LineageOS(lineageos.org) |
As a supported device with an "official" release I get mostly weekly updates. With some the device gets boggy, but over time it just keeps getting better.
I've been battling with a Sony with an "unofficial" release. I really do prefer the Sony hardware quality over the Nexus, but it takes some serious masochism and rodent mazing to put a custom ROM on Sony.
However, be aware that their focus has mostly been on security and not so much on privacy.
What this means is they worry a lot about hackers breaking into your phone but they don't worry much about daddy Google tracking you all over the internet and into the real world.
Also, not sure why this is news now since the last update was in April.
I think the bigger weakness on the security front is the blobby nature of the kernel and firmware for the properietary parts of the SoC. It's certainly better than running out-of-date official Android releases though.
I am testing the IPhone 13 now. It is quite a jump in UX, hardware capability (5G, camera, storage space not so much). Also, your flashlight app does not spy on you.
The Note 3 was truly a masterpiece when it came into the market. Also, the the exchangeable battery was very practical. And 8+ years in use: what a economical and ecological device.
If I find some time, I will have a look at lineageOS. Any hints?
To activate Google Fi service on a phone, I need Google Fi app which drags in at least open gapps but I don't know if that's adequate without jumping to the full Google Play Services.
The ranch isn't run to benefit the cattle. The only reasonable and private alternative is to totally avoid the Google brand whenever possible.
Also, most people won't forgo a lot of convenience apps/features that depend on Google services. MicroG allows most of these apps to still work without privacy invasion.
The major downsides are a bit of a weird launcher, camera app (OpenCamera ... but worse?) and them occasionally pushing their weird services (some account and the absolutely terrible search engine). Those are all easily fixed, though. What stays is a pretty solid version of Android with almost everything working (the best experience I've had with microG), which is a pretty big achievement without Google Services (... and with Android).
You may want to install additional location (NLP) providers, my experience with the pre-installed ones was not very good. I also have occasional issues related to the camera (probably specific to my device).
A fun side-fact is that they use Bromite (great version of Chrome) as the default browser without crediting the author, just calling it "Browser". As a techie I don't like this obfuscation, but for non-techies it must be great.
They seem to have that issue with a lot of things.
At one point they were stripping existing copyrights out of the apps that were taken from other projects.
Changing the display name of an app definitely is one of the more innocent things to do, and most developers likely wouldn't even object. As an example, LineageOS uses Etar as the calendar app (with their permission of course), which is named "Calendar" in the app drawer.
i use Discreet Launcher. It's kind of an acquired taste --- very Zen like, simple and functional. Now that I'm hooked, I won't use anything else