What other options for good phones are out there?

2 years ago by ZeDoTelhado to c/privacy

I have now a pixel 8, which was working OK from the past 8 months and using grapheneos. Unfortunately, today out of nowhere got the green screen bug (searched around, this seems to be really a thing with pixel 8 and some pixel 7). This really stroke me a nerve. Previously I had a pixel 5 which at some point also got screen problems and later the speaker piece just straight up did not work properly. And now this with the pixel 8.

So my question is: what other phones could potentially be used with a custom ROM that allow bootloader relocking? Other Roms can be something like divest or calyx (I used calyx before, so I am fairly familiar with it).

It really pisses me off the only option until now are pixel phones for proper relocking (from what I know from a while back), and then they have these annoying issues. It makes my skin crawl, but if required I would change to an iPhone (and throwaway a lot of things that android is actually superior, such as proper tor browser, VPN split tunneling, work/user profiles, no bloody account to use a phone).

Thanks for the responses in advance.

narc0tic_bird 25 points 2 years ago

At 8 months old it should be well within warranty. Just get it fixed.

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ZeDoTelhado 8 points 2 years ago

And I will. Still does not mean I will go after something else immediately after warranty is over (or even before if issues happen in difficult times, like traveling).

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BearOfaTime 16 points 2 years ago

First, don't buy new phones. You're paying a massive premium to be first. Especially since you're going to flash a rom, which has a little risk anyway (I've bricked phones by flashing, though not for years).

I just upgraded from a 2017 flagship to a Pixel 5 (only because my cell company decided to stop it working on their network, when I can throw a different Sim in and it works fine). I was able to buy 3 Pixel 5's for less than you paid for your new phone. Which means I have a daily driver, a hot spare, and a test device for a little over $400.

If my daily breaks, I pickup my spare and swap the SIM, since I keep both phones synced with Syncthing. I don't even have to login to anything because that's all done. (I had 4 functional devices of my 2017 phone, they had become so cheap).

So pick a 1-2 year old model that you like the features, and pay far less for it.

Before (finally) coming to the pixel, I would look at the Lineage device list, then check those phones out at gsmarena.com and phonearena.com to see which I'd prefer, because Lineage has the broadest device support that I've seen.

Today I run DivestOS, a fork of Lineage with some changes to a few things. I forget now exactly what I preferred (I'd have to pull up my comparison spreadsheet), but average battery consumption is a staggering 0.5% per hour, with microg services installed and a couple apps using it. Consumption average increases to about 4% per hour when I'm doing a lot of intensive stuff - copying files over the network, using nav, watching a video, etc.

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kekmacska 2 points 2 years ago

it is usually a good idea to buy the flagship of the last year at summer. I did that and never regretted it

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ZeDoTelhado 2 points 2 years ago

I do understand where you're coming from. I never buy a phone without a somewhat good discount (which I got on this one). As for the risk flashing, quite frankly the cases of breaking are so far and few in between that for the odds given nowadays, I am OK in doing this on a brand new pixel (for other phones that require unlock first and all that jazz I do not try it on brand new).

As for the lineage os bit: lots of devices, but the lack of unlock for me is a no no. If it was an older device without important stuff such as banking sure, I would totally go for it.

EDIT: where you read unlock I actually meant root. Most phones cannot be unlocked unless you have root

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sunzu2 2 points 2 years ago

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ZeDoTelhado 0 points 2 years ago

Haven't touched other phones in a while, so there is a chance this is not correct. However, I do remember trying to have my old s10e to have anything else that is not Samsung ROM. Its a nightmare.

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sunzu2 1 point 2 years ago

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BearOfaTime 1 point 2 years ago

As far as I recall, root has never been required to flash a phone.

This is because flashing occurs at the firmware level, while root, again, is a function of the installed OS.

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BearOfaTime 1 point 2 years ago

Unlock has nothing at all to do with root.

Root is dependent on unlocking, not the reverse, as root is part of the installed OS.

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Thetimefarm 10 points 2 years ago

I just had a purple line appear on my pixel 8, google offered me $490 on trade for a 9. The line is intermittent so I just rated my phone as good condition for the trade in. There is an extended warranty on the problem so if they try and give me any shit about it I'll just reference that. If you do trade it in, make sure to uncheck the box that says you'll accept less on the trade if they decide the condition isn't as described. I have no actual evidence, but given my fairly extensive history dealing with googles customer service I think they may try and screw you over on the trade.

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ZeDoTelhado 5 points 2 years ago

I did hear about the extended warranty because of this issue, but I was completely unaware of the check boxes stuff. Thanks for the heads up! Also... Clearly there are issues and stiil try to pull some shit with dark patterns. Classy

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iii 7 points 2 years ago

Maybe fairphone is up your alley?

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ZeDoTelhado 4 points 2 years ago

Last time I heard, fairphone did support calyx, but no dice on the relocking. A shame really, since I do believe the people at fairphone are doing quite an important mission on the phone world.

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datendefekt 1 point 2 years ago

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ZeDoTelhado 2 points 2 years ago

I did check their page, do not see it there https://grapheneos.org/faq#supported-devices

Is it an unofficial image that works on FP 4 and 5?

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Undertaker 0 points 2 years ago

Graphene only supports Pixel

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sic_semper_tyrannis 5 points 2 years ago

The next best is probably to pick a phone from DivestOS's list of supported devices, and preferably ones with a re-lockable bootloader

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ZeDoTelhado 2 points 2 years ago

I did check their list just now. I am surprised some one plus devices are there, shame is the old ones only. I will for sure have a closer look to this list and see how it goes.

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Nicro 5 points 2 years ago

Custom roms with relocked bootloader only work on pixels by design. You'll have to live with an unlocked bootloader.

As for easy installs, Murena's e/os exists with support. But I can't vouch for their cloud ecosystem. Other than that, maybe an officially supported lineage device. You will lose safetynet on both unless you want to root.

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ZeDoTelhado 1 point 2 years ago

This is what I feared. Either I deal with the shoddiness of the pixels and get mad from time to time but at least is safe, or no relocking. sigh Thanks for the answer though

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smpl 2 points 2 years ago

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ZeDoTelhado 2 points 2 years ago

That could be. And also, this is 2024. Why is this even an issue with something basic as static? Surely is not the first time this problem was dealt with before shipping this stuff out.

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smpl 2 points 2 years ago

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TootGuitar 4 points 2 years ago

Just my two cents on this topic: I used to use an Android phone with LineageOS (this was before Graphene was a thing), and struggled with similar bugs/issues from time to time.

I got an iPhone and never looked back.

Don't get me wrong, as you suggested here, iPhones are objectively worse in a lot of ways. But mostly, it. Just. Works. And, rather than fight the OS on things like VPN configs, ad blocking, browser usage, etc, I've found that I simply use my phone less, and tether my phone to a real computer more often. Paired with a small chromebook or other laptop running Linux, or (gasp) even MacOS, I just don't use my phone as much as I used to.

On the plus side, iPhones are supported for a long time, have a secure lockdown mode which you can enable if you're extra paranoid, and have "don't need to think about it" full-device encryption including full phone backup support. If your phone ever dies or you want to upgrade, you can load a full backup/image from your old device on to your new one with close to zero fuss (just gotta deal with USB 2.0 speeds on all but the newest phones :)

One final note, you don't need to sign in to an account to use iOS as far as I'm aware. You lose out on the sync/iCloud stuff that Apple provides, but it sounds like you don't care much about that anyway.

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kekmacska 4 points 2 years ago

you are on the privacy lemmy, i hope you realize that. iPhones are as anti-privacy as possible

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TootGuitar 0 points 2 years ago

you are on the privacy lemmy, i hope you realize that

Yes.

iPhones are as anti-privacy as possible

I'm not even sure I know what "as anti-privacy as possible" actually means, but this is a garbage statement, and I say this as someone who thinks that both Android and iOS are flaming piles of shit. Did you see that the OP mentioned that they'd consider switching to an iPhone?

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ZeDoTelhado 4 points 2 years ago

This is also a good perspective. One thing I was thinking just now: at some point, side loading on iOS will be a thing. I wonder at that time we can truly use an iPhone without an account at all (not even to install stuff), but my guess is, considering their track record, they will do the wildest malicious compliance possible....

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TootGuitar 0 points 2 years ago

Yeah, that's a good point. I'm not counting on sideloading bringing any benefit to me, but if it does I'll be pleasantly surprised.

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kylian0087 3 points 2 years ago

Any supported phone with lineage OS? Primacy is really good but not as much security focused as GOS

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ZeDoTelhado 2 points 2 years ago

That was my first thinking. But then again, no relocking makes things a lot harder

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kylian0087 1 point 2 years ago

Only the pixels phones allow for relocking the bootloader with a custom ROM. Might be possible on a few other devices when jumping true a load of hoops and potentially bricking the device.

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merde 3 points 2 years ago

https://shop.iode.tech ?

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ZeDoTelhado 1 point 2 years ago

Didn't look iode before. I am not a fan of iode in general (as principle, as an os is probably a good daily driver). From what I see, the phone available from there that I could get would be the fairphone. But the lack of relocking after installing calyx is not exactly amazing

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kekmacska 3 points 2 years ago

Fairphone 5, Shift6mq, Oneplus 11, Xperia Pro 1, Motorola Edge 40 pro. Avoid ios like wildfire. I use an iPad and it is buggy, expensive, and full of spyware, really bad if you want any privacy (and it doesn't have custom rom support at all)

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Undertaker 2 points 2 years ago

Fairphone is an option. Can be relocked. It is not important, what Fairphone supports but if it is supported by custom ROM developers. Fairphone is supported by most. But please avoid using Calyx or iode. They are both outclassed by Divest.

At least for /e/OS I can assure that relocking is simple enough. As there is partnership between Fairphone and Murena (/e/ developers) OTA updates are safe for future. Unfortunately the Fairphone support is horrible and /e/ is always too far behind security patch level.

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privacy

@lemmy.ml

login for more options

A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.

Some Rules

Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn't great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
Don't promote proprietary software
Try to keep things on topic
If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
Be nice :)

Related communities

much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)

go to feed...