Update I have come to a decision. Thank you to all who contributed suggestions. Please feel free to keep the discussion going to help others.
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Go cheap, and go second hand if possible
what kind of risks are there with buying a second hand phone? I don’t know so much about how phones work. But for example with a laptop they could in theory implant all kinds of hidden spyware and backdoors in the firmware and it would be impossible to find it and remove it. The only protection against that is that we believe it’s so unlikely someone random would do that. So that is just an example what I’m talking about when I ask about what the risks would be when buying a second hand phone?
The main concern is going to be hardware reliability from wear and tear. That’s the value of buying refurbished, for which there are several reputable retailers online (some of which selling degoogled phones with their own OSes). On the software side, since I’m presuming the focus of this discussion is installing grapheneos, its not really a concern since you’re going to be reflashing the device
I recommend using https://swappa.com to buy used phones since they have quality assurance and returns. Much safer than eBay because you could accidentally buy a phone that has its IMEI blacklisted, which shouldn’t happen with swappa.
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Fuck all that noise, Pixel 6a + graphene £130. Why waste so much money!?
Pixel 8 Pro — minimum 7 years support and hardware memory tagging support
These devices aren’t even constructed to last 7 years. I don’t see that either of those things are worth £600 personally.
Well if the support ends, GrapheneOS support ends too. That’s why more years of support is important here.
What relevance does that have to what I said? If the physical phone isn’t going to last that long then I’d argue it is of little importance.
Well if you recommend getting an older phone because it’s cheaper, GrapheneOS support may be a concern. Also I think a phone usually can last for 7 years with 1 battery replacement, good ambient temperature and careful use.
I mean, the 6a still has 3 years of support left so whilst it is older it is hardly at the end of its supported life.
Not everyone can change a battery in a phone, I can but I would still rather not do it on a phone that isn’t really anything special and whilst yes they could feasibly last that long I think in practical everyday use application by the time you are getting to three years of daily use it will be beaten up and physically not in great shape any more for your average user.
3 years is not that much unless the user doesn’t mind changing phones rather often and beating up a phone in such a short time is just a massive skill issue tbh.
My pixel 6 is about 3 years old and the only wear I can see on it is a single little micro scratch in the top right corner of the screen that I can’t see without a light reflecting off of it. I don’t bother with a screen protector, just a thin silicon case. Battery is fine for about 2 days of normal use even though I regularly use a wireless charger.
I don’t know what your doing but with a case and screen protector, I have never ended on a phone looking worse than factory new.
Battery is a good point. I can have a phone shop change the battery for me.
Whatever idea you have to phones, you‘re wrong. They can easily make 5 plus years if you treat them right. The more problematic part is daily use and battery degradation/repair.
But google sucks anyway so I‘ll stay with postmarketOS on my oneplus6 and wait for my camera to come to life some day (hopefully).
Why not DivestOS on the OnePlus 6.
Because android. PostmarketOS is linux (based on alpine linux)
I’d either get an older model for cheap, or get a 9 because of the satellite capability. I wonder if GrapheneOS supports the latter, and for that matter whether it supports the 9 at all yet.
Added prices to post title and looking up the satellite feature now, thanks!
Edit Does the satellite stuff work in the UK and could it be bad for privacy?
Does the satellite stuff work in the UK and could it be bad for privacy?
I’m not sure if it works in the UK,(see below) but it’s really only meant for emergencies. Like if you’re lost in the wilderness with no cell phone signal and you’ve broken your leg. It really can only be activated when you dial 911 and don’t have signal, so I don’t expect that that’s something you’d want a lot of privacy for if you wanted you be, you know, rescued and alive. I think I’d be willing to sacrifice info like my name, location, and the nature of my emergency to stay alive but that’s just me. 😆- This feature is currently available in the US only (except Hawaii and Alaska).
To contact emergency services when you don’t have a network coverage on your Pixel phone:
- Dial 911 immediately.
- If you don’t have a mobile or Wi-Fi network, you’ll find an option to use Satellite SOS in the dialer.
- Tap Satellite SOS android satellite and then Use Satellite SOS and then Start.
- To describe your emergency, fill out the emergency questionnaire.
- To share your emergency with your emergency contacts, answer the on-screen questions.
- To notify your emergency contacts, tap Notify.
- If you don’t want your emergency contacts to receive your location and emergency information, tap Don’t notify.
- To connect to the satellite, follow the on-screen prompts to correctly position your phone.
- Connection and response times vary based on location, site conditions, and other factors.
- Once you’re connected, the emergency service provider should reply via text within a few minutes.
- To receive replies, stay outside with a clear view of the sky.
- When you would like to end the satellite text conversation, press the End button and follow the prompts.
Anyway I doubt it would be sending data to satellites without you knowing simply because that’s costly and you have to align your phone properly to get signal for it to begin with.
you have to align your phone properly
Didn’t think of this, thanks!
I found this (rather toxic) thread talking about turning it off. Doesn’t seem like it’s possible normally, but I’ll be curious how GRAPHENE IS handles it.
https://old.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel/comments/1f66bzi/how_to_disable_the_satellite_sos/
Ah it’s only available in the US too
Look on Starlink.com. I don’t expect it’s much worse than your typpical evil ISP or phone caerrier in terms of privacy. Certainly you could route everything through a VPN and that might help a little.
Edit: oh wait, I confused this thread with a different one when I looked at my inbox. Starlink is a high speed service with a roof antenna. For satellite phone stuff, look at https://skylo.tech.
route everything through a VPN
I can see it now:
“SOS I need help, I’m stuck in an underwater cave just outside Tulum, Mexico and I’m running out of air!”
“Finding your geolocation, we have determined your cave is in New Zealand. Dispatching rescue team to the Mines of Moria.”
EDIT: Don’t ask me how someone got satellite phone signal in an underwater cave lol.
Do you really need the pro? I mean, I got a 2nd hand Pixel 8 for a little under $450 last month and am perfectly happy with it (my last phone was a OnePlus 7t). It will get the same support as the Pro for much cheaper…
Also the size. My “a” was already at the edge of being usable with one hand, while Pro is even bigger. Plus - the "a"s don’t have glass backs, unlike the Pro and even the normal ones.
I personally would go with the previous model, and the A version. When 7 came out, I got a 6A for £299 new. Wouldn’t spend much more unless I had to.
My 7a being $300 was already very expensive for me. None of those prices are acceptable for a phone of all things.
I’m sorry for being slightly off-topic, but ONE THOUSAND clams for an easily breakable/losable thief magnet is just bonkers to me. my desktop, laptop, tablet and phones cost way less than that in total.
you sure you separated your “needs” from your “wants”?
Breakable, losable, stealable? Skill issue
Maybe a 8 - 8a?
Pixel 5… install Graphene OS on it and you still get updates
I’ll still need upgrade sooner. I’d rather do it now while I have time for it. I don’t want to be forced into messing with my main device later.
