From a privacy standpoint, is it safer to get a Samsung or xiaomi phone and put something like lineage on it? It’s been years since I put a third party OS on my phone.
@gritnot you can get the pinephone, it supports a few great gnu systems if you are good with Linux. There aren't really any Samsung phones that you can use for custom systems unless they are old so you are better off with the oneplus phones or better yet the pixel phones for lineageos. But lineage is not that great from alot of viewpoints from other testers. There is however grapheneos which I think split off to a managed service of copperOS, which is a heavy security oriented os.
@joshbdoc @gritnot there's also this os, somewhat new: https://calyxos.org/
@gritnot there is also a new os that was released recently; https://calyxos.org/
You can install their app store or use f-droid as well. It's best to get a phone that the government isnt watching and a phone that you have full control over especially since you would spend more than $500usd on one.
@lnx Thank you for the insight! I haven't done this stuff in a while so thought I'd ask around. Maybe I'll check out copperOS or calyxos. Just have to find a phone to use now - seems like pixel phones are the way to go.
I know the librem exists, but I don’t think it has much support with respect to Apps. I need some kind of balance between privacy and usability, if that exists. Pine phone??