So no reason to buy a Pixel at all any more? Midrange performance, poor battery life, middling cameras, AI bloated software, all at flagship prices. Its one saving grace was Graphene support and that’s now gone too.
Just in time to move on to Motorola…
I originally bought Pixels because they were the opposite of what they are now. Bloat-free devices (other than Google apps) that just provided the tools I needed to do things, while having excellent hardware security. Now it’s basically GeminiOS, and they’re solving the problem they created by throwing out security.
Every Pixel event for the past several years has been almost entirely about Gemini. A software feature. Which just goes to show that they have no hardware features.
Bought a Pixel 10 Pro instead of the new 11 Pro.
Worse display, price more expensive, no upside to the older model.Literally said to myself “Yeah…no. No, thank you” when looking at the specs vs P10Pro
I was so disappointed with my pixel 10. It’s kept a pixel 7 alive for years (great phone) and only swapped when the battery swelled. The 10 was no better and potentially worse, I replaced the battery on the 7 myself and lamented it’s loss to my son (he gets my cast offs). Such a good line of phones that’s clearly peaked.
I upgraded my pixel 6 to a 9 and this phone is much worse in most ways. I fail to understand how one of the richest companies in the world puts out worse products over time and thinks it’s alright
What do you find bad about the 9? I bought a used 8 to try GrapheneOS on, but the HW isn’t as good as my S23. I was thinking of maybe going to a 9 or 10 if I could make GOS my daily, not just for the better cameras and ultrasonic FP reader, but the desktop mode on the 8 is god awful. The output is so heavily compressed and only does 1080p, DeX just crushes it.
My personal issue is that it (9 pro) is very slow compared to the 6 pro. Searching the settings for example takes many seconds to find anything while on the 6, it was near instantaneous. Often times it is quicker to just navigate through the settings menu myself. The camera feels sluggish to operate after successive quick captures. Loading the camera gallery takes a few seconds of refresh to show new photos I’ve just taken. The rounded corners on the screen are too rounded and it cuts out text and icons (like the Fullscreen and rotate icons). And I think the battery life with the same services and apps running is not an improvement. So it’s a more expensive phone for what I perceive to be a loss of quality however superficial it might seem as I write this down
Same boat, I’ve honestly considered just buying a secondhand unlocked 6XL and installing graphene on it. I’ve not been happy with my 9.
There wasnt any 9 for sale so I bought 9a instead few days ago, because Samsung removed the option to unlock bootloader in OneUI 8.0, but so far it’s going fine.
Writing this from my 7… hoping to get another one or two years out of it.
I have a 7a will use it until graphene support ends then its onto Motorola.
I’m on an 8 but I’ve been having battery issues. Not because the battery is bad but due to a software issue since an update about 6 months ago. If I’m not in WiFi whatever my most recently opened app is uses an insane amount of battery. If nothing is open then it will be a system app.
Graphene choosing to die on the hardware MTE hill has always seemed weird to me. It’s one feature but it excludes 99% of the phones except the Pixel. GrapheneOS has so much to offer besides it, and nowadays they could use Rust as a workaround anyway.
Apparently the Linux kernel can emulate MTE in software:
https://lwn.net/Articles/833353/
The software MTE support in the kernel apparently predates the hardware support of the same, based on the above link.
Admittedly I might be misunderstanding something here, my confidence level is only 65%.
p.s.: i just learned that this uses a lot of extra RAM compared to hardware MTE. there seem to be approaches to mitigate the RAM blow up, but this discussion is above my paygrade, so I have to bow out. That said, I think it is correct that the absense of hardware MTE should not be the end of the road for secure smartphone design.
Google became the new Microsoft
Ironically, Microsoft platform as of yet still is pretty much a given that Linux may also run, with the exception of some of the Surface systems, but the ones no one wanted anyway. Apart from SecureBoot, Microsoft is picky enough about firmware specifications that are open, Linux can more easily be customized than random embedded things. Some things were rough, like ACPI implementations that didn’t comply strictly with the spec but microsoft happened to tolerate it, but fundamentally the Microsoft approach of outsourced everything makes for better chance for third party OSes.
I will understand if Graphene decides to skip Pixel 11.
However, what if Pixel 12 doesn’t support MTE? And 13 too?
Will they stop the project, then?
They keep talking about the potential future Motorola partnership, but I will only believe it when I see it.
Motorola has officially confirmed it themselves, and the Pixels 8 to 10 will keep being supported even if the 12 and 13 aren’t supported.
https://motorolanews.com/motorola-three-new-b2b-solutions-at-mwc-2026/
I believe it, when I see it, the actual device available for purchase I mean.
Well, we had a good run. It was nice while it lasted…
Probably for the best. As they said, it frees them up to focus on Motorola devices, a company that’s actively working with them.
Honestly, I expect it will become increasingly hard getting a company willing to do something like this. Lately, all of the companies have started heavily enshittifying and I don’t know many that still care about their customers. And it’s a domino effect - they know you ain’t going anywhere, all the others are just as shit. I remember a time where you had a 100 phones officially supported by Lineageos and were cheap. You could get a Xiaomi, Huawei for like a $100 and they would run lineageos almost out of the box. Or a Nexus 5 for a few extra bucks. As soon as they eliminated the competition, they’ve become closed entirely and are basically spying machines. I don’t trust Motorola will be trustworthy in the long term, if they capture any market. Just a few months ago, they were caught hijacking affiliate links on their phones (link). I don’t know when the consumer situation will change, but I’m not holding my breath for Motorola. Of course, if they make a good phone running GOS, I might try it if my pixel kicks the bucket.
GOS supposedly has 200k users. That’s 200k Pixel phones sold for the purpose of GOS. A bunch of companies used to buy Blackberries because they had the reputation of being the most secure. It’s a viable business model. They’ll be sold and marketed as “GrapheneOS compatible”.
I really hope so. 200k is peanuts for google, but probably significant for Motorola.
Actually, Motorola has more market share than Pixel.
Though Google mainly cares about the software ecosystem, so they explicitly don’t care about Graphene since it’s not an outcome they want in the industry anyway.
they are all trying to wall in thier customers in a garden.
Wish they’d focus on phones NOT made by major corporations like Google and Motorola, and instead focus on small companies’ phones like Fairphone, Pine64, Purism, Jolla, etc.
They can’t. They require extremely up to date firmware and very short update cycles. Only large corporations with huge phone platforms are able to do satisfy that.
Can Graphene OS achieve their privacy targets and principles in different ways that encourage collaboration with non-corporations?
I refuse to believe that GOS can’t agree to graduated privacy provisions according to the capabilities of Linux and sustainable/repairable non-corpo companies and their phones.
Well, than you should read what GOS developers have to say about that, they are pretty clear on it. They absolutely do not accept any compromise on that, even if that means being forced to rely on cooperation by big corporations for hardware and firmware. I don’t even judge that, it is just merely how it is.
I am judging that.
I want them to keep their principles, and at the same time partner with some Linux group or some other working group representing Open-Source Hardware (OSH) so that one day we don’t HAVE to rely on corporations for true privacy with our smartphones.
I can’t see how that is possible without compromising on their security requirements. The hardware isn’t the problem here, that could be overcome, the extremely rapid firmware updating reqirement is. That needs huge resources, hence they are using so far a device from the huge comoany behind the Android ecosystem. Already Motorola, another huge compaby is stretchung that requirement, as tgey are not sitting at the source of that ecosystem.
Again, I am not defending GrapheneOS’ choice, just describing their dilemma
Those also don’t meet the hardware requirements
But why can’t GrapheneOS work with those companies to ACQUIRE the right hardware requirements, rather than leaning on a corporation?
The hardware requirements are public. Those manufacturers have chosen not to implement supported hardware, which is step 0.
There is also a maintenance burden for the GrapheneOS team. The ROM requires kernel patches and driver work that makes supporting additional phones intensive work.
Why would manufacturers choose to meet GOS’s extra requirements?
There needs to be a give and take. It seems like GOS’s mantra is their way or the high way, which isn’t collaborative in the slightest.
Can there not be discussions held between Linux and sustainable/repairable OEMs and GOS to start integrating each other’s requirements? Diplomacy/negotiations/working groups are just completely neglected?
There needs to be a give and take
If GrapheneOS can’t handle the maintenance burden, there is nothing to negotiate.
Presumably, maintaining software for a niche phone requires effort similar in magnitude to a larger, mainstream phone. Why, then, would a solely privacy-oriented org choose to cater to a smaller audience?
Can other organizations replicate GrapheneOS’s principles in ways where THOSE organizations can maintain the burden?
Is GrapheneOS working towards industry wide standards on privacy-first operating systems from the hardware up?
Are they contributing to the field at large, or are they keeping to themselves out of self preservation (or selfishness)?
GrapheneOS is an open-source fork of AOSP. Anyone could fork it again and provide kernel modules/drivers for their hardware.
To my knowledge, GrapheneOS is not standards-based. They take one operating system, and tweak it. I don’t know if there are relevant standards to contribute to, or even standards bodies to approve them.
GOS is designed for maximum security at its base. It uses all the hardware features it requires to minimize its attack surface against adversaries that have infinite resources to attack the device and get at the infirmation inside.
Lowering those standards means opening a vulnerability, which means someone with that vulnerability can have their data stolen from the device in particularly that way, since that vulnerability is well documented.
How come other phones by Samsung, Apple, etc. seem to be doing alright despite not meeting the hyper restrictive requirements of GrapheneOS?
I reject that GrapheneOS can’t continue to do their work with Google Pixels and Motorola and NOT encourage open-source hardware developers to integrate GOS’s so that one day we can have open-source, privacy-first, truly-secure, repairable, sustainable communications devices.
It seems to me like GrapheneOS could lead the world in pushing this topic by creating cross-industry working groups to focus on fixing vulnerabilities in some of the most important intelligent devices existing today.
There could be organizations like IEEE or IEC that GOS may or may not work with, but no one has given me an answer for that. GOS seems self-isolated and therefore self-serving, as an outsider. I don’t understand why they can’t do more outreach to build coalitions in the industry, if they aren’t already.
There is a lot of government / intelligence agency interest in making sure devices can be hacked into… see the whole FBI vs. Apple thing from some time back.
Most device manufacturers are trying to keep costs down… adding security features adds R&D money they have to spend and pass on to the devices as sold.
Most people don’t know or care their devices are easily hackable… until it affects them personally.
Some people have to use GOS because enemy nations are targeting them and their devices in particular for hacking into, and normal devices are easy to break into… see Pegasus.
Using a widely-available phone with good performance, decent quality, and long term security support, meant that more people could access it. I still can’t buy a Fairphone without going through an overseas middleman, then hoping I have no warranty issues, because they don’t sell to Australia. If something goes wrong with my Pixel, the shop I bought it from is minutes away.
Those that can purchase these Linux phones should.
Those that can’t purchase these Linux phones should purchase whatever is next best.
Guess I`ll wait for Motorola
When you are so, so good at security that your OS is compatible with 0 phones. Well done Graphene team.
They are compatible with some existing and future phones. Google’s in-house processor decided to skip on an extension that the broader ARM ecosystem seems to continue to value. Graphene didn’t invent this extension. I presume that their compatibility with upcoming motorola devices indicates other mobile device processor designs implement the extension just fine.
This was the problem I had with custom firmware back when I modded Android phones — you never knew if the custom firmware developers/packagers were even going to support your phone until after you bought it.
One phone was widely supported? So you buy the next one and no one wants to support it for whatever reason. One developer says “if you buy me one I will develop for it” thinking no one actually will, and when the community actually does so, he flips it on Swappa and you never hear from him again. Shit like that.
But if you’ll pay iPhone 17 Pro prices for an iPhone 11 powered phone that comes with personal data collection out the wazoo, you’ll probably pony up for the more expensive Motorola phone coming out that they’ve (tentatively?) committed to.
I think GOS is established enough it can pull through. Won’t be easy at all though.
I do hope Motorola can give some good official support as a manufacturer.
Motorola CFW support was spotty in the past, when they were an American company. Now they are part of Lenovo (? Not sure if they still are) so maybe they do things differently now. They always had decent hardware, and their Android forks were very minimal later on (in their independent time; before they were further from AOSP) and ran pretty good for the most part. But they did not like to update their phones. Motorola phones often shipped with the Android version they would EOL on. Motorola used to be a piss-poor choice for modding back then.
I expect better from them now, but I don’t predict it.
Also, I realise the issue is with Pixel, not Graphene. Still, I would be upset if I bought a Pixel 11 planning to de-Google it.
Simple solution: wait until they announce support before buying a new phone. Short of your current one breaking or no longer updating, you don’t need a new phone right now, you can wait.
If you do need one right now because of one of those reasons, sucks, but just buy the most recent one that is currently supported (the 10) or buy one that will EOL sooner than you’d like (maybe an 8 or 9, used/cheap) while you wait for the new one (the 11).
Hopefully the resale price on the 11 tanks (it won’t) then.
Motorola has been under Lenovo for over a decade now, and still is, as a clarification.
The new thing is that for whatever reason, Motorola themselves has explicitly declared that some as-yet specified 2027 flagship model will officially support Graphene (though you have to load it yourself). This goes beyond just letting the community figure it out if it happens to be workable.
Now as to whether they follow through on that, hard to say. Lenovo broadly sometimes makes announcements and then backs out without explanation.
interesting how much would the flagship cost.
It’s been a decade since I switched to iPhone for my daily driver. I still have an Android phone as backup. I had an HTC last, and a Samsung before that, so yeah, my Motorola was before that. My wife had one more recently. Actually, she had the same one I did, then used two more for some reason (habit?). They were all pretty shit phones. All before the acquisition.
I know a guy who worked for Lenovo. Said they treated him good. As for Motorola, they kinda stopped doing phones after so many shit ones. I’m kinda glad they’re back, but I wouldn’t trust them, myself. As an iPhone guy who still likes Android, I’d mainly be looking at Samsung (it’s what I have now, it’s an old S10 that still rocks), though the Nothing 6+ or 6S or whatever it’s called, in green, is VERY tempting — if I needed a phone now, it’s what I would get. Even over another iPhone.
Why on Earth would you buy a new phone BEFORE checking cfw support if that’s an important feature for you?