Hello there! This is my problem: I’m going to buy a new smartphone, and I’d really like to degoogle myself as much as possible. The idea would be to buy a device compatible with LineageOS, but… Supported devices are usually older models, and often there are newer devices with better specs for the same price, that does not support lineageOS. Is seems a shame to buy a device with lower specs than another one just because of software compatibility. So the alternative would be to buy an unsupported device, unlock the bootloader and debloat it as much as possible, flash privileged fdroid and aurora store on it, install microg, etc… What do you suggest me to do? Is the second alternative a viable option? What other steps should I do if I decide to go that way?
Thanks in advance folks!
Edit:
Thanks to anyone for the great answers! I finally decided to buy a pixel 6 (or 6 pro if I find a good deal) and install a custom ROM on it!
GrapheneOS will support it for “only” 3 more years, while other roms like lineageos or divestos will have longer support. What do you suggest? Graphene OS and when support ends switch to another one? O directly use the other one?
I have the P6. It’s an all around good phone. Don’t forget to look at GSI ROMs. All recent devices handle those. I can and eventually will install LineageOS on my Galaxy Tab S8 and have it on my old Tab low end tablet.
I’ve never heard of GSIs and it seems really interesting! I’ve found nothing about it on the LOS website, is it something “unofficial”?
Since devices that came with Android 10, all devices are expected to adhere to a standard Android interface. The GSI stands for generic system image.
Given a particular Hardware platform and drivers any GSI should run on any matching Hardware.
I know that Andy Yan’s LineageOS GSI works on my sm-t510 (a64 variant) and from user testimonials, it also runs on the sm-x720 (arm variant, TAB S8).
I linked the forum section that contains the thread for his and many other GSIs.
Thanks for the answer!