As the title says, I want to finally degoogle (completely) my life. I’ve found a Pixel 7 8/128 for ~270€ (or pixel 8? ~470€ but no white :c) it’s refurbished so google doesn’t get a shit from me.
I’m curious to know if:
- You can change the default icons color (black and gray-ish in the image) or is based on the wallpaper
- The camera app is good. Not going to make professional pics or videos but I still want to use it to take pics and a good quality is important. Tried their camera on a phone and the bottom menu to switch mode (picture/video/night mode/etc) was buggy
- Battery life is better/worse than stock Android (if anyone tried that)
- How the sandboxed play services work
- Anything else that I should know about. Some people say it’s good, some it’s bad so I’m curious to know.
I’m still looking for a good maps replacement, Organic Map is not the best because it’s missing a lot of places where I live. I wish there was a google wallet Foss alternative… I needed it to use my card with the phone (rare but still possible!)
Help a new user to fully leave shitty phone companies
Edit: Does it have some kind of cross profile notifications? Can I see notifications of another profile on the main?
GrapheneOS supports forwarding notifications from users running in the background to the currently active user. Forwarding notifications to other users is disabled by default and can be enabled within each user profile where forwarding to the active profile is wanted. Notifications forwarded from other profiles are displayed by default in a standard local notification channel.
It does
I have tried on several occasions to like GrapheneOS. But every time I install it on my Pixel 7, basic functionality breaks. Things like receiving regular phone calls, as in people calling my number using a normal phone. GrapheneOS will sometimes not even ring and immediately display a notification saying “Missed call”. If my phone cannot be used as a … phone, what good is is?
I’ve been using GrapheneOS on my phones since the Pixel 3 and I have not had this issue when using Verizon. For the other person maybe it was a different carrier? Or some issue a while ago with that carrier and GrapheneOS.
I’ve had 2 phones with GrapheneOS and never heard of those issues before.
I want to de-Google my life. *Buys Google phone…
Like someone else said: its a refurbished and google gets no money, I’ll install GrapheneOS so google gets even less from me
The comment also assumes that you even care if Google made a profit on the sale.
I for one think that “voting with your dollar” is (neo)liberal, individualistic politics that produce almost nothing aside from feel-good vibes. And I’m not the only one to think it: “Voting With Your Dollars” Is an Antidemocratic Illusion
The only answer is getting a phone from a manufacture that is not google or a major brand, that runs linux. linux on mobile devices from what i’m told is not a mature product yet.
Ironic since you have to buy a Google phone to use that OS.
No wonder, as they’re the only phones left (to my knowledge) that don’t demand half your soul just to fucking own your own phone. I was so damn fed with all the hurdles samsung & co throw in your way, just so you can’t even root your damn phone.
Who would buy a flagship gaming-pc without the admin-pwd and without being allowed to change the os? Noone. Except maybe pure gaming-kiddos.
I hate google with all my heart (since they ditched the “don’t be evil” - slogan), but what else to buy? Seriously asking… Which other phones allows that AND has at least a decent camera and an oled?
No wonder, as they’re the only phones left (to my knowledge) that don’t demand half your soul just to fucking own your own phone.
Literally who outside of samsung and Huawei? I guess xiaomi is a bit annoying with the wait time but pretty much all other phones are dead simple.
Oneplus, Nothing phone: literally the same process as on a pixel, no code required to unlock bootloader or anything like that. Just fastboot flashing unlock
Vivo: The exact same thing, just get vivo’s binary for fastboot since the unlocl command is different
Motorola, Sony: Just go to the website and you get the unlock code instantly, then just run a fastboot command and you’re done
Realme: Download their app, apply for unlock, gets approved within an hour. Unlock with a fastboot command
Xiaomi, poco: Get their app, wait a couple of days for the code, unlock bootloader with fastboot command.
Honor and huawie are a pita, but there is an open source unlocking tool for certain devices which makes it deadsimple.
So there are still plenty of options if the goal is unlocking bootloader and rooting a phone, all of these brands offer phones with oled 120hz screens, with cameras ranging from decent to some of the best on the market depending on the model. There are probably some brends I missed, but you get the point.
Never had a oneplus or nothing, so can’t judge at all. But great they’re allowing it.
Don’t remember sony being cool about it. But also good to know they seem to have changed their stance, i always liked their phones hardware-wise.
But ok, phone market is full of phones, and i gave up on non-pixels a long while ago. Cool to hear they mostly are simpler now.
But besides, being able to unlock bootloader is great (even though root is way more important to me), but if there is no really well working daily-driver-alternative to truly de-google (or at least working googled roms), what’s the point to unlock other than making your own rom?
Who would buy a flagship gaming-pc without the admin-pwd and without being allowed to change the os?
Is that not exactly what a gaming console is?
Hence i said pc. Consoles are exactly the same shit. A reason i never ever owned one or want to. Unless it’s easy to jailbreak. Wifey got a switch. I so hate this piece of garbage. Could do so much, but only plays superbly overpriced games.
I’m pretty sure the OnePlus 12 could meet all that, haven’t looked up rooting but otherwise I’m pretty sure it’s easy to do. Also, I’m bringing it up because I just got it and it’s the best phone I’ve ever had in my life by far, no bloatware super fast and easy to use.
You may also want to check out Murena. I have a fai-phone 5 with thier E/OS on it, I’m very happy with it, and 100% google-free.
While it looks good, maybe it’s my ignorance but it feels like you’re replacing Google with somebody else that will have the same power over you, am i mistaken? I am very much against the “all your eggs in one basket” approach after Google so not sure if replacing it with these people won’t be a repeat of the same thing
I certianly agree with your concern in principle, but I also think that not all corporations are evil by default. It’s important to be sceptical, but in my experience the e/OS is extremely privacy and user focused.
They partner with fairphone, they support some older hardware (etc. Samsung galaxy S7), and they have an installer app and installation intructions complete with the OS files freely available.
You even do not have to use a murena account to use the phone at all. If you perfer, you can get your apps 100% from APKs & F-Droid, and Murena doesn’t know you exist.
For me that’s enough.
Try Magic Earth for a maps app.