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

Bicyclejohn,

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

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.

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.

pkill,

Pixel has superior hardware security afaik

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

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.

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.

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