Alternative Phone Operating Systems - Privacyfags Unite

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Jones McCann

Jones McCann

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How are the alternative phone operating systems doing, is there anything worth using? GrapheneOS is the only OS I've had any inclination to try, although they only recommend Google Pixel phones, for some reason, which means you have to give money to Google or it might just not work. Their logo makes me think it's some kind of crypto-jew shit, but that might be coincidence. It apparently supports all Android apps, so the fact that you can actually use it for anything is probably the biggest selling point. Is there anything else that can even be considered for a daily driver?
 
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Bear phone
 
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How are the alternative phone operating systems doing, is there anything worth using?
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Apart from GrapheneOS, LineageOS seems to be the only serious contender in the Android space. However - voice calling is a serious issue with all alternative OSes, because of the missing proprietary blobs. A lot of them will end up dropping you to 3G or even 2G, and VoLTE is almost never supported unless you're a pajeet on a pajeetphone in pajeetland. If you care about using your phone as a phone, be very careful before committing to an alternative OS. A lot of carriers have plans to go VoLTE-only in the next few years.

I've actually given up on alternative OSes and I just use a debloated Samsung now. That's about as good as you can do these days. Might try a Librem one of these days if the voice calling ever gets sorted out.
 
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LineageOS does not support VoLTE on three of the phones I've tried(two motorolas and one xiaomi).
The proprietary blobs are usually compiled for older android or linux versions for some phones which makes it difficult to get working on newer kernels.
Lineage was fun while it lasted but the carriers are starting to tighten the noose and the project can't keep up. I use a rooted phone with magisk.
Pine Phone exists but, as mentioned above, has support issues with 4G. Postmarket OS is in the same boat.
 
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If you're a big enough nerd, you could always assemble a raspberry pi with a rechargeable battery, touch screen, speaker, microphone, wireless module, and SD card, put raspbian on it, then use one of those wifi phone services to call and text. The best part is, you get to brag about "building your own smartphone" ad nauseum for at least a year. even though it's something that can be done by a Chinese kid on an assembly line hundreds of times a day. If people look annoyed by your "phone" it's just because they're jealous of your 1337 h@x0r skillz.
 
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If you want an actual alternative OS and not just a reskinned AOSP, look into Sailfish. It's a descendant of Maemo, which was the OS for Nokia's attempted entry into the smartphone market.
 
Kosher Dill said:
A lot of carriers have plans to go VoLTE-only in the next few years.
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How would that be even possible? That would completely void the ability to pass phone calls from a ton of locations, on top of places that already don't have/have really poor signal.
It apparently supports all Android apps
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Because it's an Android system, a custom ROM. It's not the first time I see custom ROMs try to look more "original" than they really are. /e/OS isn't upfront about being a literal LineageOS fork either. I guess they want to look more exciting than yet another custom ROM.
Like others have said, the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) is designed to have incomplete functionality without the proprietary blobs from Google. It's intentional, and it's complete bullshit. They get to say that it's technically open source, but in reality it's missing core elements without Google shit.
One of those blobs is Google Play Services. From Android Authority :
Google Play Services is a layer of software that connects your apps, Google services, and Android together. It runs in the background of your Android device at all times and manages things like your push notifications, whenever an app wants your location, and other day-to-day stuff like that.
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In other words it's a Google black box within Android that just happens to be aware of all your notifications and location requests. Makes you thunk.
The only replacement I know for it is microG, and there's a (unofficial) LineageOS distro with microG baked into it. Or you can try your hand at installing microG yourself on whatever ROM you want (I always fucked it up somehow, ended going for the pre-made one linked above).
I can't find exactly how GrapheneOS solves the Google Play Services problem, but apparently they don't use microG.
Mandatory disclaimer that if you do anything outside of the safe and cozy Matrix generously offered to you by Google, Ukrainian haxxors will get all your data and probably cyber-rape your dog or something. So you should just trust Google instead :)
 
Clout $ Monei said:
How would that be even possible? That would completely void the ability to pass phone calls from a ton of locations, on top of places that already don't have/have really poor signal.
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They're serious about it.
www.androidpolice.com

AT&T confirms it is sending surprise Galaxy Note9s to some customers affected by its 3G shutdown

Ahead of the shutdown of its 3G network early next year, AT&T has been prompting customers who own devices that are set to become obsolete to get new
www.androidpolice.com www.androidpolice.com
 
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Have PinePhone. It is possible, with a lot of work and the right luck with the right kernel and userspace phone/modem daemons, to sometimes send SMS messages and make calls, sometimes even after the phone goes to sleep and wakes up again. If you need a phone where you don't have to worry that upgrading base system packages will brick your ability to occasionally receive and make calls, I don't recommend this path yet.

LineageOS is pretty sweet on old Samsungs though.
 
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nsopegasusyou said:
all phone towers are used for advanced military spying.
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It's inherent to cell phone systems that the cell towers keep track of all phones they can reach because the system has to know where to route incoming calls and messages to your phone. And that data can at a cost be logged. "Advanced military spying" needs a bit more details, including the sort of resources needed at each tower and how much data backhaul is required, the latter especially doesn't come cheap.
 
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Kosher Dill said:
Apart from GrapheneOS, LineageOS seems to be the only serious contender in the Android space. However - voice calling is a serious issue with all alternative OSes, because of the missing proprietary blobs. A lot of them will end up dropping you to 3G or even 2G, and VoLTE is almost never supported unless you're a pajeet on a pajeetphone in pajeetland. If you care about using your phone as a phone, be very careful before committing to an alternative OS. A lot of carriers have plans to go VoLTE-only in the next few years.

I've actually given up on alternative OSes and I just use a debloated Samsung now. That's about as good as you can do these days. Might try a Librem one of these days if the voice calling ever gets sorted out.
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I've used Lineage for a while now and I have had the occasional SMS issue but never voice calling or data. If you're worried about that, stick to phones with open bootloaders like Pixels and Oneplus. They have large ROM communities and minimal hardware complications.
 
I had lineage for my Moto G4 plus, worked well enough.

Currently on a rooted OnePlus 6 with some more debloating. Not sure what brand of phone I should get in the future.
 
Post Reply said:
I've used Lineage for a while now and I have had the occasional SMS issue but never voice calling or data
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Where are you located though? What I've found is that the Lineage Phone Quality scale goes roughly like this:

India
Germany/Scandinavia
Rest Of World
USA (AT&T/T-Mobile dominant territory)
USA (Verizon/Sprint dominant territory, God help you)
 
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