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Google Pixel alternatives?

I'm thinking of getting a second phone to ease off iOS. It has been good for productivity stuff but the closed off nature of the device keeps disrupting my plans. Everything is either expensive or ad ridden. (Except floccus, floccus is awesome)

So far I have read about graphene OS and am quite interested. I really despise google though. Any chance to use another device and put some linux flavor on it? I was playing with the idea of a pinephone but it seems to be nowhere near daily drivable, fairphone is starting at 580 €, volla phone (german) 450 €...

Some people said xiaomi should be rootable. But the amount of different phones is huge. The price range is awesome though. I was thinking sub 300 €/$ would be awesome so tinkering doesnt hurt me financially.

Disclaimer: I dont want to go full hermit mode with no sim and a faraday bag. I respect the opinion but thats not what I'm trying to do. I want to write some small apps for my phone and use it as a computer if needed. Calling, matrix and browser should work flawlessly.

Any ideas or suggestions? :)

lseif ,

if you hate google, you could buy a pixel secondhand, right?

abbenm ,

That's what I did!

dubyakay ,

How do you buy a second hand Puxl safely?

With iPhone there's so many horror stories. Mainly what they do is buy the phone through some means that opens up the possibility of credit card fraud, then pass the phone on. Then they do the charge back to reclaim the money. Apple then bricks the device of course due to non payment and you as the second hand owner are stuck with a decorative piece.

kksgandhi ,

You can try a refurbished store, I got my Pixel from Backmarket without any problems.

abbenm ,

My Puxl was from eBay.

To be honest, I don't know much about how credit cards can be associated with phone hardware. I would think it could conceivably be tied to phone #s. In my case the phone is unlocked and it's not an esim, which I understand we will all be moving too soon.

I wonder if it might have something to do with Google Pay or Apple Pay that ties hardware information to payments? And as for Esim, it might make it so that you can't distinguish phones based on their physical sim card so it perhaps introduces a possibility of reliance on hardware.

But this is all speculation on my part. I just don't know and I haven't made whatever precautions would be needed.

dubyakay ,

Oh! No-no. Must phone purchases in NA are made by CC at either the manufacturer's store / website or a telephone provider's store or website. The CC is not tied to the phone itself. But the purchase of the item is.

If you buy something with a credit card, you can dispute a charge and claim "goods not received" with the issuer of the credit card. After a time period you usually get the money back.

I'll try to demonstrate:

https://lemmy.ca/pictrs/image/a3328db4-3d53-438c-9df0-943cacf0d69d.png

lseif ,

i got mine from ebay as well

yum_burnt_toast ,
@yum_burnt_toast@reddthat.com avatar

i bought mine from swappa, they seem to have a pretty decent support system for any potential fraud.

ridethisbike ,

That's what I've done for my last few phones. Aside from a battery issue that got replaced on a "recall" of sorts, my pixel 4XL has been running strong for years now. Haven't bought a brand new phone for well over a decade now

Asafum ,

Hell I'm still on my 3xl lol I was considering getting a new one soon

haui_lemmy OP ,
@haui_lemmy@lemmy.giftedmc.com avatar

Thats what I‘m thinking about as well.

Jarix ,

Currently have a pixel 6 256gig

Spent about a half hour in a hot tub with it in my pocket on saturday and it shut automatically disables the usb port.

Havent had any issues with it this week

If it helps

(In a sprigen case)

haui_lemmy OP ,
@haui_lemmy@lemmy.giftedmc.com avatar

What? I mean, did you test it or what was the idea with that?

Jarix ,

Its like when you walk full speed into a glass door because you forgot THAT one sliding glass door DOES, in fact, exist.

Or drive away from your parking spot with food on the top of your car.

Inconsequentlycoincidently I had taken edible and also tried a new whiskey called spicebox chocolate. Its a canadian rye whiskey aged in cocoa bean barrels the label says. So im not entirely sure th
at

DieserTypMatthias ,
@DieserTypMatthias@lemmy.ml avatar

There is no better phone than Pixel. It's because Pixel has the support for the best alternative ROMs like GrapheneOS and LineageOS. I have a Samsung A53 5G phone, and I have to use Odin to flash stuff.

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