Paradoxically, Google is the one Android manufacturer dedicated to device experimentation and security (and I stress security, not privacy) in a way that allows for a secure mobile os stack that's resilient to spyware or tampering. Graphene build on the security and privacy that few other OEMs match on Pixel.
I use it for the security as it is easily the most secure OS on the most secure phone. It also gets very timely updates.
And me (or thousands of people) not buying a Pixel won’t exactly cripple the behemoth, or even make a dent in the bottom line. From what I remember, their hardware department is not where they make a lot of money.
I'd say pixel. I think my next phone will be a mid range pixel. I went with a top of the range oppo last time and it's a frustrating experience with after market products - they just don't exist. the fast charging is brilliant but you can't buy like a 3rd party power brick which will do VOOC fast charging. I can't even buy an OPPO 80w charger in Australia. Want a nice case for it? no chance. So I'm going to try pixel next for the ecosystem. I had samsung previously and just couldn't get over the blandness of them!
I'd also tend towards a Pixel, 7a probably, like @neoNgEcho mentioned. Are there any blatant cons to such a decision? What about realworld battery life?
FWIW, I can easily get a full day out of my pixel 6a. The only down-side that I perceived, having upgraded from a pixel 3a was the loss of the headphone jack (RIP) and the in-screen fingerprint reader being finicky/sub-par (which I believe is also true of the 7a)
Thanks for the info! Headphone jack is not a huge loss for me as I use bluetooth headphones already. Fingerprint is kind of bummer to hear, I wanted to switch partially because the fingerprint on the edge 20 sometimes randomly just goes unresponsive to any kind of touch. Meh :-/
Have you tried the setting "display > screen protector mode" this increases the sensitivity of the screen including fingerprint. Now it works in all but the brightest sunshine.
I've been researching phones to replace my Moto X4. The Pixel 7a seems like a good choice, but I'm disappointed in having to accept several downgrades after all these years. 1) No headphone jack. This isn't that big a deal, but it does seem silly that I can't get that. 2) No storage expansion card. This one I can live with. 128 GB is likely enough. 3) Slightly less wide. I really don't want a giant phone at all, but my eyes are getting bad and I'd prefer something wider and maybe just a tiny bit taller than the X4. The Pixel 7a is a little too narrow for my taste. 4) Weight. I know I'm going to have to give in on this one, but my Moto X4 is a nice light 163 g. Pixel 7a is 193.5 g.
The other general issue is that the build quality on Pixels seems to be all over the map. Some people seem to have no problems, others have tons.
I've also been looking at the Moto G Power 5G 2023, which is larger, weighs a little less, probably gets better battery life, has a headphone jack and expansion card slot, has 256 GB of storage and is considerably cheaper. The downsides though are that the camera won't be as good as the Pixel 7a and the software update support will likely not go more than a few years. Also, the Moto G Power 5G 2023 seems enormous to me. I don't know if phone manufacturers all wear pants with incredibly deep pockets or what. But I hope they reign in the sizes heights.
Hopefully it runs with the mainline kernel and doesn’t depend on binary blob drivers preventing easy updates when the manufacturer stops supporting it.mm
I know they tried to make it sound big and scary because “normal users”, but really for anyone with even passing technical knowledge, adb uninstalling packages isn’t that bad. Anyone who had sideloaded apps from their PC already uses that method, not hardcore developers.
The bigger issue is that it took two weeks to come up with that, and if it was my primary phone I would have already wiped it as I couldn’t wait that long for a fix, even manual.
"It proves that Google’s app store practices are illegal and they abuse their monopoly to extract exorbitant fees, stifle competition and reduce innovation."
Worked for a small publisher that nixed a couple of mobile app projects (that I thought would be really cool) because of the monopoly position Google has. I really dislike how mobile programming is gated by Google+Apple.
For "Do not disturb" (if this is what you ask) you can configure it in device settings: Sound > Do Not Disturb > section "What can interrupt do not disturb".
It seems that I used that before, and it had those options.
It seems that I left that option and went to the Mute afterwards.
One of the reasons was that I needed to manually set up Do not disturb through many buttons, when I can Mute with two button presses. (I can set a schedule but it changes day to day so it's not convenient.)
So Do not disturb became less convenient to be used.
"Do not disturb" option should be available as a quick setting tile, which is more complicated to activate from a button combination, but not too hidden in the device settings.
Swap screen down from the top of the screen - like when you want to see a notification: different devices acts differently, in some you have to swap from upper-right to see the tiles. You can also edit the tiles to add, remove and re-arrange, in order to have the ones you use more often in the first page.
And lots of services rewritten in Rust, including the boot loader. I actually want releases that just makes the system faster, more secure and more stable over features.
I mean, yes and no. If you upgrade to Android 14 you get to keep your apps. But you won’t be able to install any apps targeting Android 5.1 or older, they claim because malware often targets older API levels that have more access. I tend to believe that, Android 5.1 was released at the start of 2015 and a lot has changed since then. And people get texts with downloads of apks, and actually install them.
But I still believe you should be able to disable that protection if you want to (and do we know you can’t, in developer settings?).
For me, the question is whether I have the right to use a device I bought as I want or not. There is, rightly, a lot of talk about "right to repair," but now the issue is becoming "right to use".
Can I install an old application that I still find useful or should be the operating system to decide if i can use it, without there being an incompatibility issue?
Can I decide what permissions I want to give an application or should the Play store (and protect) decide without appeal what I can do?
I would argue that because this is a new OS and not an update to an existing one, “right to use” doesn’t really apply. Just don’t install the new OS.
OSs make decisions about what we can run all the time, intentionally or not. But as long as you aren’t prevented from using what you already have, I don’t really see it as a “right to use” issue.
You have the obligation to use it since the manufactures doesn't gives updates to various versions of the OS, for example, if the device has version 13 and there is an update for 14 if you choose to not get the newer version you'll not get security updates for version 13. Also, newest devices will get only version 14 (or newer) and with the boot loader locked you can't install a different version of the OS.
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