Pixels are the main target of aftermarket ROMs because they are reference Android devices with highly available unlocked developer modes. Most companies producing phones do things like add propriety changes that require substantial workarounds for relatively basic hardware functionality and make it much more difficult to even install an aftermarket ROM.

Really this is all a consequence of capitalism itself and the need to lock in ecosystems to establish controlled markets (allowing for controlling one's own profit). Every phone could be fully unlockable and hackable by the end user, but companies specifically prevent this in order to maximize their own profits.

I also like having expanded storage. But if you actually care about privacy?

You want the minimum amount of data on your phone at any given time. Your recent camera roll, any cached music and apps, and that is really it. Everything should be offloaded to your private storage ASAP

Because for as shit as google and apple are? You can also remote wipe those devices. less effective if it is a government agent that has it, but it is a thing. And, depending on the storage setup, that sd card might be raw dogging it to begin with.

It is because there are hardware security features that most other Android phones do not support and Graphene OS is going for maximum security and privacy. Besides, they're coming out with their own hardware by partnering with Motorola shortly.

I can't accept the fact that there is no external sd card support.

OK, this is going to sound dismissive, and I really don't mean it to be. But why?

For data transfer, you can still use the USB port (I do it all the time). Other than that, there's more than enough storage available onboard for any reasonable amount of usage. I don't even really keep anything critical on my device at all, so what there is is kind of overkill already.

I just don't understand the need for an SD card with storage being as plentiful now as it is. I want to understand.

Sad thing is that Linux used to be ahead on phones. Everyone swore by N900 and it was sabotaged by ms buykilling Nokia.

Yes, Obtainium supports installing from F-Droid repos. It's a bit more of a pain compared to using something like F-Droid, though.

Yep! It's not the same experience as F-Droid (e.g. it's not gonna be you scrolling through a list of apps, picking the one you want, and hitting install. Obtainium is more of a "get the URL to where the app's releases are, paste it in here, add it, then hit install, plus you might have to do a little config so it selects the right release if there are multiple", but once it's set up, it's set up.

I fully replaced the F-Droid app with Obtainium for actually installing and updating apps, but I still keep the F-Droid app around just because I can go on there, search up apps, do a little browsing, then take the app I want and put it in Obtainium.