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Do you have a blog where you keep a record of your experiences running de-googled device? Right now I kept going for the extremes ( either full on vendor lock i

Do you have a blog where you keep a record of your experiences running de-googled device? Right now I kept going for the extremes ( either full on vendor lock in or pinephone ), but I don't think I tried middle ground yet. Maybe that would be something I should try.

palata 4y ago
I don't. Maybe it would be worth writing one some day? But quickly here: I used CyanogenMod on a Galaxy S2 10 years ago, then Lineage on an S4. I liked them, but clearly that was "experimenting with alternative ROMs". I had bugs, crashes, sometimes the camera would not work, etc. I have tried a PinePhone for fun in 2020, which was mostly a good opportunity to learn about PostmarketOS. That's a nice Linux project, but it didn't work as a phone for me. Two years ago, I got a FairPhone 3+ Murena (i.e. with /e/ OS pre-installed). The experience has been extremely close to a vendor ROM: I essentially have not touched/tuned/reinstalled anything, I use it like any vendor Android I've had in my life. That's a big change from my previous experiences where I was expecting things to go wrong. The big difference with Google-Android is that I don't have the Play Store and the Play Services (so GMail and Google Maps won't work). /e/ OS has their own store ("App Lounge") which works really well and can connect to the Play Store. I am not a very heavy user of my phone (I'm a dev, so my main is the computer): messaging apps, web browser, public transport app, stuff like this. Most work, I have only had to give up on my banking app a month ago (presumably an update makes it crash because I don't have the Play Services?). I had to adapt a few things though. I use CalDAV to fetch my Google Calendar (for work), the /e/ OS Mail app (which is a fork of K-9 Mail) to fetch my Google Emails (works great). I use Organic Maps (open source fork of MAPS.ME) and OSMAnd instead of Google Maps (it's a bit different, but OpenStreetMaps is an amazing project). I use NewPipe instead of YouTube, and that's about it. For the rest I use the normal apps (WhatsApp, Signal, Threema, public transport, PeakFinder, Lichess... Maybe I had to get Spotify Lite instead of Spotify (I don't see a difference). Overall, with the way I use my phone, I don't think I've really had to compromise. I would say that the biggest thing is probably Google Maps which sometimes works a bit better than my alternatives (which are great). But that's mostly stuff like friends making fun of me because I need 1 minute to find something on the map when their Google Map just spontaneously showed it because it knew they were thinking about it :-). My advice would be: choose a phone that is supported by the OS you want. Murena is a great program for /e/ OS, I'm sure CalyxOS says which phones they support. GrapheneOS is a bit more aggressive in terms of security, so I think you would have to compromise a bit more. That's why I went for /e/ OS in the first place, and I'm super happy. CalyxOS seems similar, but I don't have experience there. I hope this helps!

palata 4y ago

I don't. Maybe it would be worth writing one some day? But quickly here: I used CyanogenMod on a Galaxy S2 10 years ago, then Lineage on an S4. I liked them, but clearly that was "experimenting with alternative ROMs". I had bugs, crashes, sometimes the camera would not work, etc. I have tried a PinePhone for fun in 2020, which was mostly a good opportunity to learn about PostmarketOS. That's a nice Linux project, but it didn't work as a phone for me. Two years ago, I got a FairPhone 3+ Murena (i.e. with /e/ OS pre-installed). The experience has been extremely close to a vendor ROM: I essentially have not touched/tuned/reinstalled anything, I use it like any vendor Android I've had in my life. That's a big change from my previous experiences where I was expecting things to go wrong. The big difference with Google-Android is that I don't have the Play Store and the Play Services (so GMail and Google Maps won't work). /e/ OS has their own store ("App Lounge") which works really well and can connect to the Play Store. I am not a very heavy user of my phone (I'm a dev, so my main is the computer): messaging apps, web browser, public transport app, stuff like this. Most work, I have only had to give up on my banking app a month ago (presumably an update makes it crash because I don't have the Play Services?). I had to adapt a few things though. I use CalDAV to fetch my Google Calendar (for work), the /e/ OS Mail app (which is a fork of K-9 Mail) to fetch my Google Emails (works great). I use Organic Maps (open source fork of MAPS.ME) and OSMAnd instead of Google Maps (it's a bit different, but OpenStreetMaps is an amazing project). I use NewPipe instead of YouTube, and that's about it. For the rest I use the normal apps (WhatsApp, Signal, Threema, public transport, PeakFinder, Lichess... Maybe I had to get Spotify Lite instead of Spotify (I don't see a difference). Overall, with the way I use my phone, I don't think I've really had to compromise. I would say that the biggest thing is probably Google Maps which sometimes works a bit better than my alternatives (which are great). But that's mostly stuff like friends making fun of me because I need 1 minute to find something on the map when their Google Map just spontaneously showed it because it knew they were thinking about it :-). My advice would be: choose a phone that is supported by the OS you want. Murena is a great program for /e/ OS, I'm sure CalyxOS says which phones they support. GrapheneOS is a bit more aggressive in terms of security, so I think you would have to compromise a bit more. That's why I went for /e/ OS in the first place, and I'm super happy. CalyxOS seems similar, but I don't have experience there. I hope this helps!