As noted by the news release from CalyxOS and Mastodon thread from GrapheneOS, Google did not release the Pixel device-specific source code alongside their Android 16 AOSP release like they usually do. I think many of us, including myself, are hoping this will be published in the near future, but considering they moved AOSP development behind closed doors earlier this year, it’s more likely Google has stopped publishing this section or their code altogether, making development of custom ROMs for Pixel devices significantly more difficult. Sad news for the Android ecosystem, and for open source in general.
Less reason to buy a Pixel, then.
Uhg then what? Samsung’s got too much of their own shit data harvesting crap on top of the Google stuff. All other phones basically have shit cameras. Time to go to iPhone? Seems they’re all the same at this point 😜
If you’re in Europe, Fairphone is an option. I’m pretty happy with mine.
Graphene is centered around security. I’ve heard bad things about Fairphone in that regard - the Graphene team even talks about them in the replies on that thread.
Respectfully to the Graphene team, they say that about literally every other OS.
Read their comment and I’m left scratching my head. Their role in security with the straight android phone (not the /e/OS version) is simply pushing security patches as/when they get them from the Android team, as they’re using straight Android. Security is handled by Google for Android, not them. When it comes to /e/OS, no idea how good/bad it is, but apparently Graphene has some beef with Murena (the people who make it), at least according to their comment.
Not at all knowledgable about mobile kernels and drivers to comment on the rest of it. I do know Fairphone 5 uses an unusual CPU normally used for SoC as that was the only CPU that was both good enough to run Android reasonably while simultaneously providing very long-term driver updates (they’re aiming for a minimum of 8 years of updates).
I can’t speak to beef, but there is more to Android security than what Google provides. That’s what Graphene is for, to make Android even more secure through hardening various attack surfaces and introducing other completely new security features. If that weren’t the case, Graphene wouldn’t be necessary on Pixels because Google does monthly security patching for them.
It’s also at the firmware level, which Google does not provide except for on their own hardware, and on top of that Google phones are some of the only ones capable of providing some security feature at the hardware level. This seems to be the main thing the Graphene team is trying to point out.
If that were true there would be no reason to use GOS. The entire point is that they introduce new privacy and security options into the OS.
You heard stuff? What stuff specifically? Care to elaborate and provide sources?
Anti Commercial-AI license
The FairPhone is expensive and I’m not sure it can run Android Auto properly. If I can’t run my own OS anymore, Android will be an ugly alternative to the iPhone and I’d have to go back to iOS, it’s absolutely stupid from Google to do this.
Fairphone is not expensive. All the other phone are too cheap due to slave like labor both in the raw materials and production of the phones. Fairphone pays every one along the production chain fairly.
Why can’t you run your own OS anymore? You don’t have to buy a Pixel. This news is about Pixel phones, one of the many many many Android phones…
Anti Commercial-AI license
The discussion is about this being the first step to Google closing the source more broadly
Sideloaded apks are the only difference left.
Sony mostly pass the camera quality test†, the “fit and finish” test, and ship a relatively clean Android OS.
You also get options to have otherwise-long-forgotten features like 3.5mm headphone jacks and MicroSD slots, and Sony’s waterproofing is second to none for phones that you wouldn’t naturally describe as “ruggedised”.
There are unavoidable issues around pricing (high) and availability (low), but by most of the metrics people would choose to measure phones’ quality, features, performance, etc, they are actually doing a great job with their products (at least now that they also offer a respectable duration of OS updates and support).
If you are looking for it too, they tend to be at the upper end of manufacturers for open-source code and documentation availability: https://developerworld.wpp.developer.sony.com/open-source/aosp-on-xperia-open-devices, though with that said due to the relatively small audience for their products, availability of other people’s custom ROMs will not necessarily be extensive.
I’m on my fourth of their phones (Z2 2014, XZ Premium 2017, 1ii 2020, 1vii 2025), every upgrade time I’ve looked around, and every time I’ve failed to find something I want to own more than another one.
† The caveat here is they’re highly skewed toward operator control; you’re very much expected to participate in the photo-taking process and I’m painfully aware that’s not what most people want these days. Low assistance provided, basically zero “AI” processing, just lots of rope with which to hang yourself. It’ll take beautiful pictures once you get accustomed to it though, whaddaya gonna do?
I had an XZ premium. If it hadn’t had an issue charging at the end I’d still be using it. The video was incredible.
I actually typo’d the original (corrected now), my 2nd was an XZP too. And also died of failed USB port.
I looked into how hard repairing it would be, and while parts were mostly available, having to take the entire phone apart (as the USB port assembly was the last piece to come out of the chassis) didn’t thrill me.
I actually did go through the repair as I have some experience in that area. The new port didn’t work either. I was rather upset.
Honestly if Google is going to close all their shit, then yeah, absolutely.
pretty much, i went with a oneplus, i bought it mint condition on a site, but im likely to get a brand new one in the future if reasonablly priced(the one i have was)
If it’s all going to be proprietary nonsense then we might as well support our local businesses, if you ask me.
Our local down the street phone building businesses?
Artisanal hand carved phones
Ya you know the ones, there’s a bunch, there’s… Uh… I’m drawing a blank.
So, hear me out, but what if we all go back to feature phones? Smart phones are convenient, but do the pro’s weigh more than the cons at this point? I am also including mental health into this btw.
“feature phones” all still run Android, to my knowledge.
Not all, but there are several ones with android
Which ones don’t? I’d be very interested.
Honestly is rare to find a feature phone that runs android around here as most run some other java based software.
In any case, here are 3 (although there are more):
The Doro runs MocorOS, which, while not Android, is closed-source and proprietary. So technically yes but I’m not sure it’s any better.
The Nokia runs KaiOS (AKA Android)
The Punkt seems like a suitable option. Although $300 seems like a difficult pill to swallow for such a simple device.
Yeah, I’ve seen some other alternatives (including Java) but I don’t have time to search them all.
KaiOS is one alternative, it was FirefoxOS. It’s pretty sluggish though. Maybe on more decent hardware with some optimizations it’d have a possibility. A lot of Nokia feature phones run it.
KaiOS is Android.
Come to the Fruit side!
No. It’s not nearly as usable. I can’t get a proper browser, can’t get a wifi analyzer, can’t even get a different dialer or keyboard. On top of that there is all their nonsense with imessage and attempted vendor lock in. I had to use one for my work. It was an awful, constrained experience.
Which would help how? If they are really going to make it much more difficult for custom roms it doesn’t matter what phone you choose.
i went with a non-pixel phone, because of thier OBSESSION with AI-specific chips, and a non-samsung one. i just like OPR12 for its battery life among other amenities…
Running the so-called AI workloads on the edge is what we want. Especially if the alternative is to run them on google servers.