7 ms·

i have owned nearly every Google phone since the G1. i will not be purchasing any future devices from them unless they change course.

JasonHarrison 28d ago
What will you purchase instead? It sucks that the modern smartphone OS market is a duopoly.
- tsimionescu 28d ago
  Since they're saying "Google phone", not "Android phone", I imagine the next purchase could be a Samsung or such.
  - usef- 28d ago
    Comments elsewhere in this thread say other major brands are even more locked down. Edit: > With One UI 8, Samsung removed the OEM-unlocking capability globally, > Samsung uses a physical Knox Warranty Bit/e-fuse. Loading unofficial software can permanently trip it. This seems far worse than google releasing source slowly
    - tsimionescu 28d ago
      Samsung was a bad example of a plausible alternative, yes.
  - dredmorbius 25d ago
    If you want GrapheneOS, the only other option, still pending, is Motorolla. A partnership was announced earlier this year, but no devices will be delivered until 2027. See: <https://grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/117078064184215730 https://grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/117078064184215730>.
- palata 28d ago
  The Motorola one, when it comes with GrapheneOS!
- thyristan 28d ago
  Fairphones are easy to unlock, repairable, have a long lifetime and offer a variety of different operating system distributions.
  - broken-kebab 28d ago
    Fairphone with its 8-year updates, swappable battery, and decent repairability is great for those of us who doesn't like to be forced to change phones often. I'm not sure, however, what variety of distributions you mean. It supports 1 Android, and 1 de-googled Android. Which isn't bad at all, but still doesn't sound like "variety".
    - sjamaan 28d ago
      It also supports PostmarketOS. This post made it to HN yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49338285 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49338285
    - thyristan 28d ago
      Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open-source_mobile_phones https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open-source_mobile_pho...) lists /e/OS, CalyxOS, IodéOS, LineageOS, postmarketOS, Ubuntu Touch, the latter two being non-Android, the rest Android derivatives on Fairphone 5. Fairphone 6 has only /e/OS and IodéOS listed at the moment, but that will probably change after some time on the market. There are also various reports of things like running e.g. Fedora on an FP6, https://www.notebookcheck.net/Fairphone-6-turns-into-a-Linux-phone-running-Fedora-44-with-working-cameras.1372181.0.html https://www.notebookcheck.net/Fairphone-6-turns-into-a-Linux... or Debian on FP4/5, but those generally aren't something that is usable due to lacking support for basic things like calls.
  - MrDrMcCoy 27d ago
    I would love to have a Fairphone, but sadly I live in the USA.
    - jkaplowitz 27d ago

JasonHarrison 28d ago

What will you purchase instead? It sucks that the modern smartphone OS market is a duopoly.

tsimionescu 28d ago
Since they're saying "Google phone", not "Android phone", I imagine the next purchase could be a Samsung or such.
- usef- 28d ago
  Comments elsewhere in this thread say other major brands are even more locked down. Edit: > With One UI 8, Samsung removed the OEM-unlocking capability globally, > Samsung uses a physical Knox Warranty Bit/e-fuse. Loading unofficial software can permanently trip it. This seems far worse than google releasing source slowly
  - tsimionescu 28d ago
    Samsung was a bad example of a plausible alternative, yes.
- dredmorbius 25d ago
  If you want GrapheneOS, the only other option, still pending, is Motorolla. A partnership was announced earlier this year, but no devices will be delivered until 2027. See: <https://grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/117078064184215730 https://grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/117078064184215730>.
palata 28d ago
The Motorola one, when it comes with GrapheneOS!
thyristan 28d ago
Fairphones are easy to unlock, repairable, have a long lifetime and offer a variety of different operating system distributions.
- broken-kebab 28d ago
  Fairphone with its 8-year updates, swappable battery, and decent repairability is great for those of us who doesn't like to be forced to change phones often. I'm not sure, however, what variety of distributions you mean. It supports 1 Android, and 1 de-googled Android. Which isn't bad at all, but still doesn't sound like "variety".
  - sjamaan 28d ago
    It also supports PostmarketOS. This post made it to HN yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49338285 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49338285
  - thyristan 28d ago
    Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open-source_mobile_phones https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open-source_mobile_pho...) lists /e/OS, CalyxOS, IodéOS, LineageOS, postmarketOS, Ubuntu Touch, the latter two being non-Android, the rest Android derivatives on Fairphone 5. Fairphone 6 has only /e/OS and IodéOS listed at the moment, but that will probably change after some time on the market. There are also various reports of things like running e.g. Fedora on an FP6, https://www.notebookcheck.net/Fairphone-6-turns-into-a-Linux-phone-running-Fedora-44-with-working-cameras.1372181.0.html https://www.notebookcheck.net/Fairphone-6-turns-into-a-Linux... or Debian on FP4/5, but those generally aren't something that is usable due to lacking support for basic things like calls.
- MrDrMcCoy 27d ago
  I would love to have a Fairphone, but sadly I live in the USA.
  - jkaplowitz 27d ago