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by Lanolderen 454 days ago
I recently got a Pixel 8a since my Nova 5t died from water damage and I wanted to try GrapheneOS, I wanted a smallish phone with eSIM and it was one of the cheapest phones long term when comparing OS update support length. I still prefer the Nova ergonomics with the fingerprint sensor on the power button and the power button below the volume but aside from that:

The notch is not an issue at all, it appeared larger to me in pictures.

The camera focus has not died on a motorcycle without vibration damping and the phone itself has not died to rain. The plastic back is also nice since I don't have to worry about it cracking.

GrapheneOS has only been problematic with Revolut from which I migrated and Sparkasse's online banking application, although their 2FA app works fine so I can still do everything in browser. Migrating away from them ATM. Past that GrapheneOS has been a joy to use. Very powerful yet simple.

Battery life is kinda iffy and the slow charging is a bit annoying at times.

To me the 9a looks like more of the same essentially so I don't know if I'd spend 550 Eur on it but I'm pretty happy with my 8a for ~330. Though realistically most of my love for it is probably GrapheneOS.
2 comments
MurkyLabs 454 days ago
I recently upgraded from a galaxy s8 to a pixel 9 xl because I wanted to try Graphene myself as well. It's been a huge jump that I'm still getting used to but I'm a fan of GrapheneOS. There's some learning I needed to do but I do love the security features that both Graphene and Android OS have implemented since Android 9
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dns_snek 454 days ago
> GrapheneOS has only been problematic with Revolut

That's odd, did it complain about anything? I use GrapheneOS on my Pixel 8a and Revolut works without any problems for me. It's also on this list of banking applications that have been verified to work on GrapheneOS:

https://privsec.dev/posts/android/banking-applications-compa...

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Lanolderen 454 days ago
For me they blocked me via the Play Integrity API for using a modified OS. Writing them got me nowhere and there are 100 other similar services so I moved on.

Apparently it's been fixed:

https://grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/113869402100735005

But I honestly can't be bothered if they're trying to block me.

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