I have now a pixel 8, which was working OK from the past 8 months and using grapheneos. Unfortunately, today out of nowhere got the green screen bug (searched around, this seems to be really a thing with pixel 8 and some pixel 7). This really stroke me a nerve. Previously I had a pixel 5 which at some point also got screen problems and later the speaker piece just straight up did not work properly. And now this with the pixel 8.
So my question is: what other phones could potentially be used with a custom ROM that allow bootloader relocking? Other Roms can be something like divest or calyx (I used calyx before, so I am fairly familiar with it).
It really pisses me off the only option until now are pixel phones for proper relocking (from what I know from a while back), and then they have these annoying issues. It makes my skin crawl, but if required I would change to an iPhone (and throwaway a lot of things that android is actually superior, such as proper tor browser, VPN split tunneling, work/user profiles, no bloody account to use a phone).
Thanks for the responses in advance.
Fairphone is an option. Can be relocked. It is not important, what Fairphone supports but if it is supported by custom ROM developers. Fairphone is supported by most. But please avoid using Calyx or iode. They are both outclassed by Divest.
At least for /e/OS I can assure that relocking is simple enough. As there is partnership between Fairphone and Murena (/e/ developers) OTA updates are safe for future. Unfortunately the Fairphone support is horrible and /e/ is always too far behind security patch level.
I just had a purple line appear on my pixel 8, google offered me $490 on trade for a 9. The line is intermittent so I just rated my phone as good condition for the trade in. There is an extended warranty on the problem so if they try and give me any shit about it I’ll just reference that. If you do trade it in, make sure to uncheck the box that says you’ll accept less on the trade if they decide the condition isn’t as described. I have no actual evidence, but given my fairly extensive history dealing with googles customer service I think they may try and screw you over on the trade.
I did hear about the extended warranty because of this issue, but I was completely unaware of the check boxes stuff. Thanks for the heads up! Also… Clearly there are issues and stiil try to pull some shit with dark patterns. Classy
At 8 months old it should be well within warranty. Just get it fixed.
And I will. Still does not mean I will go after something else immediately after warranty is over (or even before if issues happen in difficult times, like traveling).
Maybe fairphone is up your alley?
Last time I heard, fairphone did support calyx, but no dice on the relocking. A shame really, since I do believe the people at fairphone are doing quite an important mission on the phone world.
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I did check their page, do not see it there https://grapheneos.org/faq#supported-devices
Is it an unofficial image that works on FP 4 and 5?
Graphene only supports Pixel
The comment is no longer there, but claimed that FP did have a graphene image, which I found weird, and so I checked the website. I still ask if there was a chance was an unofficial image somewhere, since those things can actually exist
The next best is probably to pick a phone from DivestOS’s list of supported devices, and preferably ones with a re-lockable bootloader
I did check their list just now. I am surprised some one plus devices are there, shame is the old ones only. I will for sure have a closer look to this list and see how it goes.
Custom roms with relocked bootloader only work on pixels by design. You’ll have to live with an unlocked bootloader.
As for easy installs, Murena’s e/os exists with support. But I can’t vouch for their cloud ecosystem. Other than that, maybe an officially supported lineage device. You will lose safetynet on both unless you want to root.
This is what I feared. Either I deal with the shoddiness of the pixels and get mad from time to time but at least is safe, or no relocking. sigh Thanks for the answer though
See this: https://github.com/chenxiaolong/avbroot/issues/299
The issue with the Pixel seems to be a a build-up of static in the LCD.
That could be. And also, this is 2024. Why is this even an issue with something basic as static? Surely is not the first time this problem was dealt with before shipping this stuff out.
Didn’t look iode before. I am not a fan of iode in general (as principle, as an os is probably a good daily driver). From what I see, the phone available from there that I could get would be the fairphone. But the lack of relocking after installing calyx is not exactly amazing
Any supported phone with lineage OS? Primacy is really good but not as much security focused as GOS
That was my first thinking. But then again, no relocking makes things a lot harder
Only the pixels phones allow for relocking the bootloader with a custom ROM. Might be possible on a few other devices when jumping true a load of hoops and potentially bricking the device.
