I wanted to degoogle since Google has been most annoying so far with S21FE. Was thinking of getting Pixel 8a but due to mixed reivews I was looking for other phones. Thoughts on this? Would be also nice if I can get some opinions from people who have the phone as well.

  • GolfNovemberUniform@lemmy.ml
    151·
    2 months ago

    Afaik /e/OS isn’t completely Google-free. It just uses some anonymization stuff to make Google services a bit less invasive and I think it has proprietary software too. For a complete Google-free experience you probably want something like LineageOS or GrapheneOS

    • lemmyreader@lemmy.mlEnglish
      14·
      2 months ago

      /e/OS is based on LineageOS with microG. They did make a choice for Magic Earth as maps app which is not open source. For “normies” /e/OS seems a fine choice to me to De-Google.

    • jinwk00@lemm.eeOPEnglish
      31·
      2 months ago

      Aw shucks, the porter moved on from Lineage to develop more on e/os

      Any alternative custom ROMs that are generally considered complete Google-free other than those 2?

      • GolfNovemberUniform@lemmy.ml
        3·
        2 months ago

        Idk about completely Google-free ones. Most of vanilla ROMs (such as crDroid, ArrowOS, CherishOS etc) do have some pre-included fixes for Google apps because most of the users flash them and I think they use the proprietary version of Monet theming (there are 2 versions of it). Usually LineageOS is what you go for if you want a completely vanilla ROM. I heard they’re considering adding some fixes for Gapps too but I don’t think it’s going to be anything bad or proprietary

        • jinwk00@lemm.eeOPEnglish
          1·
          2 months ago

          Should I be concerned if I am not going to be installing Google Apps (or gapps) or microG?

          • GolfNovemberUniform@lemmy.ml
            2·
            2 months ago

            Depends on the exact ROM (I think they’re only really tested with Gapps) but usually you should be fine. It might be relatively easy to identify a user of ROMs like this because of mismatching device fingerprints (done to unlock Pixel features such as unlimited Google Photos storage and high FPS limit in games) though

      • Ilandar@aussie.zone
        3·
        2 months ago

        Here’s a comparison of the main ones. They are all good projects in their own right so take a look at their features and which phones they support. Some are focused more on hardcore security and privacy, while others are more casual in their implementation. Some only support Google Pixels while others support a pretty wide range of new and old devices.

      • lemmyreader@lemmy.mlEnglish
        2·
        2 months ago

        Have other comments made you dislike /e/OS ? microG, which /e/OS uses is not using Google but a replacement for the Google Play framework if you would for example need location feature for some of your apps.

  • Ilandar@aussie.zone
    5·
    2 months ago

    Just be aware that everyone has a different idea of how much privacy they need and who/what from. Whilst it is absolutely true that there are more private custom ROMs available, that does not necessarily mean that /e/ is universally “bad for privacy”. Depending on the extent to which you are attempting to deGoogle your life, it may be good enough.

  • telep@lemmy.ml
    3·
    2 months ago

    if you want to degoogle the only way to run some apps without unprivileged code (GMS/microG) is to use grapheneos & its sandbox compatibility layer. this is unfortunately only available on the pixels.

    I also worry you won’t be able to use some of the customization options that the nothing phone 2 offers with its hardware when using a custom ROM. if thats something u care about.

    I have the pixel 7a & have had essentialy no issues with anything for what that’s worth.

    • jinwk00@lemm.eeOPEnglish
      1·
      2 months ago

      Do you think its worth waiting until Pixel “9” becomes available? I’m switching out on July since that’s when my installment is over + getting out of this hell hole S21FE

      • telep@lemmy.ml
        2·
        2 months ago

        honestly I would personaly look into a used option just for pricing reasons. I think the 8 offered additional security benefits though. It may be a while until the 9 drops but that would also be an option.

        • jinwk00@lemm.eeOPEnglish
          1·
          2 months ago

          Ye T-Mobile is offering Pixel 8 Pro for free if I do 24 month installment but that isn’t worth sacrificing for

          That’s why I was looking at Nothing Phone 2 which is on sale, unlocked too, for double the storage as well (I already used up 90% of my 128GB) at $550

          Heard community is growing but I was uncertain

          • Broken@lemmy.ml
            1·
            2 months ago

            If you need more storage, the secondhand market is better for you anyway.

            Though I just saw a 7 pro with 512GB on Woot for under $500. That’s a decent deal.

            Regular Pixel 8s are going for 500 on a deal.

            • jinwk00@lemm.eeOPEnglish
              1·
              2 months ago

              Lastly do you think 8 Pro refurbs are fine for $700? Main concern is lack of RAM from S21FE which apps closed itself very frequently as soon as I switch from one to the other

          • telep@lemmy.ml
            1·
            2 months ago

            I got my 7a referbished for 350. the nothing phone is cool IMO but probably not going to have good support rn for nieche stuff. lineage & divest not having working versions for the phone raises red flags personaly.

            if you are anti pixel & $500 is in your price range maybe take a look at the fairphone 4?

            • jinwk00@lemm.eeOPEnglish
              1·
              2 months ago

              Not really anti-Pixel, just that pricing could be better

              But I found some used ones in sale, thanks though

  • lemming123@thelemmy.club
    1·
    2 months ago

    I managed to degoogle stock ROM, as I wanted to have the glyphs available (I feel like I’m in a minority of users that find them useful as well as just cool).

    I did have the phone enter crash dump and at points had no ROM or recovery and it took a while as I was endlessly searching tools available.

    I’m more than happy to share what I did?

    Word of warning is you need quite a few tools, apps and packages, but they have source code available.

    I’m not a mobile developer but going through the tools they are regarded well in the developer community, or scanning the code myself didn’t raise an alarms.