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Google's assault on F-Droid has begun
(techhub.social)
On the road to fully automated luxury gay space communism.
Spreading Linux propaganda since 2020
Rules:
Can anyone recommend phones you can get which Google don't have dominion over?
iphone, feature phone or linux phone
GrapheneOS has announced they are directly working around this. It officially runs on pixels and unofficially on some other phones. They are also putting out their own phone in the next year or so.
Yeah Graphene is amazing.
Ironically Google made the Pixel very easy to unlock and flash with other firmwares, so from a practical point of view, a refurbished pixel phone flashed with CalyxOS or GrapheneOS might be an accessible and not too expensive way to get out from under their thumb yourself.
I also have an android device intended for the Chinese domestic market and its Android firmware does not come with Google Play Services or Play Store installed and you don't need to use either to use the device just fine. I don't know but I assume this is common with other major manufacturers but mine is made by Lenovo.
The clock is still ticking because nothing gets security patches and support forever. I know there are people making alternative phones I just don't know if they're any good or how many made it to market etc. Hopefully Motorola and Graphene's partnership isn't just for big contract vendor stuff and that we'll see a retail market Graphene phone in the next year or two.
European governments are starting to realise The Problem with US tech, so hopefully it'll buy Graphene a bit more good will than its been getting in recent years and drive some of the demand for genuinely secure phones. Probably a pipe dream tho.
wrt pixels, many secondary market devices are carrier OR bootloader locked, in either case you can't use them for custom ROMs. In the latter case, they are commonly sold as "unlocked" because most people don't care to install a ROM.
It is not simple to get the correct device. If you buy new, direct from google, it will be bootloader unlocked. otherwise you have to find a seller who can tell the difference, which isn't most of them,
I didn't realise this was such an issue. Very important point, in that case.
I would hate for someone to blow their budget on something that ends up being nerfed and compromised and they end up stuck with THE MOST google phone rather than the least. That would be a nightmare.
Don't suppose you know of any other handsets that still get reliable aftermarket support?