I’m thinking of getting a second phone to ease off iOS. It has been good for productivity stuff but the closed off nature of the device keeps disrupting my plans. Everything is either expensive or ad ridden. (Except floccus, floccus is awesome)

So far I have read about graphene OS and am quite interested. I really despise google though. Any chance to use another device and put some linux flavor on it? I was playing with the idea of a pinephone but it seems to be nowhere near daily drivable, fairphone is starting at 580 €, volla phone (german) 450 €…

Some people said xiaomi should be rootable. But the amount of different phones is huge. The price range is awesome though. I was thinking sub 300 €/$ would be awesome so tinkering doesnt hurt me financially.

Disclaimer: I dont want to go full hermit mode with no sim and a faraday bag. I respect the opinion but thats not what I’m trying to do. I want to write some small apps for my phone and use it as a computer if needed. Calling, matrix and browser should work flawlessly.

Any ideas or suggestions? :)

  • MalReynolds@slrpnk.netEnglish
    1·
    3 months ago

    So, I’m on a P7 with GOS, and truly it is a brilliant way to divest oneself from google services, alongside being probably the most secure third party ROM. I think, they’re certainly very keen on it, and laudably competent, updates are around weekly, sometimes every couple of days, because there are some vulnerable (to state level actors etc.) users. It’s been great, I have a primary profile that is google free and a secondary for google stuff that I want, and over time I find, at my own pace, FOSS things to move into my primary, so I don’t need my secondary as much, until I didn’t need it at all. It’s great, and now I can move to any other ROM without google services and be (mostly, except for some bastard in real life requiring an app that I can’t install in secondary on Lineage etc, at least last time I used it, which will come up) happy. Thankyou GOS. Also, being able to revoke network permissions on any random app (including google services) via OS is Gold.

    That said, P7 has some issues, it runs hot (I recorded via termux), and if you live in a hot humid environ, don’t expect longevity near the 5Yr security updates promised. Mine’s spicy pillow at 16 months, enough to break the seal and accelerate degeneration. I live in a country with consumer protection for 24 months, so it’s not so bad (I hope, batteries are special), but in the rest of the world it would suck. I do not want to replace my phone every year, assholes.

    TLDR: Get a second hand Pixel (4-7), hence not giving money to google, replace the battery, install GOS. Learn, live, enjoy, at the end you will have learned to live free (if that’s what you want).

  • Fake4000@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    I see two options here really. Either get a pixel phone and install Graphene on it (this allows you to run play services in a sandbox), or get any phone that supports lineage and install everything there and avoid Google.

    It depends on whether you need Google services or not. Pixel phones support both operating systems.

  • MBV ⚜️@lemm.ee
    0·
    3 months ago

    I think you could reconsider your position re Pixel/Google phones. It is the one major maker that allows you to deploy an OS securely on their phone and GrapheneOS is grand. I have used it on a secondary phone for years.

    • haui@lemmy.giftedmc.comOP
      1·
      3 months ago

      I could, for sure. It may even be a great idea. I’ll just have to solve that by myself since I’m very disillusioned by google. Its like if the devil made a good product.

      But I get your point. Graphene is probably a lot more mature than others OSs.

  • JurassicPork@lemmy.oneEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    With the crowd here, I have completely de-googled my life, also hate google, and the data mining nightmare that comes along with it…but in the end. The pixel phones (with grapheneos) are the most secure and private out there, or one of the most should say, ya know seems odd that a phone by such a data hungry company, can be made into exactly the opposite. Have had 0 issues since running grapheneos on my pixel 6