The installation was very easy! It's very greatful that my data doesn't send to Google any more.
this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2026
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Privacy
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I don't really understand why Pixel is that evryone likes/they support.
I can't accept the fact that there is no external sd card support.
I believe I am getting old because I am very stuck on this point, even more than the headphone jack.
Nevermind I just saw Motorola is actually making a deal with gaphene OS. They were my next future phone with sd cards and even styluses- if this goes through, can't wait!
Do you mean internal SD card slot? Because pixels absolutely support external sd cards
Pixels are the main target of aftermarket ROMs because they are reference Android devices with highly available unlocked developer modes. Most companies producing phones do things like add propriety changes that require substantial workarounds for relatively basic hardware functionality and make it much more difficult to even install an aftermarket ROM.
Really this is all a consequence of capitalism itself and the need to lock in ecosystems to establish controlled markets (allowing for controlling one's own profit). Every phone could be fully unlockable and hackable by the end user, but companies specifically prevent this in order to maximize their own profits.
Apple did a hell of a job teaching people that means it’s more fancy.
Yeah but apple actually takes care of its customers. They are one of the few ones that is exactly what it seems, and isn't expensive or cheap. Most people saying apple devices are overpriced simply aren't the target demographic for the products.
"poor people making poor people noises" is all I'm getting out of you. what are you doing on lemmy dont you have an ai chatbot to flirt with?
You sound fun.
They sure don't do that from the good of their heart,
they make their customers pay for a 'service' that robs them of their freedom
Apple routinely slows down its phones with every major update, promoting people buying $1k+ phones every 2-3 years.
Bullshit. Upgrading from 1 TB of internal storage to 2 TB on a laptop is not a $250 expense. Before the memory crisis, I could have bought a brand new M.2 SSD with the full 2 TB for less than that.
yeah but it is nearly double that now
I did say before the memory crisis. It's not a bad deal now comparatively with everything else being overpriced, but that doesn't change the fact that Apple hardware is itself overpriced.
I wasn't disagreeing just pointing out that a 2TB NVME went from like $180 to $450 :( (as of yesterday at Microcenter at least was $400 last week)
Its expensive for you and me, but not for someone who needs apple to handle it for them. That's the whole point. If you can do it yourself, or know someone who can do it for you for free, then you aren't the customer Apple is looking for.
I see! Thanks for this explanation.
No problem friend. It is fairly hard to handle all those other phones - see how LineageOS keeps it's supported list fairly small!
I also like having expanded storage. But if you actually care about privacy?
You want the minimum amount of data on your phone at any given time. Your recent camera roll, any cached music and apps, and that is really it. Everything should be offloaded to your private storage ASAP
Because for as shit as google and apple are? You can also remote wipe those devices. less effective if it is a government agent that has it, but it is a thing. And, depending on the storage setup, that sd card might be raw dogging it to begin with.
It shouldn't be difficult for a custom ROM like GrapheneOS to make the user explicitly allow a microSD card to be mounted if that would cause any security issues.
And welcome to software development. Every feature needs time (money), engineers (money), and testing (money). With most testing continuing in perpetuity because any pull request could break it.
And when you add on that graphene is a nonprofit baked FOSS project... Well, if it is as simple as you think it is then get to making a pull request, I guess?
I'd be happy to make a PR as soon as there is officially supported hardware that supports microSD expansion.
Couldn’t you encrypt the SD card? And while you’re at it encrypt the internal storage also. Linux should support that, right?
I understand sd card is a security risk. But you don't have to use it.
The utility is the key.
I'm just 100% against corporations enshittificating their products so you pay hundreds more for a 50$ part.
It is because there are hardware security features that most other Android phones do not support and Graphene OS is going for maximum security and privacy. Besides, they're coming out with their own hardware by partnering with Motorola shortly.
OK, this is going to sound dismissive, and I really don't mean it to be. But why?
For data transfer, you can still use the USB port (I do it all the time). Other than that, there's more than enough storage available onboard for any reasonable amount of usage. I don't even really keep anything critical on my device at all, so what there is is kind of overkill already.
I just don't understand the need for an SD card with storage being as plentiful now as it is. I want to understand.
If you want to carry your whole music library around, a big SD card makes that work. I understand streaming is the trendy thing and I was using Navidrome myself, but I rolled back my plan and switched to SD card for it. I've saved money.
Another use case is for carrying a heap of ROMs. I've also done this until I realised gaming on my phone was uncomfortable and bought a dedicated device.
Having the SD card wasn't a dealbreaker for me when I bought this phone but I do really like having it.
An ezpz 256 gigs without spending an extra $200 used to be orgasmic is all I can say
I'm a data hog. Storage is cheap and it should be available on my phone also.
People always saying physical Media is important, and most of the time they tink of cds and dvds.
I use my sd cards for physical Media sorage.
I used my camera and accidentally recorded 40 gigs of video.
With external card I do not have to worry.
Music, books, picture heavy pdfs, movies full tv series sits comfortably in my palm.
Interesting. Thanks for letting me know.
I think of myself as a data hog also, but only on my computer; I'm mostly a minimalist on my phone.
It really depends on how much you are using your phone.
If I would go back 20 years I would be attached to my desktop pc and my ebook reader pocket pc. ln that case I would not need extra storage for my phone. Tho thinking of it... I had two different external cards for that handheld even back then. :)
I use an encrypted offline raid at home and encrypted cloud storage that automatically backs up. My phone is basically empty, plenty of room to accidentally record 40 gb+
I feel your pain on storage and headphones but Graphene is worth the sacrifice to me. I also like that my 8a will get updates until at least 2030.