Deciding between Fairphone 5 and Pixel 8

My phone is no longer getting updates, so it’s time to buy a new one. The hardware could easily last 1-2 more years but I’d have to replace the battery, which is a pain on my phone.

I’m looking for something that has long firmware support and some good privacy roms while not being worse than my current Oneplus 8 in any way. I don’t care about cameras at all and I’m still mad about the missing headphone jacks, but unfortunately those don’t seem to be coming back and I can survive without one.

So, the options are Fairphone 5 and Pixel 8 from what I found out. The Pixel 8 is a little small for my taste and with 256GB storage it’s more expensive, but it does have grapheneOS, which I’d prefer because the app sandboxing would allow me to have peace of mind even if I have tracking apps sitting on my phone. I could use the proper play store and do IAPs without fiddling with aurora store. I use it already and it isn’t great.

With the Fairphone, I’d get a replacable battery so I can buy a spare and swap instead of charging my phone. I used to do that with the good old S3 and it was great. MicroSD slot is also nice. But the ROM options are CalyxOS and /e/OS. I know Calyx has a nice firewall to keep tracking at bay and /e/OS is an LOS fork mainly focused on getting rid of google from what I know, but neither has as much protection as grapheneOS.

My main goal is to become less dependant on google while still being able to use google maps for my way to work. The traffic aware routing saves me 10 minutes every day so letting google know when I go to work is a fair deal.

So, any opinions or experiences with either? TIA

SimonSaysStuff,

If privacy and security are your top priorities, which it sounds like they are, and you want a performance similar to OnePlus 8, go with the Google Pixel 8 with GrapheneOS. It’s more aligned with your need for strong app sandboxing and convenient Google services integration, etc.

barthol5280,

@SimonSaysStuff @nottheengineer seconded on the Pixel + GrapheneOS

pkill,

Though beware that although good in terms of performance, features and sturdiness (as long as you encase that glass back) or camera, Pixels are not flawless in terms of plain quality. Their battery life could be better and mine loses signal from time to time. Some features like 5G might not be available at every carrier in your country as well if Google has no official distribution there.

TCB13, (edited )
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

Pixel because it supports GrapheneOS thus more secure and private.

Calyx isn’t as good as GrapheneOS, they do a lot of snitching on you (including to Google and Mozilla) and they overlook critical details such as this one allowing the OS to contact 3rd parties such as Qualcomm.

BearOfaTime,

How does DivestOS compare to Graphene in your opinion?

Divest is based on Lineage, which isn’t as secure as Graphene (by a significant margin), but my understanding is Divest has done some things to improve sscurity/privacy.

I realize since we’re talking a Pixel here, Graphene is the security/privacy answer. I have other phones in my “support circle” that can use Lineage or Divest, and I’d like to advise people appropriately.

jacktherippah,

DivestOS is the best option for someone who already has a non-Pixel device. For a Pixel, the developer of DivestOS himself recommends GrapheneOS.

TCB13,
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

I don’t have an opinion on DivestOS. Never used nor audited the thing so I can’t comment.

TheButtonJustSpins, (edited )

Try Petal Maps; might be able to replace Google Maps for you. It also has traffic info.

pkill,

OsmAnd is better since Petal Maps is proprietary.

nottheengineer,

I already have Osmand and while it’s a great offline map, it can’t pick the fastest route for me every single day.

jlow,

Another alternative is OrganicMaps which people seem to like. I can’t stand then colors and it hasn’t as many features but it’s nice otherwise

pkill,

Pixel has superior hardware security afaik

Chais,
@Chais@sh.itjust.works avatar

With the Fairphone you get more than just a replaceable battery. You get replaceable nearly everything. Also they do their best to ethically source the materials. In terms of ROMs there is also Iodé, also based on LOS, and if you go with a FP4 instead Ubuntu Touch.

TheAnonymouseJoker, (edited )
@TheAnonymouseJoker@lemmy.ml avatar

Fairphone. Pixel is garbage. Fairphone gives you 3-5 years more security updates, and is thus more secure than Pixel.

Bicyclejohn,

Depends, grapheneos is good but if you dotn want it get a fairphone

MigratingtoLemmy,

Europeans are so lucky lol.

It is true, I haven’t found anything akin to sandboxes in any other ROM. However, if you contain your apps inside a workspace, that seems fairly sandboxed to me, for the most part. It is unfortunate that Google’s mobiles are not as repairable.

Let us know what you end up buying. I wonder if sandboxing can be implemented in other ROMs through some modifications in the Kernel (it’s Linux after all).

Cheers

JeyNessuno,

Is the fairphone’s battery as easily replaceable as old phones were? I’d think that would make waterproofing really difficult

nottheengineer,

Yes and it isn’t rated IPX7 for that reason, just IP55. I wouldn’t hold it under the faucet but it should be perfectly fine for daily use.

Fun fact: It’s still entirely possible to make a phone water resistant even if it has a removable back. Samsung did it in 2014 with the S5. Glass backs are just there to make it easier to break a phone, not for any technical reason.

JeyNessuno, (edited )

Ah nice. I’d have assumed it was replaceable with screws or something, not pop out and replace. This idea of having a phone and two batteries is really interesting and is definitely raising the possibilities I buy a fp5.

Edit: would be even cooler if you could charge the second battery independently.

jacktherippah,

I’d get the Pixel because of the long, not to mention timely software updates and security patches, better hardware and GrapheneOS. If you do get the Fairphone, use DivestOS. See this comparison

nottheengineer,

Thanks, I’ve been looking for a comparison like that but search engines have just gotten ridiculously bad. /e/ slacking on the webview updates is interesting and steers me away from it.

I’m leaning towards the fairphone right now because it’s cheaper at 256GB and not smaller than my current phone. DivestOS looks like it does most of what grapheneOS would do for me.

jacktherippah,

Glad I could help!

privacybro, (edited )

App Sandboxes in Graphene? can someone tell me about this? is this a new feature?

Templa,

It puts Google Play/Services inside a sandbox so it doesn’t get any priorities and can have permissions revoked like any other app (internet access/storage scopes/etc)

jlow, (edited )

I have a friend who (just like me) has had a FP3, we were both very happy with it. Not sure why but he needed to replace it, got the FP5 but it was to clunky for him. Replaced it with a Pixel with Graphene likes it a lot.

I’d still still perfectly happy with my FP3 running Lineage/MicroG but my SD-card slot seems to be broken and I’m running out of space. I’m getting a FP5 in about a week, let’s see if it’s too clunky for me as well ^__^

jlow,

I don’t trust e (that name 🤦‍♀️) not sure why but they pulled some weird stuff in the beginning that I can’t remember and at least back when I checked years ago they shipped a weird store that got it’s apps from shady apk sites which is a strange move to push on everyday consumers. I hope they changed but …

Undertaker,

Fairphone is known to have several hardware related problems, but they usually ignore or do not acknowledge them. Recently they tried to argue a hardware problem (ghost inputs) can be solved via firmware update, but of course it couldn’t. Additionally you lose support for device when using custom roms (even /e/os). They only support google Android. You could buy from Murena but they can not help with hardware or firmware issues. Fairphone is very to patch their devices in terms of security.

But google is google. I would never give them money.

skankhunt42,
@skankhunt42@lemmy.ca avatar

I’ve always bought used phones anyway. With eBay/kijiji/others you can request the seller to enable OEM unlocking so you know it can be done and you don’t even need to boot it into android before installing GrapeneOS.

My experience, not many people are willing to do that for you. YMMV.

southernwolf,
@southernwolf@pawb.social avatar

Really, it’s gonna depend on what your top priorities are. I run a Pixel 6 Pro with CalyxOS and I love it. But for you, it depends on whether you really need top security or want to go for a more open and long term design (which may not be entirely beneficial or all that special now).

For the Pixel 8, you’re gonna get much better cameras and more of those “Pixel Features” even when running something like GOS or CalyxOS. Its really nice cause you can even use GBoard and GCam and just firewall them (or however you do the equivalent in GOS), so you get the benefits without the downsides. Though it will be more expensive too.

With Fairphone, you’re gonna get a more open design that likely will last longer. That said, it doesn’t have a top end processor in it, so you have to imagine what it’ll be like in 6-8 years trying to run Android 20. Longevity is nice, but not as helpful if it can’t keep up physically with new releases. Also, with the Pixel 8 line now set to be supported for 8 years, it kinda… Undermines the Fairphone argument somewhat, though not to a huge degree.

Personally, if it were me, I’d choose the Pixel (and also choose CalyxOS as well, but that’s more a personal choice, don’t let the Graphene folks try and sway you with a bunch of FUD. CalyxOS is just fine, but GOS is a good choice too). It will have higher quality hardware, the processor should be able to handle tougher workloads into the future, and I think you’ll quite like the experience.

But, the Fairphone isn’t a bad choice either, and its definitely supporting a better ecosystem overall. It just won’t have as good of cameras and may not run as well a few years down the road, which could be an issue for the longevity. It can also run CalyxOS as well, so you won’t be missing out on using most other normal apps.

Really, it just depends on your use case and priorities. I don’t think you can go absolutely wrong choosing either one though.

Facebones,

I have a Pixel 8 pro coming, planned on gOS. What do you like about Calyx instead? I’ll look into that one in the morning.

euphoric_cat,
@euphoric_cat@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

not op but the calyx community and owners are far better than the grapheneos ones, that’s enough for me to use one over the other. if you need any other info, louis rossmann and techlore have good videos on the grapheneos side of that.

Facebones,

I know Louis got into it with the go’s guy lol

pingveno,

Longevity is nice, but not as helpful if it can’t keep up physically with new releases.

You also have to imagine what that longevity is going to really mean. Even a sturdy phone with a good case is in an unfriendly environment. They live in pockets, purses, and get dropped. Getting updates for 10 years is great, but it’s not too useful if the phone is dead. It’s always good to pursue increased longevity, but there is diminishing return for many reasons.

southernwolf,
@southernwolf@pawb.social avatar

This is absolutely true. The Fairphone kinda gets around this since its got open parts and can be user serviced for most things, but the honest question for that is how many are gonna go to that trouble, not next week when your phone is still new, but 5 years from now? The dedicated certainly will and I commend Fairphone for it, but a lot of average folks with a slower phone are gonna want to upgrade at that point.

pingveno,

Yeah, I think you nailed it there. Even a repair-oriented phone like the Fairphone has it’s limits, especially when it gets on to later years.

wuphysics87,

Fairphone only partners with organizations who pay living wages. I.e. their phones aren’t made in a sweatshop

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