.
Yeah you have to buy a phone by Google but I don't mind giving them money to reward them for making a decent phone with an easily unlockable bootloader that lets you do what you want with it, even if it means denying them your data. This is extremely atypical from a company like Google so I want to encourage that kind of behavior.
What are the chances the phone is still spying on you at the "hardware" level so to speak?
For peeps who want a lower cost option, Motorola allows easy unlocking too. I have a moto g7 power that I got for under $100 running Lineageos with microG. Its a six year old phone but it runs Android 14 just fine. I work in construction and I don't even use a case because these Motorola phones are durable and inexpensive.
The easy unlocking isn't the killer feature with regards to bootloader.
Being able to lock the bootloader again after having installed GrapheneOS is though.
How do I know which ones do?
At least the ones supported by GrapheneOS, so the Pixels, but I haven't really looked into it, so there may be more phones that do.
-costs $800
-no SD slot
-no headphone jack
-no swappable battery
-camera juts off the back so it doesn't even sit flat
But hey, you can take your temperature by pointing the camera at your forehead!
What’s your Graphene compatible alternative? I might need a new phone this year.
I don't have a suggestion unfortunately. I'm still running an LG V20 because I prioritize hardware features and nothing since I started looking to replace that phone has all the options I want.
My experience with a Pixel 9 Pro, this is.
My music collection by itself is larger than that. Then on top of it I have game roms, movies, and books.
Even with my expensive earbuds BT is janky and there's always a delay with every one I've tried.
You shouldn't have to take your phone to a shop to repair it. I can change the battery in my phone myself in 30 seconds. No tools or risk of breaking it. There's a button that pops the back cover off.
Yes, if I have to set it down somewhere precarious the less it can move on it's own the better.
Yep, if you treat your phone like a laptop or hard drive, then you definitely need a phone with an SD card. No argument there.
I don't experience "jank" of any kind, but delay, yes indeed. If you are doing time-sensitive audio tasks/gaming, then definitely choose a phone with an audio jack.
It won't be as easy as that, but with new Pixel phones, there are official instructions on how to do this yourself now (I believe, some partnership with iFixit?). It requires some work, but swapping batteries doesn't really need to be a 30-second maneuver for me either. It is done so rarely (years), so if it takes me an hour, I'm fine with that.
👍 I never take the risk of placing my phone anywhere precarious, but obviously if you are in the demographic where you have to do so (maybe in your line of work, or through your hobbies), you should probably buy a case that alters the shape of your phone significantly anyway. So I don't see an issue here either. I just have the standard case from Google that fits the Pixel 9 and my phone is basically flat in the back.
Wow 2 full days. My Oukitel does 3 weeks.
Wow, my Nokia 3310 does 30 days. What's your point? 2 full days is way more than I need it to do. I can charge whenever. 🤷♂️
You present it like it's a good thing.
Those battery lives are absolutely terrible.
I've also heard it's more like 1 day if you actually use it.
Nah, it's two days and more with plenty of use.
It all depends on what you need. It's not at all terrible if you have plenty of opportunity to charge. I charge every day, once a day, and I'm never below like 60%. Sometimes I choose not to charge for a day, and the next evening it's at like 40% or so.
Very comfortable battery capacity. And the battery life is also great. My last phone, which was a Pixel 6, was also like this. I rarely ever went even close to the bottom half percentages on my phone, with plenty of screen hours each day. And it was like this all up until I switched phones. Barely any degradation noticed.
My Pixel 6 I still keep around with battery saver on, and I charge it once a week.
Maybe you shouldn't listen to what you hear, sometimes. 👍
Exactly what I'm doing right now. 👍
Alright bro. Buy whatever you want to buy. 😂 Nobody's forcing you to change your opinion of anything. I'm just giving you my experience and perspective. 👍
Yes and i give my experience. 😂😂😂😂
You seem sarcastic. Like you're looking to one-up me or something. It's been the vibe all through this "conversation". I think others have the same feeling given the vote count...
How insufferable
Who doesn't charge their phone when they sleep at night?
I charge it whenever it gets below 10 or dies. My pixel 6 pro gets something like a day and a half maybe? I dont charge it everyday.
Well, granted, if I didn't need to I wouldn't. I don't need to do so each night either, maybe every other night, but it still doesn't reach even 30% in two days.
Paid under 400 for a new Pixel 7 two years ago after waiting for the prices to go down and it was about to be discontinued. No idea how much they cost now but you'll always overpay if you go for the latest and greatest.
Google usually does a good sale of the previous generation once the new ones are ready to come out. I got my pixel 7 $350 USD brand new right before the pixel 8 came out.
Pixel 7a can be bought new for 350€, this is what I would consider a decent phone. Admittedly I don't need much from my phone other than text, web browsing, taking photos.
Less than half of that, if you're fine with a Pixel 8a, which I would be.
I hate Google as much as the next guy, but if they offer me decent hardware at are reasonable price on which I can run GrapheneOS instead of their spyware, I'm not disinclined.
You don’t have to purchase the flagship model
eBay, older model, profit
As someone that's run older pixels on LineageOS for years now (no gapps, just fdroid), what benefits would I be getting from using graphene? I appreciate the hardening they do but my needs are fairly simple.
I was going to try this with my old Pixel 3 until I found out the bootloader was locked. 😡
Locked in a way you can't unlock with developer settings?
Bootloaders are always locked, pixels generally let you unlock them, unlock is in developer options, Google for how to enable developer options
Correct, the option is simply greyed out. Based on my research, Pixel 3XLs purchased through Verizon are just locked and there is nothing you can do about it.