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> but unlocking the bootloader requires visiting this website, entering your serial number, and voiding your warranty, which means most people won't do it. Now

> but unlocking the bootloader requires visiting this website, entering your serial number, and voiding your warranty, which means most people won't do it. Now you're just moving the goal posts... With all listed phones, you are NOT "forced to use the proprietary OS that came with the phone", and they all "allow custom versions of Android, like open-source GrapheneOS, to be installed". Those are your words. It's also rather banal to go through a list of supported phone models, reduce that list to just the brands, and then complain that not all phones from each of the brands are supported. > Most of these devices don't "support" LineageOS though; rather, LineageOS supports them. That's usually how a "custom open-source OS" works. It's not as if Google "support" the open source OSes that they allow you to install on their Pixel devices, either. Go buy a Pixel if you want to, just stop spouting off that they're the only phones that give you options when they clearly are not. Hell, some of the non-Google phones LineageOS supports have SD card slots and easily swapable batteries, which is the kind of freedom Google never offers with their phones.

NotPractical 5y ago
Reading back through my comments, I'm realizing they come off as shilling for Google. In my original top-level comment, I said "most" Android phones don't allow you to install a custom OS, which I still think is true, at least when talking about phones currently sold in the US. Google is a notable exception because they have a consistent track record of not impeding the user from installing a custom OS in any way. Every phone they've released has been easily unlockable, and their policy has always been that this doesn't void your warranty. OnePlus is another US brand that operates this way. I was mostly just commenting on the sad state of industry that most vendors, if they don't completely disallow unlocking, at least put up various roadblocks to prevent most users from doing so. However, there are indeed good, non-Google options. GrapheneOS and CalyxOS currently only support Pixel phones due to their consistently unlockable bootloaders and security features, but hopefully they expand support to other phones. See the requirements for CalyxOS and GrapheneOS device support: https://calyxos.org/docs/guide/device-support#requirements-for-supporting-a-new-device https://calyxos.org/docs/guide/device-support#requirements-f... and https://grapheneos.org/faq#future-devices https://grapheneos.org/faq#future-devices. LineageOS is not quite as secure but should still be perfectly adequate. Giving money to Google might actually make it harder to de-Google your phone in the future, since they'll be throwing that money into developing """features""" like hardware-backed SafetyNet attestation. You're right that from a different perspective (repair), Google phones actually offer you less control over your device than some of the competition. I don't think they've released a single phone with a replaceable battery, yet every phone Apple releases has one (though iOS will annoyingly warn you if you replace it yourself).

NotPractical 5y ago

Reading back through my comments, I'm realizing they come off as shilling for Google. In my original top-level comment, I said "most" Android phones don't allow you to install a custom OS, which I still think is true, at least when talking about phones currently sold in the US. Google is a notable exception because they have a consistent track record of not impeding the user from installing a custom OS in any way. Every phone they've released has been easily unlockable, and their policy has always been that this doesn't void your warranty. OnePlus is another US brand that operates this way. I was mostly just commenting on the sad state of industry that most vendors, if they don't completely disallow unlocking, at least put up various roadblocks to prevent most users from doing so. However, there are indeed good, non-Google options. GrapheneOS and CalyxOS currently only support Pixel phones due to their consistently unlockable bootloaders and security features, but hopefully they expand support to other phones. See the requirements for CalyxOS and GrapheneOS device support: https://calyxos.org/docs/guide/device-support#requirements-for-supporting-a-new-device https://calyxos.org/docs/guide/device-support#requirements-f... and https://grapheneos.org/faq#future-devices https://grapheneos.org/faq#future-devices. LineageOS is not quite as secure but should still be perfectly adequate. Giving money to Google might actually make it harder to de-Google your phone in the future, since they'll be throwing that money into developing """features""" like hardware-backed SafetyNet attestation. You're right that from a different perspective (repair), Google phones actually offer you less control over your device than some of the competition. I don't think they've released a single phone with a replaceable battery, yet every phone Apple releases has one (though iOS will annoyingly warn you if you replace it yourself).