Hello there! This is my problem: I’m going to buy a new smartphone, and I’d really like to degoogle myself as much as possible. The idea would be to buy a device compatible with LineageOS, but… Supported devices are usually older models, and often there are newer devices with better specs for the same price, that does not support lineageOS. Is seems a shame to buy a device with lower specs than another one just because of software compatibility. So the alternative would be to buy an unsupported device, unlock the bootloader and debloat it as much as possible, flash privileged fdroid and aurora store on it, install microg, etc… What do you suggest me to do? Is the second alternative a viable option? What other steps should I do if I decide to go that way?

Thanks in advance folks!

Edit:
Thanks to anyone for the great answers! I finally decided to buy a pixel 6 (or 6 pro if I find a good deal) and install a custom ROM on it! GrapheneOS will support it for “only” 3 more years, while other roms like lineageos or divestos will have longer support. What do you suggest? Graphene OS and when support ends switch to another one? O directly use the other one?

  • Runwaylights
    5•1 year ago

    Murena (the company behind /e/ os) also sell smartphones with /e/ os installed. They’ve also partnered with Fairphone if you’re looking for a more sustainable model. I bought the Fairphone with /e/ os a couple of months ago because I was looking for a phone with replaceable parts and it works well. They also sell some refurbished models I believe.

    • @ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org
      6•1 year ago

      Murena is a weird company. I tried to purchase a cellphone directly from them a few months ago, and they have this weird system on their website that forces you to create a full-blown cloud account with them - complete with email, calendar, file transfer and all - before being able to order anything. And in fact, even after creating the account, I couldn’t even figure out how to order with my brand-spanking new murena.io email.

      After fiddling with this for a while, and mostly reflecting on the fact that this company that knows absolutely nothing about me just gave me an email address and a bunch of storage for free at the click of a button, I decided this was all a little too sketchy for my taste and gave up on the whole idea. That’s not how I expect to place an order with a normal company: I expect to have a cart and do a secure pay, not go through this kind of account creating rigmarole.

      So, I’m not saying Murena is a bad company. I’m saying be careful with them, because the purchasing process is highly unusual with them.

      • Runwaylights
        3•1 year ago

        Interesting, I’ve gone through the process and whilst I do have an account to track the order I haven’t been forced to do anything else. I also use the phone and the app lounge without logging in.

        Edit: I just looked at it and I only have a shop account to track the order. No cloud service or email address

      • @lefaucet@slrpnk.net
        2•1 year ago

        I didnt have this experience at all. I think maybe I hit a skip button when they asked me to set up an account.

        I got a Fairphone4 from them and it’s been great!

      • @selokichtli@lemmy.ml
        1•1 year ago

        You can purchase a supported model with any company you feel comfortable buying, then install /e/ OS as well. I think you were expecting a more typical purchase experience of a store. Murena should seek for this experience, but yeah, they are a weird company aiming to a weird market, it doesn’t feel that weird to me.

    • @lefaucet@slrpnk.net
      3•1 year ago

      I got a Fairphone 4 from them. Works great! Totally degoogled by default.

      A while ago I got a Motorola cellphone on on the Lineage compatibility list. I installed LineageOS and that was a pain to set up, but I got it working well. A few months later there was a Lineage update that bricked the phone.