Can we take a breath here. The fact that this even exists is amazing. A third party android ROM has secured a flagship phone that finally peels us away from google and everyone is shitting on it.
Let it come to market, make it successful and give them reason to offer it as an option on other models.
The fact that this even exists is amazing.
That’s why I’ll believe it when it’s actually in people’s hands.
The many qualifiers they hanged on the Signature and the uncertain date makes me believe they could pivot at any time. Also Google is not going to be happy about any manufacturer trying to get away from under their thumb. So it could still turn out to be some kind of rope tug between Google and Motorola, like Samsung duplicating all Google apps just to make a point.
Last but not least the many supposed years of support are most likely bogus, Lenovo’s Motorola has never updated any of their phones for so long.
, make it successful
How.
With a Epstein Class price tag, the only ones who can make it successful are… the Epstein Class.
An*
Technically correct.
I don’t want to spend 1000€ on a new phone. I hope they make it possible to install GrapheneOS on their budget phones as well. I am buying used Motorola phones for 150-200€ for years now, works great. In don’t need to play FortNite on my mobile or whatever people do with those specs.
The devs have confirmed that GrapheneOS will eventually work on more budget options, but initially will only be available for flagship models
I feel like in [current year] we need to get privacy phones in as many people’s hands as fast as possible. It should be priority #1, not a stretch goal
The chips do not support the features required it is as simple as that. Their eventually come to budget phones is them thinking that the features required well eventually get put into midrange chips.
It is as simple as that.
Ask Qualcolm to put those features in their midrange SOCS.
Personally I’m more interested in the sandboxing and non-Google features of Graphene. It kind of feels like they’ve decided that if everything isn’t supported then it isn’t worth supporting at all. But I don’t see any reason why they can’t have a “lite” version that I can install on my current phone. I don’t want to pay so much for a new phone
I think there are two reasons for that:
- they don’t want to release OS with lower security than their baseline
- they don’t want to spend effort on such “lite” OS support for many phones, and instead they choose to focus on their main builds
It should be possible to build a soft-fork of GOS for probably any device that supports e.g. LineageOS, but no one wants to do it.
I’m with you.
But it’s a tough call on Graphene’s part too - right now only us in-the-know have any awareness of the implications of Graphene’s approach (security first) or even alternative OS for Android devices.
They probably think getting that out to the greater public is the crucial first step - get that accepted as a thing.
Also, by the time the general public is using Graphene devices, other phones may be shipping with the necessary hardware. Remember, most people are buying new phones every couple years when their old one starts misbehaving - to most people a phone is a toaster.
The devs would need hardware functionality which is only found in a handful of phones all which are expensive. You are unlikely to find a cheaper device getting support.
Yeah, but you’re missing out on the biggest reason to upgrade to the latest shiny new phone. You get to feel all smug and show it off to all your friends who still have last year’s phone.
/s
Same
I hope they make it possible to install GrapheneOS on their budget phones as well.
Not within Graphene’s intent, alas.
Still, from the fact that this deal worked (so far…) I now expect other Custom ROMs such as lineage to reach deals with manufacturers to release the bootloader relock keys for near-EOL (or even EOL) devices that are already on the market. The way I see it, it’s a win-win: the segment of people who are privacy or environmentally conscious were not going to buy a new phone from them or the competition anyway, so securing that they continue your brand gives you the option of data input to tailor next models to them, prevents ewaste from going into the environment, and keeps phones of the brand circulating in need for repairs or replacement parts which means the brand can license parts and operations.
It is within their intent. Their problem is that there’s literally no chipsets (apart from Tensors, last gen top-tier Snapdragons and Apple Silicon) that support required hardware security features. Once the chips start supporting required features, and OEMs provide access to the drivers, kernel and stuff, it should be possible to have fully functional GOS regardless of the phone price.
If they have mte, updates, etc, they would
What even is that camera design?
I swear. I hate how modern design does misshapen/ugly/asymmetric just for the shock value, instead of because how it might actually look good.
Someone needs to fire the business student that told those engineers to make that.
See, this is where I might have a different opinion.
If it IS the engineers, there is likely a functional reason and I’m fine with it.
However if it is something fucking Marketing wants…
If it’s an engineering reason that was able to override marketing, I’d buy it just for that reason alone!
Three shallow/flat cameras in a row, and one didn’t fit, so they carried it over to a new row.
Pretty mundane/mid. Having the four cameras in a 2x2 grid would be about the same to me, functionally, aesthetically. It’s not amazing, and it’s not horrible. It’s pretty much a standard phone tablet.
My biggest problem is likely going to be the price, not the camera placements.
I can’t even look at that for long. It looks like a camera CSV.
Motorola Signature 27 is promised 7 years of Android OS and security updates and has quite the look with its quad-camera setup on the back. That includes a 50MP Sony LYTIA 910 main sensor and 200MP periscope telephoto lens. The other two haven’t been confirmed just yet.
Gonna charge like wounded bulls.
Meh, when my pixel 7a finally doesn’t receive support, I’ll be moving from GOS to LineageOS. As much as I love security, I hate ewaste more.
I’m fine with the cameras. I’m just wondering why it’s gotta slim down. A thicker battery would make sense.
I would much prefer lighter phones, personally.
Definitely.
Battery life/Android battery usage has improved tremendously over the years, as has better tech.
Plus standardizing on USBC means charging is available everywhere.
And I’m someone that charges 2-3 times a day (in addition to a controlled overnight charge). In Ye Olden Days my phones had extra batteries and battery cases.
Fingers crossed that this is just the start, and that we see a quick move to middle and budget range devices. I can understand why they want to start with a flagship device, as they’ll be able to link / hook the software with excellent hardware. The more people that find out about Graphene OS, the better.
They won’t because Graphene uses specific hardware architecture which is usually only found in “flagship” phones.
Ahh, oh well, at least it’s another set of devices.
But you don’t understand. The flagships are the only chips that support their requirements.
That why we now need for the other CROMs to get in touch with the manufacturers and get a partial measure that can get other phones well-up and operational. My personal take, they need to request the ability to relock the bootloaders of devices that are already off the market and would next turn into ewaste otherwise. Frame it as an olive branch so that the people who keep those devices might at least think of fetching a privacy / environment focused successor of the same brand for the next cycle(s).
Please pleaseee be available worldwide!
Thanks to inflation, we have a special prize for your country: $2000.
Big question for me is will they try to put their own “flavor” on Graphene with pre-installed bloat apps?
I have a backup burner “normie” phone that’s a Motorola with regular Android, and when I got it I had to remove 20+ garbage apps using adb.
it doesn’t ship with grapheneOS, it just has support for it. I imagine the stock android it ships with will be riddled, though
It’s apparently still planned that devices will be sold with GrapheneOS pre-installed.
That’s an interesting question.
Fortunately being Graphene you should be able to do what you want. Though the Graphene team is very much anti-unlocked-bootloader.
Everyone should be anti-unlocked-bootloader - it enables bad things. What manufacturers usually are is anti-unlockable-bootloader.
All you need really is to unlock, flash your trusted thing and then lock it back up.
Is there attestation for banking or do they use MicroG? I’m honestly not sure I’d use it anyways. Banking apps are data mines, but I’m still curious
No microG in GrapheneOS, banking app support varies
In general, how does Motorola’s hardware compare to the pixel?
