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Comment by tragictrash | Hacker News Reader

> Most Androids get slowly patched, if at all.

This is changing, and picking the right manufacturer can make all the difference.

Android being "just around the corner" of getting better on patches if you just pick the right manufacturer has been the story for what.. the last 5.. 10 years?

It's not around the corner, it's here and has been for years.

which manufacturer has been consistently patching all of their phones for the past 3+ years?

Samsung? I get monthly updates on my phone

Samsung and google

As a former Google Nexus user, I admire your naïveté

Nokia, as part of Android ONE.

I have one of these. Stuck on Android 10 and at some point a patch broke the speaker during phone calls so that the volume is too low. It works fine at any other time as does speakerphone so it's not a hardware issue.

Google Pixels.

My Samsung a52s is getting regularly patched. Its running android 12 with a July patch level.

Patching is good but not reliable enough.

Is there anything for Android similar to Qubes-OS?

GrapheneOS?

Been using it for almost a year and I never want to go back.

Which phone do you recommend to load GrapheneOS on?

Every time I try, I end up with a phone that is unable to unlock the OEM bootloader; even if the phone is from the factory

GrapheneOS only supports the google "pixel" line of phones (probably because they support the bootloader-locking by user, and ship with most stock android/AOSP support):

https://grapheneos.org/faq#supported-devices

I'm running it on a pixel-4a (google-sunfish) and it works fine. You may want to pay close attention to the parts where it tells you how to lock/unlock the bootloader:

https://grapheneos.org/install/cli#enabling-oem-unlocking

https://grapheneos.org/install/cli#disabling-oem-unlocking

CalyxOS also supports older models like the pixel 3, albeit with lower standards for security: https://calyxos.org/install/

Additionally there's AOSP distros like LineageOS that support many devices, but with much lower security standards: https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/

I have a Pixel 5. You might want to look at https://grapheneos.org/faq#recommended-devices

Not really comparable to Qubes-OS technically, but there is graphenos.

GrapheneOS is the best available option right now. I struggle with it when I want to do anything interesting. Its explicitly not made for devs. Its locked down for users. That said, if you need a smartphone, its the best available phone OS today.

Completely depends what you're looking to do.

I used my Pixel 5 running GrapheneOS to test and release an app I have in the Play Store.

I run a small business from it (email, e-commerce, fulfilling orders, etc)

I run Termux and full fat Linux apps on it.

I can use git and GitHub on it.

I have an SSH client I use with WireGuard to access my home network.

I can control my 3d printer with it.

Not sure what else "a dev" needs to do with their device, but GrapheneOS provides everything I need, and I like to call myself a developer.

I don't think there's any Android hardware with enough oomph to do what QubesOS does (having multiple virtual machines for real separation). There's an option for a work profile which I use to separate my stuff but it's more like a different Linux user than a VM. And you can have only one, sadly.

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