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What other options for good phones are out there? (lemmy.world)
submitted 4 hours ago by ZeDoTelhado@lemmy.world to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
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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.

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[-] BearOfaTime@lemm.ee 4 points 1 hour 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.

[-] ZeDoTelhado@lemmy.world 3 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour 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

[-] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 1 points 35 minutes ago

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

I don't think this is right.

Unlock related to bootloader. root is different.

[-] ZeDoTelhado@lemmy.world 1 points 20 minutes 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.

[-] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 1 points 16 minutes ago

Yeah rooting was a thing in mid 2010s, it changed since then. you don't need to root to flash a room. unlocking bootloader is enough.

samsung went out of their way to fuck over custom rom community.

oneplus did something similar around oneplus 9. i think they were relockable for a bit then oneplus pushed out firmware update to block it or some such thing.

this is how we ended up with pixels as only viable "mass market" choice. I am sure google would shut it down if it was not used as reference model for devs.

watch them close this route for us soon enough.

They are getting annoyed with us but they got ad blocker fight on their hands and anti trust ruling so they got to play coy for now.

[-] ZeDoTelhado@lemmy.world 2 points 9 minutes ago

For the reasons you mention, I really REALLY hope pinephone goes far and we have something else viable on the long run

[-] narc0tic_bird@lemm.ee 11 points 4 hours ago

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

[-] ZeDoTelhado@lemmy.world 4 points 4 hours 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).

[-] merde@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 hours ago

https://shop.iode.tech ?

[-] ZeDoTelhado@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour 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

[-] sic_semper_tyrannis@lemmy.today 3 points 4 hours 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

[-] ZeDoTelhado@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours 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.

[-] kylian0087@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 4 hours ago

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

[-] ZeDoTelhado@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago

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

[-] iii@mander.xyz 3 points 4 hours ago

Maybe fairphone is up your alley?

[-] ZeDoTelhado@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours 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.

[-] Nicro@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 4 hours 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.

[-] ZeDoTelhado@lemmy.world 1 points 4 hours 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

[-] smpl@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 3 hours ago

See this: https://github.com/chenxiaolong/avbroot/issues/299

The issue with the Pixel seems to be a a build-up of static in the LCD.

[-] ZeDoTelhado@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours 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.

this post was submitted on 16 Nov 2024
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