Have you noticed a difference in camera quality between the pixel running the OS it ships out in and when running Graphene OS?
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wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 4 months agoI’m waiting for the FP to hit the NA market. I have run Nexus/Pixel devices exclusively for 12 years, and all kinds of custom roms over the years; 3 years now on GrapheneOS. But the repairability is a strong draw to the FP, and I believe it also allows bootloader unlocking and relocking with a different key, so software-wise it checks that box too. The only downside is hardware, especially the camera. But I’m still quite interested in it.
Tangent5280@lemmy.world 4 months ago
wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 4 months ago
The graphene camera app is, honestly, hot garbage. At least it was when I switched like 3 years ago. I just use the Google camera with no internet access to it (permission) and bam, great photos, no data sharing.
Tangent5280@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Can you use google camera when you’re running graphene? How? I love the image quality on the pixel but dislike google way too much to use a google phone.
wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Yeah, it’s just an app, installed from the play store or sideloaded. It detects that it’s a pixel and the extra features get enabled like when installed on stock.
You lose the ability to preview your pictures from the camera when you don’t have google photos installed, but that’s true of stock too - and can be fixed by a stub app that pretends to be google photis, but simply reenables that camera shot preview. Be sure to disable auto updates for “g photos” so it doesn’t complain about a mismatched app.
I used to be all-in on G - devices, software, services. I even got to ride in a waymo vehicle during development and testing (under nda), a friend worked at waymo for several years (I helped him get the job!), and I was participating in studies for both hardware and software for G (also nda). Starting with… 2017, I bought a nas and started migrating to it. It’s not a quick process and there’s a definite learning curve, but I’ve been largely out of the G ecosystem since… 2019? I still buy my phones via the G store, and pay with the store line of credit. Still upload stuff to YouTube, I am a local guide on Maps too. But contacts, calendar, gmail, drive/photos, domains… I’m free, my data is on my hardware in my possession, or at least under my control (domain, email).
GrapheneOS isn’t perfect, but it’s close. My Pixel Watch works with it, they got Android Auto working a couple weeks ago. The only broken app I have is PayPal, and it was working previously, so I think it’s a pp issue and not graphene - regardless it’s a small inconvenience. If you get a day or two and feel ambitious, give it a go. It’s more work, absolutely, but it’s more control and privacy.
daddyjones@lemmy.world 4 months ago
The hardware being very poor was the killer for me. Unless they improve starter specs or allow you to upgrade hardware I won’t ever buy another one.