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.
I’m using an Ubuntu touch device as my main driver these days (currently on volla Quintus)
It’s good, but it’s not there yet in terms of ease of use. If you’re not a Linux enthusiast, you will likely have a bad time on UT (can’t comment on sailfish, though I’d imagine it suffers in a similar way).
The largest problem is app support… By a mile. Most apps I use are just web apps I’ve had to manually setup. You can emulate an android and boot into it with waydroid, which will allow you to install apks; But honestly that feels like a cop out… which is why I try to make use of web apps where I can. (It also destroys your battery life… As you’re essentially running two phones).
I figured it’s not quite there yet. I hope market forces will solve this eventually. If Google manages to make android bad enough, demand for an alternative should arise. I’m already running Linux on my desktop quite happily, thanks to windows 11.
Yeah I think you’re right. This will be the main drive behind adoption; even as an enthusiast I was sceptical to try a Linux phone; but google’s predatory policies ultimately forced my hand; it’s only a matter of time before more end up feeling like they have no choice.
Android isn’t the bastion of open source freedom it once was. We need a new (or GNU heheh) approach.