I mean we all know about the sideloading restriction thing. So I wanna explore alternative OSes, just gathering info, not sure if I'll even end up buying another phone (currently have a Samsung as a main phone, and in North America they are bootloader locked).
Like I know Graphene OS is supposedly more secure, but is it worth paying so much more for a phone? And used phones are kinda sketchy btw, most originate from a carrier so unlockability is in question (I'm not playing the buy/return "lootbox" game lol, so much hassle and its never guaranteed when a seller would even accept a return).
The moto I was looking at apparantly was on CalyxOS's supported list, but they suspended development for some reason, so Lineage is the only Custom ROM left other than Graphene.
Graphene seems cool, but idk if its really that much better. Getting a pixel is directly giving Google the most money, and I don't feel so good about that after they closed sourced Pixel device tree codes (or whatever that thing was called that they closed sourced), and then they killed sideloading, feels wrong to be buying a pixel right now. So that leaves me with just Lineage. And I could get a much cheaper phone too going Lineage.
So TLDR: If you were to recommend a phone to someone, which would you recommend? Expensive phone for Graphene, or Cheap phone and just use Lineage? Or something else?
So after I wake up from the dream that google cares about not being evil, I sat down and defined for myself what a phone is. What do I want from that sort of device? I need to send short messages to my family (SMS) and sometimes call them. The device need's to last long so it needs to be rugged and sturdy plus having a good battery life. A good flashlight would be good. I don't take pictures so that doesn't matter. It has to be able to be used as a presentation remote (this one is not as essential need as the others but still fun). So I just bought a dumb phone which has Bluetooth 2 support. and I wrote a script so that the Linux machines listens to incoming files over Bluetooth into the downloads directory and if a file with special name comes it will first remove the file and then perform some action. for example if I share a file named "slide next" from my dumb phone to Linux device it will remove the file and then emulate the "Page Down" key press. the "discoverable" and "pairable" Bluetooth options are off so no one can mess with system. The dumb phone model is "hope k19" it's a Chinese dumb phone. You can't find much information about manufacturer online. I'm sort of happy with it. What sold it out to me was the fact that the phone had a power bank feature so it could be used to charge other phones. Well.... the power bank feature is pretty stupid to sell the phone to stupids like me. The phone can last up to 16 days depending on your use of flashlight (it has a powerful one). Although the phone is not bad, if I went back in time I'd search more to find a more rugged dumb phone. And I'd add waterproof to the wants list.
Well, we have different views I guess...
To me, a phone is more of a computer to use on-the-go.
I want an encrypted Standard Notes
A gateway to the free internet (Tor Browser)
Media player, Ebook Reader
100GB Offline Wikipedia "jusr in case" I need it somehow (I have an archivist mindset so I'm just obsessed with having information on hand, you never know if you need it)
Photos, Videos. Sometimes when racist karens harass you, or cops being bastards, you need video evidence to back you up.
Or if the normal roads get blocked and you need a detour
Or if your normal bus/subway route is closed for some reason and you need alternatives
Or if you need to get somewhere and reluctantly have to get a Uber/Lyft (I dislike those companies, but sometimes life happens)
Going to a "dumb phone" in response to the sideloading restrictions is the complete antithesis of what I want.