Graphene OS in australia

othemad

Jobloggs You grant them permission to "snoop" on your phone to see what apps you are using...

If you separate it in a user profile does it matter?

Jobloggs

othemad ...probably not as from my understanding, they can only "see" what you've installed on that profile.

carmel_snow

Is anyone aware of an Australian retailer that sells google pixel’s OEM unlocked? JB HI-FI, Officeworks? Apparently google sell them OEM unlocked but I’d prefer cash in store.

AloofChocolate

carmel_snow Google Pixel’s OEM unlocked? At Officeworks, and still accept cash over the counter, ring and ask.

NoxStellans

carmel_snow I got mine from JB HI-FI, and they were able to confirm that the phones were OEM unlocked.

zkz

carmel_snow yes definitely JB and most likely OfficeWorks too sell OEM unlocked. Ask a sales person. However they may try and push you to buy a Telstra plan with it just say "no thanks".

I don't think most retail stores like JB and OW sell carrier locked Pixels to begin with but I could be wrong.

carmel_snow

AloofChocolate I have and they have no idea what OEM is. There are no demo phones in the CBD so I can’t see if OEM is unlocked. Officeworks won’t accept returns if the phone is unboxed so don’t want to risk it.

MSE

I bought my Pixel 6a from Officeworks and have been running GraphineOS on it fine since purchase. Apart from buying from carriers, OW, JB Hifi and Harvey Norman are the only brick and mortar stores that sell them that I know of.

I've been using the CommBank app on my phone and it's worked fine.

carmel_snow

MSE thanks for your reply! May I ask when did you purchase your 6a, and assuming OEM was unlocked? They buy them directly from google and re-sell without any modification, so I don’t see why they would be OEM locked.

AloofChocolate

carmel_snow I bought my Pixel 7 from Officeworks and running Grapheneos with no issue.

Here is a sample, they are unlocked
https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/google-pixel-7a-unlocked-smartphone-128gb-charcoal-gpix7achar#specifications

MSE

carmel_snow

No worries, I bought mine a couple of months after they came out, so about a year and a half ago approximately. Yeah it was unlocked.

Glad you're up and running :-)

carmel_snow

AloofChocolate was looking at this model today, good to know! Thanks for your replies :)

carmel_snow

Successfully setup GOS last night with a pixel 7a from officeworks

de0u

carmel_snow Thanks for reporting back!

remote-uncontrol

Any recent recommendations for purchase of 8a, specifically?

I've just had a bad experience buying a phone from Harvey Norman (post here) - phone will not unlock. Feeling quite burnt.

I see Officeworks recommended here for 6a and I've had good experience with them before, but this experience has me wondering if different retailers might occasionally get a bad batch?

Should I just be buying through Google itself (I'm not stressed about privacy implications, not my threat model)?

jeltz

I understand most people here have replied in relation to banking apps. But does myGovID (australia) work from the Aurora Store? Quite important as I won't be able to get by without it, so I thought I would check if anyone has experience with this. One mate says they couldn't get the confirmation codes.

jb7

I've been talking to a local supplier of Degoogled phones and they have told me not to install any banking apps on my phone as defeats the purpose of getting on....? they have not really elaborated why but what are others thoughts?

raccoondad

jb7 "they have not really elaborated why but what are others thoughts?"

I would not buy devices from that person, sounds extremely shady. You should, at the very least, insure its a legitimate functional Pixel device and reinstall GOS yourself.

Really, however, you should buy one directly from store.google.com

As for his statement, he is not correct. Do as you wish, just understand the implications when you do.

F22764

Tamedbaloney I've been using GOS for nearly a year and my banking apps work both from Aurora and Sandboxed Play.

I haven't attempted Google pay.

phatballz

From what I understand there is not really significant differences between apps downloaded from Play Store v Aurora Store (see, eg, https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/2962-app-repositories-google-vs-aurora-vs-apk-vs-fdroid), however Play Store is considered more reliable and secure.

I have a separate profile where I run Sandboxed Google Play for banking and other apps such as MyGovID, so I can't comment for apps downloaded through Aurora store. I do this because Play Store is the more reliable and secure (eg, has automatic updates) and when it comes to banking and other apps that are integral to general life functionality (eg MyGovID) I have a strong preference for security and reliability (although of course we all have different threat models, so you may naturally not share the same preferences).

I bank with ubank and there was a period when their app stopped working (I couldn't log in) but it is now working again.

jb7

phatballz

Thanks, I am also mainly banking with Ubank so that is good to know. I would also intend to download apps from the Play Store which would be critical for security like banking.

Regarding 'separate profile where I run Sandboxed Google Play', I imagine there is a simple user guide somewhere here explaining some of this stuff?

I haven't got hours to read stuff but would like to give it a go - getting a pixel and installing GOS and see how I go :)