Tommi 🤯
@tommi@pan.rent  ·  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago
Question:

My mum completely destroyed her Pixel 3, it’s time to get her a new phone. I am thinking about gifting her my .

What should I get instead?

For sure I will have to deGoogle my new device, either installing, , , or .

My top priorities:

  1. a very good camera, ideally with 2× optical zoom
  2. long-lasting battery (with a custom ROM)
  3. As much stability and reliability as I can get

(note: Pixel 10 is supposed to launch in August)
Robotti :archlinux:
@robotti92@mastodon.uno  ·  activity timestamp last week
@tommi I'm facing the same dilemma...

I will never buy an Apple product, and I want to keep Google's eyes off from me.

Pixel 9 Pro has a great camera, but with grapheneOS some apps won't work properly.
And I should buy it used, since its too expensive.

Older Pixels has a very short lifespan in terms of software and security updates.

I don't like most of the OEM's Android ROMs out there, and I would rather use Lineage with MicroG, GrapheneOS or CalyxOS. Bloatware is always bad.
AdventureTense
@adventure_tense@mapstodon.space  ·  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago
@tommi I think Google is up to mischief with their 10, and since they now don't publish their device drivers with ASOP anymore, they are either hostile to the open source project, or are nervous about its market share.

Google can't push new Ai onto everyone if people jump ship to AOSP.

How this affects GrapheneOS, who knows, but they now have a headwind to slow them down. Thanks to Google, the Pixel hardware is no longer an advantage.
Luc
@luc@chaos.social  ·  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago
@tommi have you considered the S25 instead of Pixel 9?
- Smaller and 20% lighter
- Same battery life on less Ah
- Camera software not locked down on stock (google makes you buy the "pro" model to unlock all camera controls)
- Much faster SoC (thinking of device longevity here, I don't care about today's performance)
- Faster storage (same reason)
- Display can go to 1Hz
- Lower minimum brightness, 0.9 vs. 2.3 cd/m² (nice to use in bed when partner sleeps)
- 50€ more expensive
- No GrapheneOS
Terence Eden
@Edent@mastodon.social  ·  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago
@tychi @tommi
Spell check is broken in dark mode for many apps.
Wallet doesn't work.
Find My doesn't work.
Multiple banking apps don't work.
ESim set up can be broken (although this might be fixed now).
No RCS support.
And, if you look at the forums, a bunch of other papercuts.

It is a good OS and is obviously a herculean effort. But it isn't polished enough and has too many flaws for me recommend it enthusiastically.
happyborg
@happyborg@fosstodon.org  ·  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago
@tommi
Almost my only criteria is small so I use an Alcatel One because it's the smallest phone I know. It doesn't meet your other wants though.

There are downsides (eg performance, websites sometimes hard to use because they expect everyone to have a tablet in their pockets!) but at £60 on eBay I always keep a spare so there's never a panic if it dies.