Pixel Fans are leaving Google and I Finally Understand Why
10 days ago by EastofEdson to c/android
I still love my Pixel 6 and I am thinking of grabbing a used Pixel 8 to run GrapheneOS.
I am not one to chase the latest benchmarks. Any phone made in the past five years or so is perfectly capable once you take the bloat out.
Edit: I found a great deal on a Pixel 10 and have ordered it.
I don't trust really Google anymore but I think GrapheneOS without Google services should take care of any risk.
If GrapheneOS was available for other devices I might switch but that is not the case. Maybe this Motorola deal will produce something but that's still a ways out if it ever happens.
I'm on GrapheneOS too, but I think hardware backdoors are a genuine concern. There's not much an OS can do to fight a hardware backdoor. So I don't entirely trust it but it's better than not trying for privacy. In any case, the risk of hardware backdoors is present on pretty much every device we compute on. There's not a lot of fully open hardware out there, especially for phones.
I'm running LineageOS on a One+ and it's really good. I get close to 4-5 day usage with regular use just because ask the bullshit isn't running in the background from Screwgle
The linked article sums my position up perfectly. I've had a Nexus 6P, a Pixel 2XL and now a Pixel 6 Pro which, were it not for a cracked screen and (small but increasing) issues with overheating, I'd be happy to stick with.
However there's no way I'm even considering a Pixel for my next phone - much too expensive and fuck all that AI bullshit.
Not sure what I'll go for, and not looking forward to a phone with an OEM skin on the OS but Google has finally driven me away from the Pixel line. It's a shame.
That is why I'm considering the used Pixel 8. GrapheneOS will support the Pixel 8 through October 2030. Maybe by then this Motorola deal will bare fruit.
You only get AI if you stick with the stock OS or don't do anything with it.
The advantage of the Pixel is they can be factory unlocked, which permits root or flashing a different OS.
My current phones are Pixel 5 - they $100 these days, and run great with Graphene or Lineage
Yeah, I've looked into Graphene, but I dunno, it's years since I messed with rooting and flashing ROMs, etc. Not sure I can be bothered. Might try on my current Pixel after I get a replacement sorted out.
Nexus 4, 5, 6 and 6p here. The 6p was a disaster. Everyone's battery shit the bed and they screwed a lot of people over. Brutal.
I've heard several similar things about the pixel brand. Not sure if the battery issues were due to software or hardware. But having a reliable battery is on top of my list of phone features.
Edit: Nexus 5 was peak android device. I wish it had larger storage or a SD slot but it was still near perfect.
I absolutely LOVED my 6p, but yeah, had two of them die on me, which wasn't ideal. Although I was able to trade in the second one when I got my 2xl, and they gave me the full original value of the 6p back! 😁
Not sure what I'll go for, and not looking forward to a phone with an OEM skin on the OS but Google has finally driven me away from the Pixel line. It's a shame.
If you want a clean OS, both Sony and Fairphone offer devices with relatively clean stock OS + good support for custom ROMs (and in the case of Fairphone, mobile Linux too!)
The Xperia devices have headphone jack AND microSD slots! Fairphone's devices are super repairable, which is really nice too, but no jack (they do have microSD slots though).
Tempted by a Fairphone, but my wife tried to buy one, and triggered an absolutely farcical series of events relating to the import and delivery of the device. Partially to do with Brexit, and import rules, at various points she had no phone nor the money, then later just the money but a demand to return the phone (which she had never got), then the phone arrived (like months later), but when she tried to return it, they wanted to charge her through the nose for the return... It went on forever! 😁
Your phone lineup is almost a mirror to mine, and your sentiments match mine as well. I used to root phones and flash custom ROMs to get the stock android experience on the garbage phones Verizon would sell me. The point was to get less bloat, and a functional device that I could get to do what I want with it. Once there was a nexus phone compatible with my carrier, I moved to Google's phones, and stopped tweaking the OS altogether. All Google has done over the years is remove useful features and try and shove AI down people's throats. I'm now looking at options to degoogle my phone, and I'm not particularly fond of buying any flagship phone should this one die.
Yeah, same, I used to mess around a bit with rooting and ROMs, but for a while there's been little need from my point of view. Really not sure I can be bothered getting back into that now though.
flagship Sony ones
Sony also offers the cheaper "10" series (yes their naming scheme is very confusing), and the Xperia 10 VII is cheaper, smaller, plastic fantastic, has good LineageOS support, headphone jack (!!), and microSD slots too (!!)
Honestly, if you wanted a good camera, I would rather go for a dedicated option as those have far better image quality due to much larger sensors + lenses. There's a lot of good small options that are relatively affordable, like many of Lumix's M43 cameras (particularly the older ones, like the GX800/850) or some of the older Fuji bodies if you prefer something like that. Sony themselves have really solid cameras too, the A6000 series is excellent and nearly all the same (main differences are IBIS for A6500 and up and newer sensor + software UI on the A6700), a lot of people recommend the A6000 as a solid budget pick. I personally use the ZVE-10, which is basically a plastic body no EVF version of the A6400 (which has a metal body)
Sony's E-mount, Fuji's X-mount, and Panny and friends' L-mount will all give you lots of good third-party lens choices. I would stick with M43 and APS-C purely because of the size difference compared to full frame. Sony and Fuji have APS-C options while Panny has M43 ones that are even smaller. The most notable size difference is definitely the lens, M43 lenses can be very tiny!
If you want some content to watch relating to fun budget cameras, I would recommend Micro Four Nerds (mostly covers Lumix and Olympus), Mark Wiemels (covers budget lenses and APS-C cameras), and Mark Bennett's Camera Crisis (funny guy who likes a good deal, he's a comedian who likes cameras as a hobby)
the thing about pixels is that putting lineage/graphene/whatever on them basically turns it into a completely different phone, all the complaints about AI and whatnot largely dissapear and they become what i'd call about the best experience you can have on a smartphone. Easy to install lineage (dunno about others, presume it's equally easy), just works, no bullshit.
GrapheneOS is literally the easiest OS install ive ever done. Easy step by step guide, and directly from the browser.
I havent used lineage, but i remember putting CyanogenMod on my galaxy S3 was quite the hassle. Whats the process like for lineage?
Here's the install guide, basically identical for all pixels afaik: https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/shiba/install/
It's come a long way from the cyanogenmod days.
Jep. Just that.
I recently had a good laugh when my best friend asked me if I didn't want to charge my Pixel 6a (3+ years old now) with around 25% Batterie and I just replied "why? That's still good for over a day".
The look on his face.
that's unfortunately not what my experience has been, but then i also have like 10 apps with constant background services that i don't want to live without.. That said, the battery life is still perfectly fine IMO.
Did you try enabling exploit compatibility mode for those apps?
Neither of Barclay's two apps work for me. Luckily I only have a credit card with them I opened for credit transfer, because they've gone all in on being app first with missing functionality on the website.
Currently running GrapheneOS on a pixel 8. It's the best mobile experience I've ever had.
Depends on the bank. My banking app works fine.
List of potential workarounds for problematic apps: https://discuss.grapheneos.org/...
Also includes a link to an unofficial list of known working/not working bank apps. If the app still doesnt work there is a link to documentation for the app developers on how to implement support. It is good to include it if reaching out to your bank about this issue.
Mine works. The app always cries about lack of play services, but the notification has an ignore-button and it hasnt created problems yet
Personally, no.
Some banking apps work fine. There's a list somewhere. Fortunately my bank does work
Pixel 9 running GOS. My bank's app (Lloyds) won't work, and never has for me. Additionally, I have a store card, and credit card app, both of which are offered by NewDay, neither of which work on my phone. The official UK government ID app won't work with it either.
But honestly, I'll take that inconvenience over letting Google have free reign over my phone.
I wish I had your willingness to deal with these problems.
I'm tired. I just want to go on with my life without all those troubles. When I was younger, I was spending days trying to make everything work on my Cyanogenmod... and before that, I was already tinkering with Linux.
But I'm tired. I wish companies weren't pieces of shit and they just let us use an open system. :(
To be honest, they're not really problems as such, more a case of resetting expectations back a few years.
While I had gotten very used to being able to pay for everything with Apple Pay on the 13 mini I had previously, all I've had to do with my Pixel 9 is buy a magsafe wallet (and magsafe case for the magsafe-less phone). And for everything else, there's a web site. It's kind of annoying having to use an SMS 2FA code EVERY TIME I log into my bank's site, but not particularly inconvenient.
I will caveat my comments by noting that I do have Play services installed, so there are some Google features on my phone. Mostly that was to help soften the transition between having everything available to me through Apple's services to having nothing available in Graphene. But my understanding is that Google's footprint in Graphene is significantly less intrusive, and mostly limited by guardrails that I can set.
Exploit compatibility mode fixed my banking apps.
Use a computer, or a web site. Or a bank.
Why would you ever carry your entire life’s worth in your pocket. Ever?
So if you don’t have a cel phone you can’t bank at all?
So that’s justification for being robbed via phone? Delete the app after every use. I’d go into my bank and fill out a paper form versus that malarkey.
Especially given banking apps track so much side data for their stupid hustles.
It’s like someone in 1600s Europe traveling with a chest that contains their entire life’s gold coins and documentation of every action they performed in the world everywhere. Makes no sense.
In many countries you don't get a choice.
I'm on a 9 and yeah I couldn't agree more. I bought the pixel second hand (no support for new stock in NZ) but it was so worth it
Pixels are not and have never been about speed or power. They've always been about security, for which they're still the best. Also the only hardware supported by GOS (for the same reason) which is really the biggest reason to buy them, in my opinion. But I used them even before that (P4a was my first, it was $350!) for cleanliness and software features.
the #1 reason it's what i've been using is just that they don't have any locked down nonsense compared to other brands, unlocking the bootloader and flashing another OS is absolutely trivial and stuff just works.
Brands like OnePlus and Motorola have made major improvements to their camera systems as well.
OnePlus is gone from the US market.
Motorola doesn't have any non foldables here.
US android market doesnt have any options left other than Google and Samsung and that's just terrible.
It's all of the US own making. Ban everything Chinese including phones, EV's, and lately routers. Than make a monopoly for the 3 manufacturers left. Meanwhile in China, I can buy whatever I want. Any brand, manufactured locally or internationally.
Hell, the iPhone is not even in the top 5 of best selling phones here. That is called competition - something the US lost track off thanks to the lobbyists.
But you keep doing you and just get left behind. https://www.wired.com/...
it doesnt make it any better for me as a consumer
Motorola has the Edge and G series in the US as well.
Yeah, ive got the edge+ 2023 and it's done me well so far. Cases are a pain and so are screen protectors because of the curved glass. Its the Achilles heel to an otherwise flawless phone in my eyes. If they can take this platform and remove the curved glass and add expandable storage for the Graphene release, they'll find themselves back in the mix for top 2 android manufacturers.
Just use the liquid screen protectors. Served my old curved phone well for 4 years. My One+ has one as well just bc they work well and are cheap!
Edge Plus 2022 didn't even have the curved edge, LOL. I don't understand the marketing but it was also great. 512GB, baby!
Yeah, ive got 512GB as well, but expendable storage is never a drawback.
Either edge or G - 2026 lineup in US only goes up to 128gb ram.
Both edge and g - 2026 model only goes up to 128gb storage.
Ok? But they do still sell them in the US and they aren't foldable.
yeah but I dont want those. I want a flagship.
I was going to get a flagship this year but google and samsung are not sometnig I would ever consider.
Ill have to import via aliexpress now probably, which sucks.
Google being a trash company would be the major reason not to buy a Pixel.
Precisely why I will buy a used Pixel and put GrapheneOS on it.
I got a Pixel 8a more than a year ago to use GrapheneOS. Its performance is somewhat similar to my Poco X4 GT but it runs a little bit hotter specially when running a private space. Last month it died immediately while I was using it. The phone immediately turned off without any warning. The problem was found to be a hardware one and that some component (i guess it was a transistor) was shorting in the board. Luckily there was a shop near me that was able to repair it.
If it weren't for GOS and maybe for its camera, I would not use and recommend pixels with its very mediocre performance and possible hardware problems.
I have a pixel 6a with a burned out usb c port. I would have to replace the whole board to get it working again. A shame really.
I had the original Pixel, and now the 5, not sure if I will get one next time but this one is still good.
It's kind of like my car - I have a 6 speed 2014 Honda, it does everything I want & nothing I don't want. Newer ones are better in some ways, but not in ways I want.
I don't want a fancier phone or car, I want a more reliable one that does the things I want it to do. Not stuffed with "features".
There are dozens of us!
Yeah only one of my kids learned to drive the manual but I love it. Lately I take an electric bike everywhere so hopefully the car lasts. The only one I'd trade it for is the Civic SI but those are $$$ and as long as my car will go I will keep it - they can last, especially the stick shift ones.
I drive the current BMW X1 (company car) and I miss my 2011 Mitsubishi Colt more often than I want to admit.
Yes the X1 is the better overall car but all the CaaS bullshit ruins it for me. More software bugs than miles driven.. More beeps, scrrens and popups than possibly healthy; a constant distraction.
I've had 5 pixel phones, and 4 of them have stopped booting after about a year of use.
Meanwhile my last Galaxy phone lasted over 6 years.
Even with their cheaper retail price, they haven't been more affordable to own for me.
That's really weird. I'm on my 4th Pixel (9 Pro), and my kids are still using my handed down 4a and 6...
The only one that has ever failed was the 4a from that firmware update that killed the batteries, and Google replaced the battery for free and now it's running like a champ
from what i've seen it seems like the pixel line just has a curse placed upon it, where every model has 1% of phones suffer from fairly major hardware problems and the other 99% are perfectly fine.
I have heard lots of things about how terrible the Pixel 6 is. I have had mine since launch with no issues. Maybe I just got lucky, I don't know.
Similar experience here. I loved the Google pixel and wanted to keep loving it, but they're just not well made. My partner and I have both had them for years and they just don't last. Meanwhile, we're not big fans of Samsung, but their phones do last.
That is why I am looking at the Pixel 8. It is supported for 7 years taking it to October 2030. The Pixel 6 only had 5 years of support which ends in October of this year.
That starts with the Pixel 8. Anything older is still 5 years.
It's probably because I had four pixels and three of them died early due to hardware problems. The other one was stolen but I had been wanting to replace it due to poor performance.
I really thought I liked them, but never again.
I recently bought a Pixel 9a specifically to put GrapheneOS on it, and so far it's been good. Especially the battery runtime was a pleasant surprise, I can get two days of moderate use out of it before having to plug it in again. The only thing that is significantly worse than my previous chinese crap spyphone from 2019 is the camera. I'm not sure if the stock camera app in Graphene is bad or if it's the hardware, but the image quality is really poor.
That's because there's a lot of proprietary Google software that makes the photos look good which is not present in graphene.
It's like on Sony Xperia phones when you unlock the bootloader. All the confidential software that makes photos look good is locked away and encrypted until you relock it again
Absolutely. Surprised there is not a foss image processing pipeline already. They hit such niche spaces and this is such a barrier for mass adoption.
Tbh payment is sorted with curve. An image processing pipeline and some form of android auto implementation without google would make it a full replacement.
link or name?
fossify and librecamera are nice too
You can download other camera apps and see if they do a better job. For example the stock pixel camera app can be downloaded from the play store.
PS. I've heard people getting crazy battery life with https://codeberg.org/s1m/savertuner and its expanded battery saver settings
Savertuner is also available on f-droid
Once Pixels get LOFIC sensors, that shouldn’t be such an issue.
It’s complicated, but basically modern camera apps take multiple frames at different exposures and stack them with “AI.” Basic FOSS camera apps don’t do this because it’s complex and hardware-specific.
But LOFIC camera sensors will remove the need to do this.
Right now only Xiaomi/Hisense flagships and the Leica phone have them, but I think they’re coming everywhere. So a standard camera app (like the GrapheneOS one) could take a regular, uncomplicated exposure and still get a decent shot.
Y’all think GrapheneOS will ditch Pixels?
And if they do… where would dev focus move to?
GO team already announced a partnership with Motorola earlier this year, idk if it's more of a collaboration to bring GrapheneOS security to Motorola devices or what. Excited to see how that turns out
Oh I forgot about that. Yeah, that’s promising.
I would bet the GrapheneOS devs see the writing on the wall with Google.
I began my Pixel journey with the 4 XL with CalyxOS, before switching to GrapheneOS. I had to stop using the phone because of the well-known bloated battery issue.
After a short stint with a OnePlus 6T and DivestOS, which was brief due to the phone's processor failing, I returned to the Pixel line with the 6 Pro with GrapheneOS. I had to stop using the 6 Pro because of the Tensor modem failing to get signal or connect to cell towers where I know I would've gotten reception otherwise. Also, the phone would overheat occasionally.
My current Pixel phone is the 8 Pro with GrapheneOS, and so far it's been the best one I've had, though I have noticed that other phones, like recent Samsung Galaxies and iPhones have better picture quality than the 8 Pro depending on the environment.
With GrapheneOS announcing their partnership with Motorola, I'm hoping to switch to a Moto phone in the future, ideally one with a better camera and processor than the Pixel line. Google absolutely sucks with hardware, with each Pixel having some egregious hardware issue that makes the phone nearly unusable in some cases.
i loved my nexus 4 T_T
also just got a pixel SPECIFICALLY to get graphene and the only thing i hate about graphene is i can't also put it on my galaxy tab because i'd love for my tablet to have it too
I had a few phones before my first pixel and always struggled to run apps - there wasn't much space in those days, or much in the way of processor or memory.
I think my first Pixel was in the 2 era. I remember my wife or I had a 3 - and I think it was a 3a at that, but I don't care THAT much to remember too precisely.
I know after that I had a 4a, then a 6a, just because that's when I needed to replace phones because the battery was starting to get annoying, or in the case of the 6a, the charge port was blocked and it didn't have wireless charging, and financing though Fi was a better deal than trying to fix the phone.
I've had an 8a for over a year so far.
All of the Pixels have been good for me. I consider battery to be a normal thing - I preferred the old days with removable batteries, but this is the current life we have, so whatever.
I can't afford to buy bleeding edge, but I like my pixels. They don't feel bloated to me, and I've been able to easily disable the behaviours I don't like, which aren't many.
I do appreciate the camera.
When it's time to replace this one...... I'll see what the cheaper pixel looks like and it will quite possibly be what I go with. My phone does everything I want from it. Maybe it gets a little warm while taking video or doing things that can eat battery when it gets warm, but 99% of the time, it lasts all day, does whatever I need it to - just fine.
I made the move to Android with my current phone (Pixel6 Pro). I won't be sticking with Google phones after this. I already replaced my pixel watch.
On us market we are basically out of options. Its just Google and Samsung now
It's pretty much the same in Canada unfortunately.
I have a Galaxy watch 7 that I am looking to replace.
I am really hoping to move away from Google services completely but I also like having notifications on my wrist. I haven't found a decent replacement yet.
I got a Pebble Time 2 and, so far at the almost-two-week mark, no complaints. I get notifications just fine.
As an OG Pebble fan I was really looking forward to getting a Time 2. I am in Canada though and it's $350 plus after exchange. I had one in my cart but just couldn't press go.
I'm in Japan so I feel you on the pain. I never had an original pebble. My pixel watch (which is actually a replacement after the other one literally started falling apart despite the fact that I'm not particularly hard on watches), was on its last legs with battery life. It was that or some sketchy 2000 yen thing that sends data who-knows-where.
Still rocking my Pixel 4 and it still works perfectly and I have no intention of replacing it. I love that it's a compact size in an age where I'm expected to put laptop-sized phones in my pocket. Really not looking forward to shoving a zip code in my pants if there aren't any compact size phones being sold when the time comes.
@lemmy.world
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@lemmy.world
Welcome to the Android community on Lemmy. Here you can participate in amazing discussions and events relating to all things Android.
The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:
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I don't trust Google to not put hardware back door in their hardware. It's an ad company after all.
social contract around Android has always been Google provides the Android as an operating system that's open source while everyone else just manufactures actual devices I don't want my Android phone to be built by Google on hardware level.
Tbh not even on software level either .. beyond core aosp - I don't need any other Google services they force down our throats
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