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this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2024
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I am currently in the market for a new mobile phone. The current's one battery is basically dead and because of security patches now being about 2 years old I have to replace it whole instead of just getting the battery replaced again.
Pixel with GrapheneOS has been my number one choice for some time but...
It's a "consumable" product for me. Loosing/drowning it is not a big deal, where drowning 800 euros is just hard to justify no matter how much money I make.
I will probably just get the OnePlus Nord 4 instead because of their pledge to do 6 years of updates.
I'm not sure about over in Europe but around here the trick to an affordable Pixel is to just buy last years model since you can usually find them lightly used or even new in the $300 - $400 range and updates are only incremental anyway and since they get 7 years of updates now it should be good for quite a while.
For google play protect yeah thats a bummer, I just use my banks website but I don't know if European banks allow that.
Personally though I love Graphene OS it turned my phone from a device I hated due to anxitey I feel around corporate surveillance into a device I genuinely like again.
i can especially relate to the last part, it's so freeing to feel in control of my phone!
I'm very close to pulling the trigger on Graphene. One question though - usually when I try open source / secure alternatives to some popular software the UI is janky and super old looking.
Is Graphene like this with their custom apps / UI stuff? Will I notice? Or is it identical to the stock OS UI design?
The os and the apps that are built in are quite nice basically just look and feel like stock android. Beyond the built in stuff it is a bit more hit and miss if you want to stick to FOSS only like osmand is ok for maps but not really close to google maps. Personally I stick to only FOSS apps but you dont need to be as paranoid as me even while using graphene you can install apps from the play store including google apps. Graphene does have additional privacy protections when using google apps and you can take that a step further by having a separate profile for apps you dont trust. Really though you should read through some of the docs on the graphene website because only you can decide whether the convenience tradeoffs are worth it for your specific case.
Buy used, and/or buy an "a" model.
GrapheneOS is clearly the ideal ROM/OS, but alternatively there is another privacy and security centric ROM that supports a lot more devices, with the trade-off being it's not GrapheneOS.
Check out DivestOS and it's supported device list to see if that's a better fit for you. It's from the same developer as the Mulch and Mull browser forks.
As far SafetyNet/Play Project and other anticonsumer "security attestation" features, some bank apps will work fine, what others won't.
Does their website provide PWA support?
Just buy an older supported device if grapheneos is important to you. Something like a 6 pro would be fine.
To anyone reading this a 6 is a great pick but its worth knowing that the 7 year update promise only began with the pixel 8 so if you buy a 6 in 2024 it probably only has about 2 years of updates left. However they are only like $150 used I think so the value is probably there even if you only get 2 years of use out of it.
What's the point of Goggle's security support when you're buying the phone for GrapheneOS?
That's disappointing...
You expect them to backport security updates to pixel 3 or whatever for free when even the manufacturer doesn't?
Isn't that what Lineage does?
They only backport (some) OS patches, the firmware doesn't get updated after the vendor classifies a device as EOL.
To get Android into a fully patched state, you need both firmware updates that come from your phone's vendor, as well as OS patches that come from your OS developer (in this case GrapheneOS). GrapheneOS usually only provides OS updates as long as Google provides firmware updates, because they don't want people to run outdated and potentially insecure devices with old, unpatched firmware. But they have extended update cycles for some EOL devices like the Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5.
7a was the sweet spot for me, even if $300 is frankly a lot by my measure. But I think it was a worthy investment for me.
Would definitely not get a pro since the 7a is already on the edge of what I can use with one hand. Same for 7 but downplayed, I didn't opt for this one because it has a glass back.
https://privsec.dev/posts/android/banking-applications-compatibility-with-grapheneos/
300€ is not disposable for me... People are used to buy phones over 800€ but 300€ is already quite a price
Your bank specifically requires Play Protect? That's odd, I've never heard of something like that before. I'd still check this list to see if it might be compatible with GrapheneOS: https://privsec.dev/posts/android/banking-applications-compatibility-with-grapheneos/
You can get a Pixel 7a for under 300 EUR, and it is supported until 2028, so you don't lose out on updates.
You can replace the battery easily and there are roms like calyx and divestos, which support bl relocking. Although divestos doesn't look very stable, but I haven't tried it.