If you're requesting purchasing advice, please provide your country and what carrier you'll be using. Include the features you want, budget, and size. BEFORE POSTING, narrow down your options by using the links below.
Is it realistic to run a stock Android ROM with Google Play Services disabled without sacrificing functionality? I have a Pixel 4a with a locked bootloader so custom ROMs aren't an option. I have F-droid and Aurora downloaded for all of my app needs with FOSS replacements for the default phone/messenger/contacts/maps apps. Google Camera/Photos are better than FOSS alternatives and work fine with Play Services disabled when you're logged out so long as you disable notifications. But the wallpaper/style settings don't work without Play Services, among other warning notifications from many of the system apps like Pixel Ambient Services, Android System WebView, Data Transfer Tool, Carrier Services, etc. I don't know if these are actually required or if it's just empty warnings like with Photos/Cameras, but it makes the experience feel really hacked together either way.
Xavier Torres
> OneUI4 is the best version of Android 12 out right now Hahaha. Can't believe someone saying that.
Jayden Nguyen
>Hahaha. Can't believe someone saying that. Could you show us a better implementation? And yes, stock android 12 is a wrong answer.
Brandon Green
Stock is much better. Realme UI is much better. Even color os is better.
Camden Green
The autism in some of these posts is incredible. This half-assed solution that you use has all the disadvantages of using foss with none of the convenience of using google services. If you care that much about muh privacy (on a smartphone, lel), just get a proper pixel with an unlockable bootloader and flash Graphene for max autism points.
>Stock is much better. Hahaha, no. >Realme UI is much better. Even color os is better. Now you're just baiting.
t. Owned all Pixels and Nexus devices since 2013
Adrian Morris
>Stock is much better I've never used OneUI4, but I can't imagine a worse UI downgrade than going from android 11 to android 12. OneUI4 could just be stock android 11 and it'd be 1000x better than android 12
Logan Wood
What do people think of the Pixel 5A? I'm looking to get something moderately inexpensive with a 3.5mm jack down the line and I'm used to the Pixel line.
Post price and country/alternatives if you want to get useful advice.
Connor Peterson
Currently USA; the $450 price point on the 5A isn't a problem for me, especially since I can grab something like-new for closer to $350-400. I like Pixels because they're a nice tradeoff of moddability and a sleek design.
Adrian Thomas
I've spent the last few months ricing the hell out of the settings provider. and there is still DeviceConfig left to configure (it's accessible via device_config android shell command)
"soft deprecated" means google didn't bother to place a @deprecated decorator on a setting, but it isn't used anywhere (yet/anymore)
Jaxon Carter
fun thing i found out about android recently, it basically runs a machine learnng model every time you select a bunch of text, because that's how textclassifier works. that's why it is so fucking slow.
well, i disabled it. not only it is now lighting fast, it actually selects the fuck i want it to select
>Currently USA >Currently If you intend to move and get a plan from another country, remember that Google area bunch of retards who can't be arsed to certify their devices in more than 10 countries or so. Check the supported countries list if you care about VoLTE/VoWiFi/5G.
>the $450 price point on the 5A isn't a problem for me, especially since I can grab something like-new for closer to $350-400. I like Pixels because they're a nice tradeoff of moddability and a sleek design. I guess you should look at the S21 FE. Much better hardware, should also get updates for longer. No headphone jack though.
Bentley Smith
>has headphone jack >large battery (>5000mAh) >selfie cam that doesn't look fucking ugly >almost repairable >supported by LineageOS >approx. 200 euro
Yeah, you could've gotten everything, besides the battery, back in 2015.
Today you could probably get 3 out of the 6 things you listed
Christopher Price
>Color It smells of poor in here.
Oliver Anderson
>besides the battery It wouldn't have come stock with the phone, but you could definitely get >5000mAh aftermarket batteries for many popular android phone models back in 2015
Grayson Nguyen
>international stuff That's a good point, although I never used any VoLTE/5G/other stuff in Canada. I'll keep that in mind for the future, though.
>S21 FE I'll keep my eye on it. I don't see very much modding support (no official TWRP/Lineage builds) but I assume that's just because it's a new Samsung phone. Maybe that'll change in the next couple months?
Leo Cooper
>This half-assed solution that you use has all the disadvantages of using foss with none of the convenience of using google services That's exactly what I thought, wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything. Guess I'll just stick with my iPhone.
