Hello! My smartphone is dying, so I’ll soon have to buy a new one. I’d like my new phone to have pure Android, without all the apps that manufactures install. Ideally I’d like to remove the majority of Google services too, but there are some that I can’t replace yet, so I’m still dependent on, like google maps. What smartphone do you suggest me? In your opinion, would it be better to buy a smartphone with already stock android or to buy any smartphone, and then replace the OS?

  • DannyMac@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    It may be best to buy an easily unlockable phone like a Pixel and then flash your own ROM to get it just as you’d want it.

  • stardust@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Motorola, Sony, and Pixel offer the closest to stock Android out of the box.

  • Papamousse@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    If you want pure android, then a Pixel phone, but if you want to degoogle, no…

    Else you can find very interesting powerful phone like PoCo F4 for instance and replace the ROM with the dozen ones available, check XDA.

    Know that when you unlock bootloader/replace ROM, you will most likely lose the ability to pay with your phone, or play a cat and mouse game with magisk and addon and google Wallet.

    • PrivateOnions@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Pixels are the best phones for loading custom ROMs which can get you closer to the pure Android experience, and not the bloatware Android with all the Google play services attached

    • tubbadu@lemmy.kde.socialOP
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      1 year ago

      If you want pure android, then a Pixel phone, but if you want to degoogle, no…

      why? other than “your’e giving money to google just before removing google”

      Know that when you unlock bootloader/replace ROM, you will most likely lose the ability to pay with your phone, or play a cat and mouse game with magisk and addon and google Wallet.

      I didn’t know about this, custom ROMs cannot run these kind of services?

      • Papamousse@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        Nope, Google Wallet does not run with unlocked bootloader or with root. There’s a lot of programs made to avoid this but setup can be broken anytime with a Google update. If you absolutely want to pay with your phone, it can be nightmarish to install all kind of add-ons to bypass failing CTS.

  • charliegrahamm@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Asus ZenFone appears to have an option during first-time-setup to stick with stock android or add the Asus optimizations.

  • Jay Baker (he/they)@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    I agree with a few others here in mentioning /e/ from the Murena phone folks (you can buy a Murena phone with /e/OS preinstalled if you don’t have an older device they’ve listed as compatible on their website).

  • sibloure@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    I feel like a Pixel with GrapheneOS is the closest you can get to stock Android minus the Google apps.

  • Peruvian_Skies@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    I’d make a shortlist of phones based on price and hardware, then check the XDA forums to see which of the models on that list have good AOSP-based custom ROMs available. Generally, you’ll have better luck with flagship models, but there are custom ROMs available for many, many smartphones - some even get updates for longer than the official firmware.

    Another option is to use adb to uninstall bloat and crapware from the official images, which can be done with varying success depending on the phone’s make and model. For example, I have a Samsung Galaxy A53 and was able to uninstall or disable most of the several useless or redundant apps it came with, but several I could not get rid of without breaking needed functionality (that shouldn’t depend on them, but does for some obscure and probably illegal reason).

  • Rayspekt@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    If it’s just about degoogling then you could look into phones with linux. There is at least Ubuntu Touch that supports a range of popular phones. I don’t know about other distros.

    • letmesleep@feddit.de
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      1 year ago

      Well, android itself is more or less a linux distribution since it’s based on linux kernel. The version that ends up on normal phones just isn’t FOSS.

      So I would definitely count lingeageOS and other FOSS derivatives of android.