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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? :)

mox ,

If you're comfortable with the pros and cons of an unlocked bootloader, you might consider phones on the LineageOS supported hardware list.

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

Thanks for the heads up. Will check. Any particular reason for LineageOS instead of any other linux?

Atemu ,
@Atemu@lemmy.ml avatar

Non-android mobile Linux is not mature enough yet.

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

I dont hear this often tbh. How do you figure?

Atemu ,
@Atemu@lemmy.ml avatar

By the fact that none of the apps I use day-to-day on my Android phone have viable alternatives on non-Android Linux.

I'd have to run Android inside a container on the mobile Linux which isn't the best experience and if I need to have Android running anyways, might aswell use regular android.

While it'd be cool to have, I don't really need a proper freedesktop userspace on my phone if I'm honest.

Android is also simply leagues ahead in mobile UI things.

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

I can see why this would make things difficult. This is what I use regularly. I know most of these should have proper browser apps. Do you think that would not work on postmarket os or mobile ubuntu for example?

  • Voyager
  • Fluffychat
  • Homeassistant
  • Browser
  • kodi remote
  • nc notes
  • calender
  • twitch
  • bitwarden
  • maps
  • music
narp ,

I think you're mixing things up a bit. LineageOS, GrapheneOS etc. are not what people refer to as "mobile Linux", mobile Linux would be Ubuntu touch, mobian etc.

Btw. do you know about Sailfish OS?

3w0 ,

Piggybacking off your comment I've been using SFOS as a daily driver for the past couple of years and while not perfect, it does work pretty well, somewhat of an ecosystem and it runs android apps pretty flawlessly. The UI is beautiful! If you want to get away from iOS/Android it's a decent choice.

Some parts are closed-source tho (UI secret sauce, some Jolla apps etc). The vast majority of it is open-source though and I trust the Finnish spiritual successor to maemo/nokia a lot more than a megacorp.

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

I have heard of it but damn, the design is sleek! :)

mox ,

Mainly because, of the Android variants that I've seen, it has the best community and device support.

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

Sounds good. I‘ll check. I‘ll probably have to test multiple OSs anyway.

vk6flab ,
@vk6flab@lemmy.radio avatar

I went with a Nokia X20. It has standard android, no extra cruft and comes with a guaranteed three years of updates, as opposed to the Google device that was considered obsolete after six months.

It's not waterproof, but that was the only feature I gave up. Cost half of my previous "flagship" phone.

No doubt there is a newer version of this device available today.

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

Thanks for mentioning it. Sounds like google is a real sweetheart with their devices.

I‘m thinking of getting a oneplus 6 with postmarket os since I‘m a fan of owning my device. This trend of the manufacturer deciding how long your device stays alive is toxic as hell.

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