Hacker News Reader

Comment by azalemeth | Hacker News Reader

If I wanted to buy a new phone that I could root, install a custom ROM on, and use without voiding the warranty, what's the current best bet? One Plus used to be pretty good, but they've gone down in freedoms and up in price. Samsung are an obvious no. The entire design of the iPhone is specifically aimed at keeping the user out of it. Linux phones aren't usable yet. The shop on the /e/ foundation website seems to be selling flashed Samsung devices.

Is there an alternative?

View on HN

Motorola has an automated process where you send them the phone serial number or something like that and they'll send you back a code that can be used to unlock the bootloader.

I'm on a Moto g100 that I bought last year, originally intending for it to be a temporary phone while I found a flagship that I actually liked, but it's really grown on me. It has most of the features I was looking for, in particular official LineageOS support, and a microSD slot. I think I might just stick with it.

The other one I had been seriously looking at is Sony's Xperia lineup, but the current and previous generation have had overheating issues. I think their bootloader unlocking process is similar, though.

Is this better than Pixel’s process? Seems like it’s basically the same thing since you need to send them your device details over the internet?

I should clarify: while it's automated from the Motorola side, it's still a bunch of manual steps for the device owner. You have to create an account and have a desktop PC involved, and if I remember right Motorola, gives you a bunch of nonsense about avoiding the warranty. It's strictly worse than Google's process.

I think OnePlus is the only one that might be better than Google. But they've been disappointing me in other aspects recently.

Generic Chinese Androids might fit. There's still many with features that mainstream manufacturers have started removing like expandable storage, removable battery, and a headphone jack. Of course there's no voiding the warranty, because there isn't one to begin with.

Pixel with GrapheneOS — you can reflash it back to PixelOS the same way, no harm done.

Pinephone Plus is a decent option, but you will be underwhelmed by the camera.

Are you using it as a daily driver? Seems like every time I look into Linux phones, there's always been some fundamental bit of functionality that wasn't working yet, like waking from sleep for phone calls. Are we beyond that now?

I'm using Librem 5 as a daily driver. Calls, texts work fine. The battery life is just about 10-12 hours, since suspend is still experimental. But it is progressing: https://forums.puri.sm/t/status-of-suspend-for-librem-5.

Any Sony Xperia: https://developer.sony.com/develop/open-devices

The next level page on "unlock the bootloader" immediately states (a) they'll charge you a significant fee if you make a warranty claim – even if it's for a hardware defect; and (b) the following "gem" of shitty DRM:

> Certain pre-loaded content on your device may also be inaccessible due to the removal of DRM security keys. For devices running recent software versions, for instance Xperia Z3, the removal of DRM security keys may affect advanced camera functionality. For example, noise reduction algorithms might be removed, and performance when taking photos in low-light conditions might be affected. The secure user data partition may also become inaccessible, and you will not be able to get any more official software upgrades if you unlock the bootloader.

Thanks for the thought though. I like that they have a page at least.

Can you elaborate on your OnePlus comment about less freedom? Last I checked you could still unlock the bootloader and flash LineageOS right away.

I bought the 9 Pro instead of the 10 Pro, because there is no (even unofficial) Lineage build yet. Apparently they stopped supporting a tool that was needed for ROM development.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com