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7a here. Works like a charm and I was baffled by how easy it was to install.
The reason for using Pixel phones is afaik that Google is one of or the last vendors who allow a complete unlock/relock of the bootloader alongside having a workable security chip with.which most security features are implemented.
Google is one of the few vendors (is it the only one left?) that still sell bootloader unlockable phones period. I don't care about being able to use Google pay or anything. I just want to make my information more difficult and expensive to harvest by being able to use privacy apps to spoof app permissions. That and blocking ads. I would at the very least seriously experiment with no longer having a smartphone if they got rid of all the unlockable bootloaders once and for all and banned or made them incompatible with all the networks.
I have a pixel7pro with graphene. It works great! All the banking apps work. I have Google services (I really need Google maps), but as they are sandboxed I can stop them when I don't need them. I don't use Google play store (aurora store instead and droid-ify). I'd say go for it!
How's camera? Do you use the Google camera app and it's the same or a foss camera and quality is fine but you lose some of the Google photo processing from their app?
Altough features like Top Shot (short video while taking pictures) and face retouching are available in the Pixel Camera app (from Play Store), they can't be configured unless Google Photos is installed. For advanced editing features (magic eraser) GPhotos has to have internet permission.
The pre-installed GrapheneOS Camera isn't as good as official Pixel Camera, but Pixel Camera works without any internet permission.
Imo there's no point in using GrapheneOS while using Google's internet-assisted editing features.
magic eraser only needs internet access once to download. I have it, but g photos doesn't have internet acess
I really need Google maps
Seems unlikely. What do you "really" need Google Maps for?
Have you tried Magic Earth?
Have you tried ~~GW Maps?~~ GMaps WV?
I try to use Magic earth as much as possible, also because I like the dashcam feature. But more than once when entering a street address/number it sent me in the wrong spot. Or searching for places by name instead of address I get the right results maybe 50% of the time. But if I know exactly where I want to go and can pinpoint it on the map, it's great!
Now tbh I've found a bug (or something I can't figure out anyway) and the sound doesn't work on graphene. I need to look into it a bit more but can be a problem.
Never heard of GW maps and the only results seem about Guild Wars maps...
Yeah sorry, the app is called "GMaps WV". It's a private front-end for Google Maps. I use this to find locations and share them to Magic Earth.
Pixel 6, works like a charm, easy to install, frequent updates and feels like a better version of android.
frequent updates and feels like a better version of android.
why is this relevant if I plan to nuke the device and install graphene or lineage on it?
I read it as them saying Graphene and lineage have frequent updates. They didn't specify which. And that Graphene feels better than Android.
So it seems 100% relevant or did you just misread what they wrote?
Sorry, should have mentioned that I run GrapheneOS on it.
Make sure you dont buy a pixel that was purchased from Verizon. They lock the bootloader to prevent you installing anything else. They'll refuse to unlock it even if its been paid off
I have been using GrapheneOS on a 7 Pro since the start of the year and it's been great.
Similar to you I'm trying to degoogle. I've got Google Play Services installed only in a secondary profile which isn't allowed to run in the background. So it's only ever able to run when I absolutely need it. Down to only one app now that requires it, so can hopefully remove it completely soon.
On my primary profile I do still have a few Google apps. Namely Google Camera (GrapheneOS is still in the process of getting full parity with it) and GBoard (haven't found a open source one I like as much yet). Both of them I've denied any network access, so they can't do any tracking at all.
I haven't had any stability issues since I switched. The updates have been pretty frequent and very seamless.
It's fantastic. Zero complaints.
what I don't know is why graphene developers have chosen proprietary hardware from what has to be one of the most foss unfriendly companies
Google is incredibly FOSS friendly. Graphene wouldn't exist if they weren't. Nor would Lineage or any other ROM, for that matter.
There's no such thing as an Android device without proprietary hardware.
The reason Pixels are chosen is because they have a significantly higher level of security.
And because they have unlockable bootloaders, which is still a rarity these days.
Bought my pixel 6 directly from google, for the sole purpose of using graphene. No issues whatsoever. I only have one complaint, I can't use luckypatcher, but most apps work fine. The only ones that give me problems are a small handful of shitty mobile games I wouldn't have even installed if someone didn't want to get the refer-a-friend bonuses. Don't care that they don't work, at least my bank all is fine.
When you install graphene, you literally just have five apps and a handful of system apps that are built into android. (I think there were 20 when stock pixel had over 50, and a stock Samsung has 200+)
Pixel 8 here (broke my 7 a couple of months ago).
Works great. Updates are fast, and I keep a work profile with play services and maps installed. The only think I know for that doesn't work is google pay, which I've never understood the use case for.
GrapheneOS is great on my Pixel 7! App load times are slower, but that is a function of its hardened security.
To answer your question, Pixels are one of the few devices that allow relocking the bootloader on non-stock software. That in addition to the fact that they have some of the best security of all smartphones.