I recently learned Samsung makes a durable phone with a removable battery, and it has no lineage os support. So IDK, I'll troll around eBay for a good deal on a used phone I guess. Sooner than later this phone is dying.

I'm still on my Fold6. I got a Pixel Pro Fold to use Graphene and it was great for a while, but the device itself kinda fell apart, so I'm back on the Fold6.

A folding Linux phone would be really cool, and also $3000.

Ouch. I once crowdfunded a phone that was compatible with Ubuntu Touch and it came out two years late, downgraded, and mine didn't even work. It sounds like yours might at least have resale value.

I'm gonna split my phone from my smart device entirely. Buying a Maker 2 phone when it drops tomorrow. Maybe this won't work out as well as I'd hoped... but it will actually cost me about the same for 2 lines cuz I'm already overpaying on my regular plan.

Supposedly 2027 onward their top line phones will be Graphene compatible.

Nothing, because I barely use my phone as it is. Hopefully, when it is time to upgrade there will be some decent Linux phones in my price range.

RIGHT?!

Like, I am perpetually curious and interested in knowing more about other people, especially those older than me.

I'll continue using my phone until it stops working. Then I'll go with a feature phone, maybe something rubbing Kaios because WhatsApp is a must where i live. Can't say i use my phone for anything productive to warrant having one, but since i already do...

Dumbphone/grapheme combo

I can't seem to access any of your links.

Keep android open leads to dead github page; and I'm getting an "Access denied" error for gadgets360.com

Believe whatever you want, but this is a quote from Google:

Sideloading is fundamental to Android, and it's not going anywhere. Our new developer identity requirements are designed to protect users and developers from bad actors, not to limit choice.

Which device and cell provider are you using?

I'm assuming, then, though, that you do have a computer, in order to receive emails and such.

You assume correctly. My computer (which is not a laptop btw) is indispensable. I have a strong desire to keep my digital life all in one spot and a PC is my best option, since I also like to make software and play video games.

If you've been doing it since the 80s, have there been eras that have really challenged your desire or whatever to not have a mobile phone?

I have never once looked at a smartphone and thought "man, I wish I could do that." I'll admit, once in a while I do daydream about how easy they make it to send and receive money, but that's about it. I don't make or spend enough of it for it to be a huge concern.

Do you think life would be much easier if you did have a mobile phone?

Believe it or not, it has gotten slightly easier to live without a smartphone in recent years. Medical providers started providing online portals where you can do everything. In years past, they were pretty dogmatic about doing everything over the phone.

It helps a lot that I live in a very rural area full of boomers (in America, yes). People here still go to the bank in person, restaurants have paper menus, people still use paper atlases to get around, etc. So I haven't run into any barriers to conducting life business without a phone.

Why do you not have a mobile phone?

They simply never interested me when they started becoming popular while I was in college. I grew up in a time when you left the house in the morning, and no one knew where you were or what you were doing until you told them when you got home in the evening. I like that, so I keep doing it.

Do you think other or younger people should follow your lead?

I think they should do it if they want to, and fight to keep it possible. And always remember: if someone tries to tell you you can't do something without a phone, they're just bluffing. Everything is negotiable.

I just copied the summary from a Google search, just search "bypass Android install verification" and you'll get the same info

We already have the developer option to allow apps not verified by Google. You can do the 24hr wait now to preemptively enable unverified apps, and then nothing will change whenever they choose to actually start enforcing signatures. I've already done it and although a bit annoying it's far from enough a roadblock for me to get rid of my phone. We need better Linux phones, or banking apps that can actually work on graphene without the constant cat and mouse game of passing play integrity in the Google space. Even if we had a great Linux phone many mobile websites just try to redirect you to their app rather than build a real mobile website, so it would be tedious to use for many functions. Graphene is great, but the number of Android apps that refuse to run without play integrity passing is far too high for me to risk buying a compatible phone and going all in on it. Perhaps the new Motorola partnership will be able to help this in some way, but I won't believe it until I see it.

I don't know, I might start just carrying around that Lenovo tablet I've got running Fedora Gnome. It's only slightly larger than the average phone in 2026 anyway, and it's got a SIM card slot.

It's relevant for OP being Canadian. The requested standard is what they would use.

Though the way they wrote it is conventional in Quebec.

Wow, thank you for taking the time to give such thoughtful answers.

I have one more slightly more complex question, though, since I run into it occasionally and absolutely abhor it: do you ever have to use a scan-only pay-to-park or anything like that? You said you live in a rural area that has paper/physical things, still - does that imply that you never encounter these digital-only things? Or that maybe you do and just choose not to engage with them? If you don't, what would you do if you did?

For example, you go into town and the available parking at a restaurant is pay to park, and there is no physical meter, only a scannable code on the signs everywhere, telling you you scan it and pay with an account at a website or through their app.

A real parking garage I often really visit has a system that scans your license plate on entry. Then on exit, there is no booth anymore, but another camera that scans your plate at the exit. If you don't have an account or haven't paid, the bar blocking your way doesn't lift. The system is designed to be interactionless, but only as long as you've made an account with a valid payment option on it.

I am running LineageOS with MicroG for now but I still feel im not degoogled enough lol. Relying on that horrendous company in anyway (even if it is to maintain and contribute to the AOSP) still makes me feel a bit sick. So I have a second phone (FP6) Running pmos thanks to @TheMightyCat@ani.social which im waiting for it to become stable enough to daily drive and then ill be satisfied.

I'd rule out utopian tech as well. Maybe singing, dancing or tree climbing?

do you ever have to use a scan-only pay-to-park or anything like that? You said you live in a rural area that has paper/physical things, still - does that imply that you never encounter these digital-only things? Or that maybe you do and just choose not to engage with them? If you don't, what would you do if you did?

I have not encountered anything like that myself. And frankly, I stay as far away as I can from big cities because of reading stuff like this. That is pure cancer. If I ran into something like that with no alternative, I would definitely give somebody a piece of my mind over it. Maybe not everything is negotiable in the moment after all.

A wall parking garage I often really visit has a system that scans your license plate on entry. Then on exit, there is no booth anymore, but another camera that scans your plate at the exit. If you don't have an account or haven't paid, the bar blocking your way doesn't lift. The system is designed to be interactionless, but only as long as you've made an account with a valid payment option on it.

This makes no sense to me. how are you even supposed to know this the first time you use it? So they just trap people inside with no recourse? That's 'calling the cops for false imprisonment' territory.

I'm definitely hoping I die before bullshit like this catches up to me.

And you really think Google are the pinnacle of honesty and you can take their word for everything?

They tried to block side loading, then relented after enormous pressure, and now are using corporate spin to make it sound like they care.

Hahaha there are a bunch of big colorful signs at the entrance, but yeah, you are correct, it is cancerous bullshit. That parking garage constantly has issues with lines of people getting stuck and having to wait.

It's also a new system, as of maybe 2023, which was bad enough, being automated and only accepting card, before.

Another bad detail to ruin your day is that it's at a hospital and is basically the only parking available.

yea

I love my fold since i play OSRS for a couple hours a day, and can watch youtube on half the screen while still having a decent sized screen.

Its also great professionally, since i can call up blueprints and not have them postage stamp sized.

Sorry for my snark, if you saw it before I deleted it. I thought you had replied to a more recent comment from me where I included the instructions and the video link.

I understand you now, and no, I don't necessarily trust Google when they say side loading is never going to go away, but it's not going away right now.

And yet certain people on Lemmy are still saying it's going away very soon, and downvote me when I say it's not.

The phone is a Fairphone 3, and the provider is Lebara (I don't think it exists outside the UK, but there you go)

I really want to try GrapheneOS when I'm able to get a new phone to put it on. I was thinking I'd have to find alternatives to banking since apparently a lot of bank apps have issues with Graphene for some reason. But according to this site, my bank supports Graphene OS!

All my banking apps work fine, It's airline apps that get a bit weird and I've had to use compatibility mode settings to get the airline apps to launch properly.

If there’s at least compatibility modes, that’s even more encouraging. I don’t travel enough for the airline stuff to be an issue, so i could live with that.

They do, people are stupid even people I consider more tech savey then the average person are not the best when it comes down to it. Like how can people not use ad block.

Sure but that scam doesn't involve installing apps on your phone.