I’m tired of collecting phones, and frankly I’m a little money strapped and kind of want to coast by on older phones for a while. But I’m wanting to de-google as much as possible.

Of the last few phones I’ve had, all are working well. Most have been able to be kept relatively up to date with LineageOS, and a couple have /e/os/ versions available for them (one official, one community)

  • Essential Phone (Community Build e/os/…not sure if still being updated or not though.)

  • Moto One Hyper (No e/os/ build. Sadly not a popular enough phone)

  • Moto One 5G Ace (Has an e/os/ build. Currently being used as a DIY game emulator on LineageOS)

  • Motorola Edge 2023 (Current Phone. No e/os/ build. It’s essentially a canadian variant of the Motorola Edge 40 Neo…which are the only two newest phones to use the Dimensity 7030 chip, making it incompatible with the regular Edge 40 or 40 Pro e/os/ builds.

I’m using /e/os/ on my Essential phone (though not daily driver) to get a feel for the software and the Murena app/account. I’m willing to give up my game emulator to put it on the newer phone if I like it (though it would suck to lose my FFVII and Chrono Trigger playthroughs)

Ideally my Edge 2023 would have a build. But I’m not going to expect a chipset used by only two phones total to garner that much development focus (and rightly so)

Anyone have more long term experience with /e/os/ and Graphene and tell me what Graphene has stronger?

Thanks

  • Hellfire103@lemmy.caEnglish
    15·
    4 days ago

    Well, yes and no.

    /e/ is more de-Googled than LineageOS, and it also replaces some GApps with its own ecosystem (whereas LineageOS just gets rid of them). I would say that this makes it slightly more private.

    However, /e/ also takes a lot longer to apply updates from upstream Android. LineageOS and GrapheneOS both take a few days up to a few weeks to do this; whereas /e/ sometimes takes months.

    In the past, I would have recommended DivestOS and Calyx OS, but sadly DivestOS is unmaintained and Calyx OS have temporarily stopped releasing or updating their OS.

    • Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafeEnglish
      2·
      3 days ago

      How is /e/ more de-googled than an OS with zero Google services?

      I thought /e/ shipped with MicroG, while I know Lineage doesn’t - you have to add it if you want it (I’m running Lineage).

      • Hellfire103@lemmy.caEnglish
        2·
        3 days ago

        LineageOS still uses Google for things like captive portal detection and DNS (at least, out-of-the-box). /e/ replaces these with their own services.

  • pasdechance@jlai.lu
    7·
    4 days ago

    Hi. I too have found myself asking questions like this when I had phones that had custom ROMs.

    tell me what Graphene has stronger?

    When I looked into this, I found that Graphene is hardened and is more secure while other ROMs spec into the privacy aspect only.

    I still keep my list even though my current device/chipset is not supported by these ROMs.

    Alternative/Custom ROMS

    In no particular order, these ROMs usually change the UX/UI and maybe add some security enhancements.

    Privacy|Hardened ROMS

    Security-wise, LineageOS is a start but (correct me if I am wrong) you need to unlock the bootloader, which is not great. These ROMs purport heightened privacy or “hardened” security.

    • iodéOS: “deGoogled” LineageOS fork, uses lots of blacklists for ad- and tracker-blocking. Sells pre-installed devices.

    • /e/OS: A “deGoogled” Android experience. Uses microG, no telemetry sent to Google, modified NTP and DNS servers, modified GPS service. Uses the “App Lounge” which combines the Aurora Store with F-Droid and PWAs. Has a tracker blocker. Requires you to have an @murena.io account for some functionalities.

    • GrapheneOS: Private, secure, hardened… has a long list of features. Updates are fast, exploitations are quickly mitigated, non-profit. But, Pixel-only.

    • CalyxOS: PAUSED

    • DivestOS