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  • Did you need a new phone when you bought your Pixel?

Hello,

I'm wondering how old people's phones were and if they needed a new phone before buying their Pixel and installing GrapheneOS.

I have a flagship phone which is now 3 years old, and I can't justify buying the Pixel 8 Pro which will already have similar specs to what I have now, just with a better CPU that's all. And I hate spending money unnecessarily, I normally only buy a new phone when mine completely dies.

I think my phone is going to last another 1 or 2 more generations of the next Pixel.

So just wondering, when you bought your pixel (for those that did), did you need a new phone, or wait for your existing one to die/have problems?

Just been thinking about GrapheneOS a lot for some time now but haven't made the jump.

    It's not just a better CPU you'd be getting, but also one capable of modern security features (MTE) which is a game-changing security feature. There are probably more things that you'd be gaining over your current device, but at the end of the day it depends on how much you care about those, or about running GrapheneOS vs what you're running now.

    For me, I did need a new device when I got my first Pixel to run GrapheneOS, as I broke its screen. That said, I would've bought a Pixel soon after that regardless of breaking the screen since I wanted to give GrapheneOS a shot; the broken screen just accelerated the process.

      I just renewed my phone because it was end of life. I hadn't planned to spend that much money but thought that switching to GrapheneOS was worth the investment. Now my phone should last five years with security updates.

      My first pixel was a pixel 2.

      I bought it because I decided I would never buy another iPhone, and I liked the fact that pixels get everything first, no Samsung redundant bs, and the security after they added the Titan chip.

      matchboxbananasynergy

      Thanks for the reply, I definitely want to use GrapheneOS on Pixel, as I've been in FOSS and Linux for many years. I may still wait out til the end of the year for the next Pixel.

        Your first GOS Pixel will have so many security and privacy changes that it might actually justify the investment. But you don't have to jump all in at first...

        For me a used Pixel 3a was my first GOS experience, coming from a perfectly functional Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro which had better hardware in every regard. Within a few weeks I didn't want to use my Xiaomi anymore and ended up selling it.

        The next upgrade was a Pixel 5 because I wanted a secondary device to separate my working and private phone experience and profiles didn't do the trick for me. From here on I was only buying new phones when the current one was end of life regarding security updates.

        You'll have to decide what your priorities are, most people still use phones with security patches from years ago, others buy a new one every year to have the most recent features. Your solution could be to get a good deal on a Pixel 6a and try GOS there (if your funds allow for this approach). Use it for a few weeks and you'll know whether GOS is the right thing for you. Then you simply sell your flagship or the Pixel (after flashing Pixel OS back on it). You might even decide that the Pixel A series is more than enough and save a lot of money long term by no longer buying flagship phones.

        Let us know how the story continues, and welcome to the community!

        brando So just wondering, when you bought your pixel (for those that did), did you need a new phone, or wait for your existing one to die/have problems?

        My Huawei was 7 years old and the 2nd battery was almost dead when I ordered the Pixel 8.
        If I were you, I would wait for the upcoming Pixel 9. A very nice case and there will probably be 3 models.

          I had a Pixel 5 and waited as long as I could before replacing it. I liked the 5 but only upgraded because it was reaching the end of its support.

          I'd had a Sony Xperia XA2 running de-Googled Android for several years. During my due diligence, I'd been looking at this forum for some time and noticed there had been some chatter that perhaps the XA2 might be added to the GOS list of supported devices. Alas, it was not, so I opted for a new Pixel 6a. But if the XA2 had been supported, I'd had stayed with it. They are almost the same size (P6a is slightly bigger).

          I remember once seeing a timeline for g* switching off of using samsuck silicon. I don't remember what version of pixel the transition was slated for, 9 or 10 or 11??? That's what I'll be holding out for, hopefully we will see something much nicer than this same-old samsuck crap that hasn't changed substantially since pixel 6.