Hello
I’m being pushed into the market by google/android to acquire a new phone due to it slowing down. I’m sick of this marketing tactic and the clutter of preinstalled apps and junk software.
What phone and operating system could I get that could allow me to use for a long period of time and out of reach from subversive tactics from giant corporations?
I’m basically a farmer and so know nothing about coding and not too technologically oriented but would really like to break away from the capitalist/hyperconsumerist phone craze. Thank you.
Basically look for a phone on the LinageOS supported list: https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/
lol nice. My current phone is on this list!
Then try to install LinageOS on it. I am on a phone from 2016 with LinageOS and I can’t complain about speed.
Any recommended tutorials on how to install this stuff? Looks like Lineage is the most applicable to my phone.
The Lineage site had decent instructions for my phone
Edit: You only have to do this once, so take time to read and understand the instuctions before you start.
Holy Moly. I guess because I have a Verizon and not a “global” phone, I am not permitted to unlock the phone. Capitalism has thwarted me.
Yeah, that is awful. I got lucky and mine wasn’t. The next phone I buy I will know to make sure it isn’t unlockable. Actually I will probably just go for a phone with a good OS installed already.
As @poVoq@lemmy.ml did, I recommend it too.
My parents currently run reconditioned Samsung Galaxy S4 phones with LineageOS.
Hey, I use a secondhand Pixel phone along with GrapheneOS. It’s not super technical and once it’s installed you’re pretty much good to go, it has really nice and sane defaults, is updated pretty often, and the actual phones last pretty long imo. For non-techy people if you can get it loaded once it’s all you need and it disables 95% of trackers and you can still use most things.
Fellow graphene os user and I fucking love it
You also love the racist, toxic community that bans anyone who asks questions too?
I don’t know anything about that, I have an acquaintence who also uses GrapheneOS and has helped me get it set up
Having an acquaintance that uses an extremely niche Android custom ROM is a rarity, I would say.
Can you elaborate? This is the first time I’ve heard that, then again I’ve never used Grapheme and never interacted with any communities dedicated to the project.
Many people have asked this now, and maybe I cannot keep my mouth shut anymore. I was thinking to stall it out. Not anymore I guess, especially not after the kind of reply you got below.
It’s really better to NOT start this discussion again, it always bring to flame. You just need to know that GrapheneOS is a good product and developers are really good at their job in maintaining it. And still calyx, lineage, and /e/ are great product too that a lot of people can safely and happily use. Just don’t follow internet drama and use what you want to use
No, GrapheneOS developer and community is disgusting and for the most part FUD spreaders. Plenty people who dumped GrapheneOS know how toxic and unhelpful the community is. They are a bunch of rabid dogs on the internet (Techlore community called them that) that troll and attempt to shut down any criticism.
I use a Fairphone 4 and can recommend it.
Damn. It’s like $700 but a great idea. These are “de-googled”?
/e/OS currently has an alpha image for the FP4, I imagine LineageOS will soon too. Both are well-known degoogled ROMs.
It’s expensive yes, unfortunately prohibitively so for many, but that expense goes into sustainable, conflict-free materials, many years of continuous support, and the engineering required for a semi-modular phone. It will more than likely last you a very long time, longer than any other Android phone, especially since the battery, the first thing to fail in a phone, can be freely replaced.
/e/OS
Last time I looked, /e/ OS was going-to-be-open-source-later software (but was already distributing images). Now it looks like they have published a lot of source code but their FAQ ominously says
Yes – all our source code is available and you can compile it, fork it. Some pre-built applications are used in the system; they are built separately from source code available here, or synced from open-source repositories such as F-Droid. We ship one proprietary application though.
…which, for me, goes from cool to wat to nope in three sentences.
(I do wonder what their one proprietary app is, but am not going to spend more than the minute i just spent trying to find the answer to that question.)
The only app is magic earth, a maps app. It has a great privacy policy, tho, and works very well. You can use whatever you want, of course
Why include it as a default though? If they simply dropped a recommendation, or asked to install it letting you know it’s proprietary, sure people might still complain but it won’t be seen as nearly as serious a violation of FLOSS principles.
I do wonder what their one proprietary app is
I vaguely remember there was this weird PDF reader app I’d never heard of the last time I used /e/. Going to bet it was that. Never used it, installed Book Reader from F-droid in its place.
Now, why that would be a default, I don’t know. The only non “it’s sponsored” theory I can come up with is that vanilla AOSP, by itself, has no actual ability to read PDFs. There is no default app for it and none of the common browsers can open them either. This is actually a problem in LineageOS because it only ships the AOSP default apps.
Or maybe it’s their custom app store that connects to Google Play without signing in? It doesn’t seem it’s based on Yalp/Aurora Store.
No, but you can probably install a different rom. The Fairphone 3+ is also still good and a bit cheaper.
yes you now can: https://itsfoss.com/fairphone-with-e-os/
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I do like this concept. I wiped my phone and will aim to buy one of these in the near future. Their aftermarket parts are very reasonably priced as well. What’s weird is that they don’t seem to even have a market in the US.
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lol yeah my country is the literal antithesis to ethical manufacturing.
I feel your pain! I switched to Murena from e.foundation so you can get a deGoogled refurb phone - or just install the eOS operating system on an older phone. Hope this helps or at least provides food for thought. https://e.foundation/
oooh! I can download this on my current phone and it may be and improvement?! Thank you. I will check out Murena as well.
Great! I should have probably said that eOS are selling the refurbed phones as Murena. The list of devices that eOS can go on is incredible, and there’s an “easy installer” that helps with the process for many. I’ve also found the system itself just so smooth and easy to use, with its own cloud service, on top of being deGoogled 🙂 Also privacy-focused and open source software - from a non-profit! 👍
Do you know what e’s “one proprietary application” is? (I don’t and I’m curious; see my other comment in this thread.)
No idea! It’d be good to know, I agree!
TIL that’s a thing.
And TBH it’s really suspicious they don’t tell you which one.
It’s magic earth, a maps app
you can get a second hand pixel (and wait) before you boot download and install the https://calyxos.org/ ROM is amazing.
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The privacy-focused CalyxOS will be available for the Fairphone 4 as well: https://calyxos.org/news/2022/04/01/fairphone4-oneplus8t-oneplus9-test-builds/
I got a Fairphone with the default setup. It’s pretty good. Maybe I should check out /e/ the next time I have some free time.
GrapheneOS on a pixel 4 here. Works great. Most apps from fdroid
Yhea OP who’s not really tech litterate gonna unlock a boat loader, install a recovery then the OS … Unless you have a shop that sell preinstalled GOS on pixels 4 you’re not really helping.
Sorry rant over.
I have been slogging through a similar process this morning. I came upon a brick wall when i found that I have to go through Motorola to unlock my phone. They simply denied me the privilege. I’m currently looking for a way around it. I have a Moto g7 Power. They have Lineage and /e/ for it but it all depends on this unlocking of which I cannot do unless Motorola gives me permission. Apparently there is a workaround called Sunshine but I’m really getting into the weeds here and they don’t explicitly support my model.
I guess because it is a verizon phone and not a “global” phone, I’m not permitted to unlock the bootloader.
I’m unfamiliar with ‘locked’ phone as they don’t exist over here.
I’ve installed lineageOS on my moto G (1st gen). The process was pretty painless and it took me an small afternoon of reading documentation and performing the install. However I’ve been fucking with computer since forever and was OK loosing warranty and bricking the phone.
For an actual answer I haven’t bought a phone since that moto G 9 years ago so I can’t really help.
Lol yeah there was a step where you have to request a password to unlock the phone from Motorola and they just flat out said I wasn’t allowed. I’m going to offer some tech guy $50 to see if they can figure out a way to bypass it haha.
This is honestly looking like the cheapest option for me. Will Verizon be able to activate it with a different OS on it?
Yeah, make sure you get an unlocked pixel that says it’s verizon compatible and it’s plug and play; even the 5g works
I have reservations about giving Google my money.
Alcatel Go Flip 4, reliable, fast, easy to use, Non-Android or IOS flip phone. It’s what I use, and it works great.
I am considering it. I would still like to browse lemmy on my phone though lol
You can still browse lemmy. Sadly, because of the browser you can’t login, but I am constantly checking up on Lemmy on my flip phone.
Is it run on KaiOS?
Yep.
Does googled having bought KaiOS change anything with the software for these flip phones? https://androidcommunity.com/google-buys-kaios-to-put-assistant-apps-in-feature-phones-20180628/
Look no further https://lemmy.ml/post/128747?scrollToComments=true
No need for custom ROM, no need for special phone, my guide works on any non rooted Android and is well known in the community.
Do not fall for this insane tech privacy obsession scheme and all the favourite phone brands and models. Pick a nice phone model, avoid Samsung if possible. Do the guide steps and you are good to go.
A $200-300 phone every 4 years, with a $20-50 official battery replacement every 2 years is a very cheap way of getting things done. The phone will cost you basically $7/month and should be a nice escape from this capitalistic hyper consumerism model people are sold.
Nice! I will be taking a look at this. Thank you!
It would help if we knew what your use case is. What do you do with phone? Do you depend on some special apps for messaging or something? It may also be valuable to know where you’re located? US? Europe? Asia?
I’m a simple kind of guy. I would just use it for calls, texts, videos, Lemmy, and to check emails. I’m in the US.
My current $150 phone has been perfect until one day over the past three weeks it just started sucking at everything. I suspect foul play and wanted to workaround it. The suggestions of alternate OSs for phones have been great but I didn’t realize that I would have to request permission from the phone manufacturer due to it being a Verizon phone.
Just thought of it but have you tried a factory reset? Maybe something just got off kilter and that would give you a blank slate.
I just did one and it is working a lot better. Still, a good reason to be preparing as my phone’s days ate numbered lol
Forgot to mention i’m in the US
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