[homebrewer]

This comment equates Android with Google phones for some reason. The complaints have nothing to do with Android — side loading is light years ahead of Apple (and third party application stores can finally automatically update applications). Call recording works fine on my friend's Xiaomi 14T (I think) that he bought just a couple of weeks ago, and it works fine on my own device that's on latest Lineage (Android 15). There's lots of choice in UI depending on which vendor you're going with; I'm fine with stock Lineage (i.e. stock Android). There's lots of choice price wise (even the homeless have smartphones these days), while the cheapest iPhone costs about two median monthly salaries here.

Just don't buy anything from Google, they've always screwed something up.

[lynndotpy]

I have a very small pool of Androids I consider. Pixels maintain a strong security model (similar to what iPhones have), and they allow you to re-lock the bootloader after installing a non-stock OS. It's between a Pixel, or a FairPhone.

I liked Lineage, but an unlocked bootloader is a security non-starter for a device that's so personal and vital.

For those using the stock OS, Googles are nice because you "only" have Google's spyware built in to the OS.

[dhc02]

I didn't realize there were some non-stick OSes that you could re-lock the bootloader for. Which ones?

[lynndotpy]

GrapheneOS and CalyxOS are the only ones I'm aware of! It requires OS support and the phone to support it too, so it's a rare combo.