this post was submitted on 02 Nov 2023
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I was strongly considering an iPhone this year. It would have been my first time since the iPhone 4S. Ultimately the overall cost of the Pixel 8 was nearly half of what it would have cost me to get the iPhone. I couldn't justify the extra cost for not really gaining anything extra.
I hear a lot about pixels on here, yet everyone I know owns a Samsung. What are the benefits of a pixel over let's say one of the last few years models of galaxies?
GrapheneOS
How do you install it, what's so great about it? I keep seeing this pop up, but I don't know how it works.
@GrapheneOS is an alternative OS that provides better privacy than the stock Android that can be installed on Pixel devices.
https://grapheneos.org/install/
> GrapheneOS is a private and secure mobile operating system with great functionality and usability.
@Corkyskog
Wait wouldnt that block any and every google service? Seems kind of nuclear to never need maps or anything like that.
Maybe I misunderstand.
The Android Open Source Project (AOSP) is the base for both operating systems.
GrapheneOS actually makes a lot of effort to provide solutions that are mostly better than what stock Android provides.
https://grapheneos.org/features#sandboxed-google-play
@Corkyskog
Cool. So let's pretend I have very little knowledge of how phones work. How difficult would it be for me to install? I assume you have to do the installation over usb-c connected to a laptop?
How long is the process, and how long would it take me to install any basic apps I would want, including sandboxed Google apps?
This video covers most of your questions.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=qxAnWYUvDxg
Alternative 🔗:
https://yewtu.be/watch?v=qxAnWYUvDxg
https://piped.video/watch?v=qxAnWYUvDxg
@Corkyskog
Thanks I watched your links, now my only questions is besides security are there any other reasons for Graphene, like battery life? Just making the decision of getting like a Galaxy 21 or 22 or a pixel. The thing that is most important is battery life for me.
You can get good battery life from a Pixel 6, 7, or 8 series device even with stock Android.
It only gets better when flashing a custom OS, particularly GrapheneOS, because you have more control over which apps can be running or using the network / location chips because radio or location can chew through battery charge very quickly.
@Corkyskog
Is the pixel worse for data gathering than a Galaxy? Or is it just the ability to flash graphene that all the privacy stuff comes in?
The Pixel is the best available hardware in the Android ecosystem for customized software, and the software is what Google/Samsung/whatever other company uses for data collection.
Every other manufacturer either disabled a firmware feature or did not fully enable a security chipset.
If you only care about running the software Google/Samsung provided, then any Android flagship device is going to be good enough, but a Titan M2 device is the best option to buy for replaced software.
@Corkyskog
You can read more about the Titan M2 chip here:
https://www.androidauthority.com/titan-m2-google-3261547/
@Corkyskog
No shutter lag. I was considering an S23 before settling on a Pixel 7 cos of that.