Hi everyone,
Currently looking at either a Pixel 8 or a S23 as a replacement for my Zenfone 8 that is slowly becoming a hindrence due to (primarily) the battery. I would replace it, but as it costs a lot to do that here and I have needs for a non-compromised water protection DIY feels like a dangerous option.
So S23 vs Pixel 8, what would you guys recommend assuming I can get either for the same price?
I like the S23 hardware a bit better on paper, but as Pixel phones generally are very flashable my anti-Google sentiments might (ironically) push me there.
I would get a fairphone 5 for the hot-swappable battery etc if they weren’t so expensive for what you get, and as Im buying second hand reuse is better for the environment anyways.
1000% pixel 8 + grapheneos.
Sauce: former Samsung user tired of the bloatware, spying, terrible battery life due to constantly running bullshit in the background, etc. who moved to a pixel 8 + grapheneos. The experience is night and day and its quite liberating to finally feel like I own my phone and not the other way around.
I will go for this as well. The only reason I tolerate Samsung is the S-pen on the note or ultra series.
I appreciate the freedom feeling, bought a Pocophone F1 a couple years ago just to flash it with custom roms.
Have you tried Lineage? How would you compare the experience of using them if so? Some of the custom roms I’ve tried had some things I missed UX/functionality wise but as people seem quite happy with Graphene I assume it is nice to use.
I actually use lineage on my tablet… its an older unofficial build so I’m not sure how representative it is of the wider lineageos, but IMO its good at what it does, keeping old devices running long after Google abandons them, but its nowhere near the polish and thoughtful design the grapheneos team puts out.
You can install GrapheneOS on the Pixel so I’d say that one.
Yeah, that is one of the reasons I’m intrigued. Havent looked at it since the Rossman/Daniel Micay thing though, is it still good?
As long as you don’t interact with the devs lol. It’s a really good OS despite the controversy.
Daniel is okay. The shit he got from opinion-spreading people like Rossman… doesnt make sense.
He is still very active, maybe not the official head of the project but will still answer like every Github issue.
He and many others have very profound Android knowledge and discuss.grapheneos.org and their website is really helpful.
GrapheneOS is simply a good system. They change so much in minimalist ways that make sense, like sandboxed play or enhanced permission toggles.
Two cents, I was going to recommend fairphone, my pixel 6 has been one irritating “update” after another that has made features worse and worse and some at this point have become bugs.
I’m completely over pixels and will be getting a fairphone next, great design and ethics I can feel good about.
Also, wtf no expandable storage, Google? What a shitty choice. I had cheaper phones with terabytes of storage years ago.
Check the 8 camera too, my pixel does some irritating high contrast postproc that I cannot turn off no matter what options are deselected, and even if I choose raw photos, the night looks like day.
Night sight is amazing for night vision but it makes my night pictures look almost like daylight, it’s crazy.
I’ll stop there, but the issues abound.
If you own a Pixel, get GrapheneOS. Please give it a try! AOSP has not very many features, but GrapheneOS is profound.
I sadly have to advise against Fairphones. They make empty promises, include outdated hardware in their phones so they will not actually get that long firmware updates as promised.
Also, they are way less secure than a Pixel.
And they get quick access to Android Updates as they are certified, and still are extremely late at shipping the updates on time.
GrapheneOS can literally just see them when they are out, but still has only a delay of a day or so.
Fairphone is not a good company it seems. They are a bit more repairable, but their phones are way less secure and you shouldnt use their OS.
But I haven’t heard anything that negates their ethically sourced materials or work force re Fairphone
Afaik they paid slightly better than others but still basically the same
Afaik, they don’t use child slavery, use sustainable manufacturing practices, they’re highly transparent about their labor practices and sourcing, strongly focused on environmentalism, and making things easy for their customers in terms of reparability and os customization.
I’m sure they’re not perfect, but they’re blowing away the competition I’m aware of with respect to responsibility, sustainability, trust, respect and service for their customers.
Fairphones run Google’s Android operating system. As phone hardware improves, Google updates Android to increase functionality, and these updates render long-life hardware of Fairphones obsolete. Fairphone responds by slowing the frequency of updates on their phones, but certain apps require the latest Android version to run.
Thats not a technical report but still very strange.
In general I couldnt find anything through a quick search, but I remember hearing that Apple pays the workers more than Fairphone.
Oh, I’m definitely getting one of the murena fairphones, I wanted a Linux phone OS forever.
I’d be interested in seeing a source for Apple and fairphone worker wages, that makes zero sense to me, since so much of apples assembly work is done in China, specifically to keep manufacturing costs down.
Maybe because Apple pays more to their US engineers or something? But the children harvesting the minerals and the factory workers working 16-hour shifts in apple factories in China are the ones I’m concerned about.
I much prefer ethically sourced smartphone materials and workers, and as far as I can tell, fair phone is the only smartphone company committed to those sustainable and respectful ideals.
Android is Linux, and every custom Android is just using AOSP (The Android open source project) ans putting some stuff on top, adding apps, thats it.
GrapheneOS is the only project adding substantial hardening, security and privacy improvements.
They will also never do something that doesnt work well. For example they have an internet permission, while LineageOS has a different method that may not be as secure and thus privacy friendly.
Phone companies often use the same manifacturers. No those were about the wages of the workers in the factories in china. Everyone produces in China basically, they are the best and have the most advanced tech too.
Yes I also think Fairphone is trying to be sustainable. They are doing good stuff, but they are too small to have their own factories etc.
I opted for a pixel 7 to run GrapheneOS. I would ask if you have a reason to be on Samsung’s ecosystem. I think both brands are offering long term OS support too.
Was looking at the pixel 7 as well, but it is technically a hardware downgrade from my current zenfone 8. Very happy with the zenfone performance so a bit worried the 7 would feel sluggish, or at least slower…
A 7 is not sluggish at all. I have no idea why phones have to be that fast XD
And hardware downgrade is subjective, if it gets updates its better
I fucking love my pixel.
Instead of AT&T, Samsung and Google spying on me it’s just AT&T and Google.
And surprisingly if you read all the fine print, they do mention a lot of what they collect, so maybe it’s not all terrible to have one less company spying on me
Get GrapheneOS! Now its just AT&T and you can just enable Airplane mode and use it over wifi.
Pixels have the best support for community ROMs.
ROM is read only memory :D thats a tiny part of the firmware that loads the rest of the firmware. GrapheneOS and everything else is an OS, not a ROM.
No idea where that name comes from
Got an s23 ultra last year, I’m loving it. I don’t really know what the people here mean by bloat, you can uninstall almost everything you don’t want, and disable the rest of the apps right from the phone. ADB exists if you want to dive deeper but I haven’t found the need.
Loving the fast chip and crazy cameras, some of Samsung’s extensive software is actually useful, and one ui has more customisability than any other flavour I’ve tried before. Much of the customisation is hidden behind this this app called Goodlock that allows you to change pretty much anything on the os. For example you can hide the app names on the home screen or have different actions depending on the angle you drag the back gesture from the side (I have a down swipe set to a system wide search for example). It’s crazy in comparison that Google doesn’t even allow you to remove their dumb search bar from the home screen without changing to a different launcher.
Even so, there are some small idiosyncrasies that are annoying. You can’t have a vertical app drawer without changing launcher, it’s annoying to apply themes from the play store and not Samsung’s shitty theme store, and if you unlock your phone with your face you can’t still tap your finger afterwards to unlock, you have to swipe. Every platform has some of these, you gotta pick your poison here. Graphene os up until recently didn’t support android auto and I still don’t think you can use your phone for contactless payments. Not sure about play protect and banking apps, I’m sure others here can tell you.
I the end, I got the ultra for the camera hardware but I also really didn’t want to give Google any money. With Graphene os now having android auto I might have reconsidered but I’d have to do more research on what limitations Graphene has.
https://github.com/trytomakeyouprivate/Android-Tipps/blob/main/debloat/Samsung.md
Look if those are still there?
Those are are from an S9 and its veeeery bad. The worst I ever saw. And you cant disable “system components” through the GUI.
The core OS has no GUI app icons. That is the part that is spying on you. The GUI apps mostly have permissions and all, this is not the problem
By far the Pixel. Install GrapheneOS on it, its great
If you look into Android its damn scary. Especially Samsung is completely full of bloatware, they even preinstalled Facebook at least on an S9 which I looked at.
https://github.com/trytomakeyouprivate/Android-Tipps/blob/main/debloat/Samsung.md
All those hardware specs are not important. The question is: Is this a device that I use to do things with and otherwise is shuts up? Or is this constantly tracking me step by step, preinstalling bloatware and phoning data to at least 2 parties?
Google Pixel stock Android is also full of Tracking. But Google has full custom Android support. Every security feature, the cameras, etc. all work.
Also updates are really really fast. Other manifacturers are delayed by months, Google and GrapheneOS are extremely fast
I have an S23U and a P8P and I vastly prefer the S23U.
But, if it’s flashability you’re after then it’d have to be the Pixel.
Pixels support all security features and fully verified boot for Custom Android Versions.
Nobody should use the complete tracking Android that comes preinstalled on any Smartphone really.
It not like “kinda bad”. Those are literally just tracking devices.
I am currently still using my S21 which I debloated as much as possible without flashing a different ROM on it (I don’t want to potentially break Knox). I’ve always preferred Samsung’s hardware and I prefer the smaller size to the Pixels which have gotten so big now. I still think my next phone will be a Pixel so I can use grapheneOS on it, especially now that you can use Android Auto in Graphene now. But the bulkiness of pixels really does turn me off to them. I am not a fan of their huge camera bar bumps either.
Pixel hardware does suck. They are so huge and actively got worse.
Camera of a P6a is worse than a P4a! And no headphone jack on such a huge phone.
