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What is a good non-Apple phone to get? (hexbear.net)

submitted 3 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Yeah, so my phone is pretty much breaking and I need a new one. My mom convinced me to upgrade from my iPhone 8 to an iPhone 15 because we got a really steep discount, but goddamn I fucking hate this phone. I’m still using my iPhone 8 just because I really can’t stand the 15 at all, and the 8 was already a downgrade from the phone I had had before.

Well, I’ve wanted to get out of the Apple ecosystem for years and I think now might be the time. I feel okay about it since I really did get this iPhone 15 at a really nice discount so it’s not the hardest loss (also I’m pretty sure I can still return it, but even if not). But I know nothing about non-Apple phones. Is it possible to get a Xiaomi phone in the USA? Does Samsung still have issues with their phones exploding? Any insight is appreciated.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

As much as I loath Google, this has been my MO since forever. Google's branded phones were originally targeted at developers, allowing you to unlock the boot loader and flash different versions of the OS for compatibility testing. This includes the ability to install third party firmware like LineageOS (among others) which strips out a lot of the proprietary Google shit but maintains compatibility with most Android applications. They started marketing them directly to consumers when they rebranded from Nexus to Pixel, but it still serves the same role in the application development ecosystem and the bootloader can still be unlocked trivially. On other phones, this process varies from trivial to practically impossible. Most phones distributed by the carrier will be locked down to some degree.

Whichever phone you choose, I recommend checking the LineageOS compatibility status and reviewing the instructions before purchasing.