Hi,
A friend wants to degoogle his phone, so I suggested the OS I’m currently using. The one we can’t talk about… He wants a small/compact phone, so I suggested pixel 4a (not buying second hand though), but I’m afraid that planned obsolescence may kill the phone rather soon. What’s your opinion?
Cheers and thank you for your help,
Random hardware suggestions, using mobile Linux support as a litmus test
- Pinephone (Pro): Main downside is that OG Pinephone has extremely anemic hardware, and the charging circuit is not controlled through hardware for some insane reason; hope the kernel devs of whatever OS you put on it knows how to not turn your phone into a bomb. Also Pine64 as a company has gotten flak for their support of Manjaro. Can’t deny how good the price is though.
- Fairphone 4: Good hardware, but expensive. I don’t own it, but it works good on postmarketOS according to the wiki.
- Librem 5: Overpriced compared to the earlier members on this list, but you can guarantee the phosh interface will work well considering it was developed by Purism as well.
- OnePlus 6 and 6T: I don’t know much about these, but they’re very popular with the mobile Linux crowd.
As for the pixel, there’s work on it but it’s still broken at the moment. As for the hardware being too old, I haven’t used anything Android in a while, so I don’t know how much performance degrades each release, but a mobile Linux distribution should run just as good today as it will 20 years from now, assuming you use the same interface.
Can someone explain to me under what circumstances would using an old phone be risky (under a common reasonable threat model)?
No security fixes once the device reaches end of life. For pixel 4a end of security updates was 10 months ago. That mostly is a problem with malicious apps - there were some privilege escalation bugs in those 10 months - but sometimes you get a banger that can get exploited by simply loading a page or opening an image.
I get it about malicious apps but what about just using mainstream apps and surfing the web with adblockers?
Wouldn’t those be typically handled at an OS level? If you’re using an OS that actually gets updates, you’re only vulnerable to attacks at the kernel or driver level
If you are on stock software on EOL device you are not getting os updates either.
Also a bunch of recent vulns were in SoC specific stuff - outside os.
I think it’s a bit too old, if you want to stay in the pixel ecosystem maybe try to grab a 6, 6a or 6 pro. They are around $250, and they are great!
I recently got a 6a to replace my iPhone SE for €160 and it’s been working great.
Great
Pixel 4a was one of the last in the Google lineup with a headphone jack (5a being last). The OEM lost its way after that. This enough to not recommend their devices as far as I am concerned.
4a is end of life already, so no firmware updates from Google. GrapheneOS has legacy builds available for it but doesn’t recommend using them, and they might go away anytime soon
get a used device which is still properly supported, don’t buy brand new e-waste
You could just jot use Graphene OS. They create ewaste just as much as Android. Lineage OS will run on 8 year old phones.
I have a 4a running graphene and I love it but after 3+ years the battery life is shot. I really didn’t want to buy any of the new pixels because they are all too big and I hate big phones. I was thinking of just buying a new 4a and installing graphene again (because got forbid making a phone where you can just swap out the battery in this day and age) but are you saying this would be a bad idea at this point? Like even if they keep graphene up to date the phone will still be outdated (and therefore vulnerable) at the kernel/hardware level?
yes and P4a is already one major GOS/Android version behind, it’s only getting “extended legacy support” releases. i.e. security fixes are merged and backported where possible, but it’s overall not the best setup and they recommend to switch asap.
I’m pretty sure GOS will drop Android 13 (and therefore P4a) as soon as they release Android 15, since the team won’t be maintaining three major Android versions.
CalyxOS ported Android 14 to P4a, so you might squeeze an additional year or so out of it if you switch.
I’d either replace the battery in the old P4a, or get a newer model with 7y software support. But buying a new 4a is probably not your best possible move
The one we can’t talk about…
I don’t get it ? Why can’t we say it’s name ?
Yes, that is too old for a new phone considering it’s already past its end-of-life for both official support and your OS. I’m not sure why you’d recommend them to buy new either - a phone like that is only going to be good value if you pick up a used one for cheap. A new model will be massively overpriced for what it is (and may not even be new, just refurbished and repackaged).
I guess they were talking about a refurbished or a used one.
They specifically said “not second hand” so I assumed not.
Sorry I am really blind recently. A new 4A is a terrible deal
Umm one question by the way , why use Google phone to degoogle? There are plenty of good Android phones out there right?
While it is ironic, the pixels are easy to unlock the bootloader and have good support across lineage, calyx, and graphene. Been using one to degoogle for awhile and would recommend them
Google makes the most open and customizable phones. Unlocked bootloaders, the ability to sign your own code. Rapid security updates for baseband drivers.
Nobody else comes close.
https://grapheneos.org/faq#future-devices
Actually pine phone is really open, but it’s not android and nowhere ready to be a daily driver.
What’s the OS we can’t talk about?
Hannah Montana Android.
We don’t talk about Hannah Montana Android.
We sing about Hannah Montana android
To be more helpful than the joke comments you’ve received so far, it’s graphene OS that’s causing a lot of controversy.
What’s the controversy?
They claim their security measures are better then other custom ROMs.
Don’t they all make that claim?
Do they all really? I know GrapheneOS does, and I think DivestOS even says “use my OS to stay as up to date as possible, but if you have a current/supported Pixel, use GrapheneOS instead for superior security.” But I don’t recall other OSes really going “we’re more secure than GrapheneOS and here’s why.”
Hence the controversy! 🙂
Also, Graphene tend to act superior about it and it pisses people off.
That doesnt sound like a controversy, its bascially “btw, I use arch”
https://www.privacyguides.org/en/android/
There is no controversy. There’s a lot of people memeing. I haven’t seen a single security analysis, or survey of options, that didn’t put GOS at the very top. Look at privacy guides, they say graphene is great, but if you can’t use that divest is okay.
People may not like the leader, and the developers are very opinionated which turns other people off, but I don’t think there’s any questioning the pedigree and the level of security provided
I’m honestly not quite sure, I just know people are getting riled up when it’s mentioned.
It gets people going, (Daniel) 'Mkay?
I stole this from another lemmy comment, please don’t come after me
Who’s comment was that 😂
Can’t really remember right now. I think it was a thread on which phone to buy and people were talking about graphene os on pixels.
Someone commented something along the lines of “m’lady” but with Daniel Micay’s name as a pun
The open-source one that’s so powerful it summons an online fight with at least 50 members if mentioned. It’s kinda anomalous so it is recommended not to mention it online until further research.
The OS-who-shall-not-be-named lest you summon it’s power.
The Google Pixel 4a is officially end-of-life and doesn’t get any software and security updates anymore (https://endoflife.date/pixel).
CalyxOS still provides extended support for Pixel 4a until August 2024.
FYI: “Extended support” from a custom rom means the OS level software gets updated, not the device firmware. So you still end up with a not fully up to date phone.
Written from my Pxiel 4a. :)
I’m using a 4a right now which I bought last year, refurbished. It’s a great phone and has a headphone jack. If you’re concerend about updates, install an alternative OS. If you want to degoogle that should be the path anyway.
I bought a used Pixel 5 in Feb for my daily driver. Replaced my Pixel 3 only because the power button was flaky. They both still run great. By my standards, getting two years out of a phone I paid $150 for is better than getting three years out of a $700 phone.
You can install LineageOS or e/OS on it (instead of Graphene, if that’s too controversial), and then the 4a is a good phone to use.
Writing from a 3 years old 4a running CalyxOs: the phone is a perfect choice if you want a small sized phone with a 3.5mm jack and that gets constant updates. The camera might be a little better but I don’t take many pictures so I don’t mind.
the camera is amazing, but you need to use the Google Camera app for it to take advantage of all the Pixel magic. 3rd party camera apps will yield lousy shots comparatively.
Yes, it’s too old. Does not receive software updates anymore. The newer a-series of phones are still quite a bit larger than the 4a but also quite a bit smaller than the 8 or especially 8 “Pro” or whatever the fuck stupid name they’re giving phones these days.
The software updates are maybe not an argument when it comes to degoogling? Then it depends if the OS they plan to use still sends updates.
The hardware driver updates are absolutely critical if you want to have a secure phone. The phone has to be within the support window, to get any hardware driver updates. The risk surface of a phone’s hardware is huge, you’ve got the Bluetooth drivers, you’ve got the Wi-Fi drivers, you’ve got the modem drivers, and any other sensors I may have forgotten about.
I mean…you’re gonna have to run some operating system on it. And that operating system is going to need security updates.
