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)
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Essential Phone (Community Build e/os/…not sure if still being updated or not though.)
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Moto One Hyper (No e/os/ build. Sadly not a popular enough phone)
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Moto One 5G Ace (Has an e/os/ build. Currently being used as a DIY game emulator on LineageOS)
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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
Hi. I too have found myself asking questions like this when I had phones that had custom ROMs.
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.
LineageOS
BlissRoms: Close to stock with “some” added privacy
Evolution X: Android 13 with the Pixel UI
Paranoid Android: Android with custom enhancements
PixelExperienceOmniROMArrowOSPrivacy|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
DivestOSIMO best bet is to wait 2-3 months for Calyx to resume