I was considering getting a LG G5. Some models support an older version of LineageOS and I love the replaceable battery.
What do you recommend?
in case you go for a cheap new phone, around here the best option are some Redmi ones. recently got a Redmi Note 9 and slapped LOS on it for a friend, for about 170€. since none are very recent models, sometimes I had to spend a good time searching for them in shop stocks
Don’t Redmi phones require an online account to unlock the bootloader?
yes, they do (redmi the same as other xiaomi phones) and that’s an important thing I left out.
I did create an account long ago with an alias email that i’ve used for the unlocking of several phones’ bootloader. it also requires a phone number for “verification” when you start the unlocking process, so for anonimity you’d need an unregistered burner phone number
so it does leave a trace in their books
Xiaomi ones do. Does Redmi require that too ?
Motorola’s Moto G series is usually supported and relatively cheap.
However, if you’re willing to spend a little bit more I recommend getting a Fairphone, if you can. Simply because they guarantee 10 years of device support after release and you can easily get original replacement parts.
So you won’t have to get a new phone just because the battery died.Pixel with GrapheneOS for me.
I personally don’t care for Graphene but the Pixel does have good support from Lineage OS
And the hardware is great IMO. Pixel 6 was my first Pixel after only buying iPhones, and I swear the thing survives so much abuse. (Although I heard the 6 in particular had many issues, I love mine)
Pixel is a popular choice with peeps!
Any information you would like to share with us on why you went with Graphene vs. others?
Any quick pros and cons you would like to share?
Seems to me (and that doesn’t mean much) to be the most secure / well updated option. GrapheneOS on a Pixel runs GREAT for me, I honestly expected a buggy experience from a custom ROM.
Also, my grandmother could install it (this was especially enticing, I was worried about having to flash an OS, didn’t want to brick a phone).
You get a lot of flexibility when it comes to installing Google Play Services. What I do is install any app that needs gplay services to a separate user profile with them installed.
I honestly don’t have any cons, I’m completely satisfied with it, I can’t see myself switching back to an iOS device or trying stock Android.
I can think of two cons, although they don’t bother me (not sure if this applies to every ROM available):
You miss out on some features / apps that come with stock android, such as AI features.
AOSP apps are installed out of the box, but aren’t wonderful for day-to-day use IMO. I recommend Fossify and You Apps
https://www.kuketz-blog.de/grapheneos-der-goldstandard-unter-den-android-roms-custom-roms-teil7/ This author made a series about custom roms (unfortunately only in German, but Firefox has a built in translation function) where he tested what data was sent in the first 24 hours of using the custom roms without installing any new apps or changing the settings. To summarize it: Most custom roms still build up a connection to some Google server (like a SUPL server for example) and some custom roms have rather bad security practices (like waiting for a month before rolling out security updates). GrapheneOS is the only custom rom that doesn’t connect to any google servers and has exceptional security (even better than Stock Android).
i was wondering the same, my pixel 2 has a dying battery
LG phones tend to lack good support for roms. That is probably not true for every device but I personally would avoid them along with Samsung. However, if the device is listed on Lineage OS wiki it has maintainers and support so it should work decent at the minimum.
From a brand perspective I would look at the device page and find the manufacturers with the most devices. Companies like Google and Motorola Mobility are good examples.
There used to be a really good website that allowed you to filter Lineage OS devices to find devices but I forgot the URL
I’m using LineageOS 17 on a used Samsung S8, which I bought ~1 year ago specifically because it was listed as having first class support for the OS on their page
Here is the supported device lis fot those lookingt:
Devices
Devices with a lower opacity image are no longer officially supported and the pages exist for reference only.
You can show them by disabling “Hide discontinued devices” in the device filters below:
