cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/34045100
still deciding to fully degoogle with GOS or muddling through with what I have (proprietary, data grabbing and bloated).
To understand the question, compare with my main hardware with debian on it: a regular notebook I bought in 2016 and I’ve used heavily for all kinds of stuff: working, writing papers, downloading and playing media including AV1, editing audio, torrenting…
One of the best investments I ever made, considering what I paid and how prices nowadays are. Debian offers regular upgrades and I don’t have to check if my hardware is going to support the software on a level comparable with android devices (GOS only runs on pixels, other open-source, privacy focused Android operating systems have similar hardware restrictions).
I want this kind of ROI for the device I buy and the software I use, but I don’t know if that’s possible:
GOS drops support for older pixels but I don’t know how many years any particular device is supported by GOS: 3 years? not enough. There’s no way I’m buying a new pixel every 3 years. I’d even consider 6 years restrictive.
Pixel 8A you can get probably very affordable now and will get updates until 2031. It’s more likely that by that time you will have dropped your phone and break it or simply want a hardware upgrade.
It also supports playing AV1 in hardware even at 4k resolution.
I just ordered an 8a because of how affordable it is used on eBay (~$250USD) and specifically for long support time it still has. Probably the best bang for your buck version
I bought it new last April from mint mobile: 399 with 12 months of phone service(I’m on $15/5gb/12 month plan now). Saved me $10/month vs. visible and I had to get a new phone anyway as my p5 was aged out of security updates. Basically with the savings on my monthly bill it dropped the price of the phone $120 in my first year so $279 for a new phone and 12 months of service.
The 9a is starting to drop prices, if you need to re-up with a carrier I’d look for deals, might be able to get one new for the same price or less.
I need a new phone and I have pixel 6. I just switched to visible from Google fi. I’m trying to de Google!
That was certainly a good deal you found yourself. I personally don’t like paying off a phone from a cell provider
That is now in question after Google has decided to close android development.
Android development isn’t closed. The Pixels no longer have public device trees provided by Google, but no other device manufacturer did that either. It was a nice to have, but Graphene still got a fully functional Android 16 build out without them within a few weeks, and the device trees aren’t why they build for Pixels, it’s the security features.
That’s another issue. AOSP is effectively being developed in a closed environment, with only the final code being published on github after release. So AOSP if effectively not being developed in the open any more
The devicetrees between Android versions is effectively the same. They define the hardware
We won’t know the impact until they try to bring up the Pixel 10