The PinePhone is pretty dang weak, the PinePhone Pro doesn't really seem to have worked out and the Librem 5 seems really expensive for a 5 year old device.
I guess there's the Jolla C2 if you consider SailfishOS with its closed source components to be Linux enough.
My understanding is also that the best option currently is to buy a Fairphone, then you can decide later over time if you want Linux on it or some degoogled ROM.
Even degoogled ROMs are a bit of a mess though since graphene is Pixel-only and calyx is frozen/dead. Would be nice if LineageOS was actually degoogled...
A "degoogled" Android ROM is a ROM that removes Google stuff from AOSP, LineageOS doesn't really do that. They do make their own apps, but it's mostly just because AOSP ones are too horrible.
Of course there's no Play services by default, but that's not "Degoogling"
LineageOS includes everything Google, including but not limited to:
Google eUICC for eSIM activation Google SUPL (Assisted GPS) Google Servers for Connectivity or Captive Portal check Google Servers for DNS check Google as Fallback DNS servers Google NTP servers
@xerz@kitten It might just have changed, I don't exactly keep up with LineageOS' code.
If LineageOS has started actually degoogling, that's great. If anything that commit does show that they were using EuiccGoogle prior to 2023 (and it's probably still there), it was just disabled because it keeps crashing without play services, not to degoogle, assuming I parsed that page correctly.
@xerz@kitten And if you don't mind, it's perfectly fine to use LineageOS. It's just wrong to call a phone with LineageOS "degoogled" (Or at least it was previously).
This is a common misconception, degoogled Android doesn't mean "I decided to not put Google Play Services or microG on it", it means the Android base has had Google traces removed.
The big degoogled roms are GrapheneOS, CalyxOS, /e/OS and iodeOS, at least that I'm aware of. These are the roms that make at least some effort to remove Google from the base OS, unlike LineageOS who at least used to only do so if it was necessary to fix a problem. Some are more degoogled than others.
GrapheneOS is the top dog in terms of being google-free, but ironically you have to buy Google hardware to run it.
@kitten GrapheneOS too? yeah, the new Pixels suck ass, but the Pixel 8a has memory tagging (the hardware feature GrapheneOS devs want to take advantage for their security model really badly) and even if you dont depend on having it safe against being raided/confiscated and would rather buy a cheaper one like the Pixel 6a, GrapheneOS still provides an excellent degoogled experience and has the option to install reverse engineered & sandboxed google services in a second profile, entirely isolated from your sensitive data
@kitten i'm still a fan of GrapheneOS even if i dont use phones much in general anymore, i just kinda gave up on the form factor and the effect it has on my mental health. i need something that i cant mindlessly open without noticing and shoot myself into doomscrolling for hours
though i'm planning to use PostmarketOS for turning my Pixel 6a into a kiosk-like control panel for my cyborg suit, having a rooted linux is crucial for the kinda of USB fuckery i do
@kitten i hope this gives rise to a new generation of independent hardware and operating systems hackers, just like the locking down of the web a decade ago radicalized me