I wouldn’t say “excited”, as I don’t know of it having any specific advantages over what’s already on the market.
I’m quite fond of my 7 and 8 though. Battery life and cell reception could be better, but I’ve never found either to be less than satisfactory.
The pixel 8 was exciting because it was the 1st android smartphone which broke the usual 5 years of update cycle and jumped to 7 years. Making other OEMs like Samsung and OnePlus to play catchup.
Pixel 9 appears like a minor improvement in comparison. Hopefully, the SOC provides improved battery life due to better modem, and modern ARM cortex cores.
The pixel 8 was exciting because it was the 1st android smartphone which broke the usual 5 years of update cycle and jumped to 7 years.
The Pixel 8 also has MTE support.
Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro are ARMv9 devices supporting hardware memory tagging…Hardware memory tagging is going to provide a massive increase to protection against remote exploitation for GrapheneOS users. It’s the biggest security feature we’ll be shipping since we started in 2014.
https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/8439-mte-support-status-for-grapheneos
I want a phone for $0, which Koodo (or other) will offer this phone for within 15 months.
I’ll contain my excitement until then.That being said, I am liking the Pixel line, in general, so I’m sure either my wife or I will have one eventually.
Also, I haven’t known anyone to have genuine phone excitement since the blackberry (c. 2009), though I often detect iphone smugness (if only they knew).
I do miss “back in the day” when I was a kid, where every phone had its own OS and apps, and it was exciting to go through every single option and button on the phone
These days, bar a few small hardware differences, every iphone is the same as the next, and every android is the same as the next.
I much prefer a standardised OS (android,iOS,whatever) but its not exciting anymore
I was always a cheap Nexus/Pixel A guy that traded up when the new budget phones went for sale on the Play store. I got my 6A for like 150 bucks brand new. When the 8A was announced for 500 dollars and barely better than the 6A I jumped to a refurbished 7 Pro and I’ll probably just keep this phone until something really special comes out or I just abandon carrying a cellphone all together [most likely.]
Google Fi and every banking app ive tried work fine on Graphene, Android auto as well. The only thing that definitely does not work is google pay
I use google pay as much as humanly possible so that’s not an option for me unfortunately.
Just use a credit card…
Then I have to carry one. Plus you can be far more anonymous.
Personally, I gave up on google as a whole
Same. I have come to trust Apple’s commitment and attitude towards user privacy substantially more than Google. I actually know a person that works in a fairly high middle management position in a technical department at the fruit company, and he told me that even their internal handling of user data is incredibly restrictive, even when it makes their jobs harder. I don’t think Apple is perfect, but better than the alternative.
Apple’s commitment to privacy is just marketing:
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/sep/23/apple-user-data-law-enforcement-falling-short
https://www.cyberghostvpn.com/privacyhub/apple-privacy-violations/
Not saying Google is any better, but Apple is much worse than they paint in adverts
I’m well aware of the risks inherent to not running calyx or graphene, but my threat model doesn’t justify sacrificing a lot of the functionality that I enjoy on an iPhone. If my threat model required it, I’d have an unactivated burner and a pixel device running calyx in addition to my iPhone. I’m happy settling for “better than google” based on my needs. I also have a couple PCs running Linux, with steps I can take to ensure some level of privacy if needed.
Thanks for posting some good reading though, it’s all shit I’m generally aware of.
Apple is a locked in ecosystem what is based entirely on proprietary software. I’m not sure how that is good for privacy. They can and are collecting your data. You also can’t get apps outside of the App store which limits your options.
AOSP based Android Like Lineage OS is the only way.
yes I’m surprised at the lack of FOSS apps on IOS.
Yeah we should start our own FOSS app store for iOS.
Oh wait, you can’t…
I’m not
The App store is very restrictive and the OS is locked down
Okay
Pixels are the best degoogle phone thanks to GrapheneOS…
ok?
What a dumbass edit. It’s probably because “ok?” Adds literally nothing and you could’ve just said nothing instead. But noooo must be fanboys down voting you right? 🙄
k
3rd option. I’m not excited about the 9, but I’m sticking with the Pixel 8 I already own. I’ll upgrade to whatever Pixel number adds enough new features to justify the cost.
I’m still sitting on my LG V60 and dreading the day I have to lose my headphone jack and micro SD slot.
I’m riding this 6a all the way to bricktown, then I’m switching to a repairable alternative. Also never buying Google hardware or registering for Google services ever again.
Do you have any prospects in mind for a repairable phone? I’m of a similar mindset, but the premium on the existing ‘repairable’ phones out there is so high that I don’t feel like I can justify it.
No not really. I said it a bit vague because I think because of EU mandates more phones will be repairable(Soon TM hopefully). I wholly agree with you about the price of, for example, Fairphones. On the other hand my usage has changed radically from 10y ago, and consequently my phone is holding on much longer, so I’m saving up in the extra years this phone is surviving for a more expensive and arguably worse phone except for the repairability. Every day, it becomes worth more and more to me to be as independent from (large) corpo’s as possible, so effectively it’s becoming a better and better deal 😊. Same story for laptops, except it’s Framework instead of Fairphone
I have already said “goodbye google” and “hello moto”, but long story short I had to factory reset my old Pixel 6 last night and ran smack dab into this:
https://9to5google.com/2024/07/01/pixel-6-reset-bricking-reports/
Right now I don’t even know how to turn the damn thing off. 😆
didn’t the 8 just come out. I recently got a 7 to save some bucks.
The 8a came out this spring. The 8/Pro was last fall I believe.
ah yeah. I actually just got a 7a. honestly I find these short upgrade times to make it harder to pay attention to the stuff at all. Its like eating at a place all the time as opposed to eating out rarely and being hungry to experience that favorite place when you can.
Yes a year ago. Kind of works that way.
I never buy new phones but I am excited to see used pixel 8s get cheaper!
My Pixel 6 still works
Google is the only one implementing the full spec for bootloader relocking with custom keys, so as far as I’m concerned they’re the only viable manufacturer now (RIP OnePlus, you used to be good).
The default UX on most phones just plain outright sucks. I keep hearing Samsung is better, IMO modern OneUI sucks just as much as TouchWiz sucked. Everyone tries to differentiate themselves by how much bloatware they load up on the phone so customers go wow it’s got so many features! Lately they’re all in on the AI fad as well, and subscriptions, and their own store.
Been a custom ROM user forever, and I have no intention of letting go of that. My phone is almost 5 years old now, and it still runs better than the out of the box experience of any phones on display at the stores. Raw hardware performance is utterly useless if the stock OS immediately wastes it all and some more.
So I’m not excited about the Pixels but they’re also the only viable option.
Do wallet/banking apps still work on a custom rom?
Do you lose out on anything?
Wallet no. For banking apps it depends on the app. For me about 80 percent work
I’d like to get a Pixel for GrapheneOS but I’m sorta waiting to see if the upcoming fold has pen support. If not, I’ll probably just get an earlier model since it’s cheaper.
Never given the slightest flying fuck about flagship phones.
Current phone is an A52 that I bought on sale and intended to use for at least 4yrs.
Stop feeding the bullshit machine!!!
