from Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.world to privacy@lemmy.ml on 11 Feb 20:07
https://lemmy.world/post/43021063
Update: I wanna thank everyone for the advice, I’m shipping the bunk phone back for refund today and ive got my eye on a few from swappa and back market for when I get the money to buy.
I’ll probably try out graphene but after looking into crdroid I’m pretty stoked about it having all the customization I’ve been wanting for ages. Which ever feels cleaner to manage and easier for the family to pick up will probably be the go to.
So I fell for the classic blunder and ended up with a pixel that’s not OEM unlocked despite being advertised as such. After a few hours of searching it looks like the only way I’m getting an OEM unlocked pixel is full price from Google itself. I don’t have $400 for a new phone, I bought the one I have for $150 in 2019.
Are there any cheaper ways to get control of my phone?
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Why not buy a used Pixel?
That’s what I bought, pixel 7, $150 on amazon but not OEM unlocked. After doing a deep dive on it I’ve found that the only seller on amazon, eBay, and aliexpress that sells one guarantee OEM unlocked is out of stock with no estimated restock. Only other option similar is a refurbished 7a from Google at $350
Return Pixel 7 to Amazon and start looking for used Pixels on Craigslist or FB Marketplace
Or Swappa
USA only, but Swappa is often recommend online. I see a few here listed as unlocked
https://swappa.com/listings/google-pixel-7
I’m looking through swappa and it looks like the unlocked tag is for carriers, how to I verify it’s not going to be a repeat of my current situation?
The international model is
GVU6C, which I believe is the model that is sold directly by Google, which is always unlockable. There are several of those on Swappa.https://www.phonemore.com/models/google/pixel-7/
I’ve found many unlocked, used Pixel phones on eBay. I’ve bought 5 of them this way for myself and my family and had no problems.
You mind sending me a link? I could only find 1 eBay seller that stated it was OEM unlocked and they were out of stock.
www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=unlocked+pixel&rt=nc…
I can’t vouch for any particular seller I’m afraid. I used various sellers and I guess I have just been lucky so far.
I bought a refurbished pixel 6a for 200€ from a local store with 2 years guarantee. Using it since 3-4 years and am happy.
Maybe think about a used/refurbished one?
That’s what I bought and what I’m looking for, but no one has them with OEM unlocked. The only option I could find that guarantees that is a refurbished pixel 7a from Google for $350
Are you in the EU? Because at my City the first used stuff store i went to had it. But maybe thats different in different markets.
Sadly no, rural US. I’d gladly move if I could.
:/ HM that sucks. You could go with a phone with lineage OS support, not as secure but at least without bloatware from what I understand.
Or save and try to snipe a good deal on some marketplace
I wish I had the time, but after nearly 8 years my charging port is finally giving up. It doesn’t do data transfer anymore and I don’t know how many more times I can plug it in before it stops charging all together.
Have you tried to Clean it with a needle? Often its just stuff getting Into the port so the cable doesn’t fit anymore all the way
Oh regularly. I’ve been keeping this guy alive for years. The issue looks to be that the port itself is beginning to seperate and the blu g91s isn’t all that repairable.
I’ve been carrying it around long enough that the whole phone has a ~3° warp to it from my jeans holding it too tightly to my thigh. If you sit it glass down on a flat surface it wobbles like a bad table.
I will bet a lot of the listings you are looking at really are OEM unlocked, they are just not clear about it. I bought a refurbished pixel 7 pro on Amazon in 2023 for $234. The listing just says “service provider: unlocked”. I installed graphene on it.
That said, I see a subsequent review on this listing commissioning that the received phone was not carrier unlocked, so I guess you have to be prepared for some trial and error and returns.
I would broaden your eBay search to just “unlocked” and then maybe message sellers to verify the kind of unlocked state.
Possibly something here is useful: …grapheneos.org/…/13146-any-way-to-tell-if-a-seal…
You can buy them from Best Buy? Scamazon? Walmart?
Not unlockable means you can never have complete control of that device unfortunately.
You could return the phone to whomever lied about it being oem unlocked. Pixel 6 used is around $150, 7 go for about $220. Use a service like swappa so you have some assurance you will get what you pay for this time.
for some older pixel (pixel 2) there was some sketchy chinese dude that remotely bootloader unlocks the device for USD$30, tho i haven’t tried that myself. most likely using some leaked engineering bootloader binary.
Buy some old chinashit and flash lineage/cr droid, they actually give you more control than graphene
This is actually the best option I’ve gotten so far, crdroid looks good. Is there anywhere I can find a video that explains the daily use side of it?
Why not e/os GSI?
That’s basically LineageOS with some pre-configuration for microg
Not exactly it has some interesting customizations like tracker blocking, geo mock and tor included by default. Is a privacy oriented ROM. Not as private as graphene but I believe it’s a good alternative for non-pixel, another one is iodeOS.
What about Lineage gives you more control than GOS? I personally have never tried LineageOS since I have a pixel, but curious what it’s like over there.
Graphene is designed to restrict a lot of choices (and root access) to be secure by default, Lineage is designed to give you root control over everything. Very different approaches.
I paid ~$180 for my used mint-condition Pixel 6 on Swappa. You have to look up which exact model numbers are bootloader unlockable, then filter on those.
You can find services online that people will unlock your phone for you for a fee
As long as it isn’t “carrier locked”, you should be good to go. The thing about Pixels, is that they allow you to unlock the bootloader (and critically, for Graphene, relock it).
You’d think so, but apparently the Verizon model will allow you to unlock the carrier but you can never unlock the bootloader.
Damn, you’re right. That sucks.
lineageos is a good alternative. but if it’s not oem unlockable, you are out of luck with roms.
I’m already returning this one, l was just hoping to find something I could set up that wouldn’t cost most of a check to get my hands on
almost any phone that can have its bootloader unlocked has lineage available. to make sure it’s well supported, try to find one from their officially supported list.
a lot of cheap motorolas or xiaomis in there.
or an older pixel, might be cheaper and still supported by graphene.
The least demanding and least good option is probably universal android debloater, which helps you remove and disable packaged using adb. That’s a bit of control on a device with a locked bootloader.
+1 for Swappa. I get all my devices there, filter by unlocked
Are there even locked Pixels? Who has them.
Iirc Verizon doesnt sell Pixels that can unlock the bootloader.
Other guy beat me to it, but Verizon has the bootloader so secured no one even bothers trying.
There’s nothing anywhere close to the security and privacy Graphene provides. Find something like a used 8a somewhere. Check Backmarket, Swappa too not just Amazon and ebay.
I ended up finding one on backmarket, should be here soon. Hadn’t heard of them or swappa before this thread.
I’m not too invested in the security side of things, it’s just the nice fat cherry on being able to genuinely own my next phone.
Which model did you get?
Pixel 7. That was my original goal as it’s the newest that I can afford.
I would have personally opted for an 8a since the 7 will loose support in Oct 2027 while the 8a will keep being supported until May 2031. (In addition to supporting MTE which improves security even more) I haven’t checked their prices on the used market but I don’t think they should be that different.
I got the 7 for $140 where the 8a was looking like $200 and that 60 bucks is a big difference. I’m not too worried about the security update issue, my current phone hasn’t gotten a security update since 2024 and I really only use it as a phone. I’m making the change because I’m tired of walking up with new bloatware added once a month and constantly fighting to get Google assistent for control of my settings.