Comment by d3Xt3r
6 months ago
This is excellent news. I've always wanted to try GrapheneOS, but I dislike Google and dislike Pixels even more (Tensor sucks + there's the whole VoLTE/5G issue), so I never got a chance to try it out.
Hopefully they select an OEM which supports pKVM - that's the one Pixel feature I'd really like to see being implemented on other Android devices.
The timing of this is also really important, as the EU is currently planning on rolling out mandatory app-based age verification, and currently it looks like the solution will be locked to Apple and Google phones "for security reasons". I have contacted my own government, and their answer is that they currently do not plan to support alternatives only used by a minority of citizens (absurd statement coming from a government agency). Having a major OEM actually offer a native non-Google Android phone will be really important to be able to put pressure on governments to stop locking their citizens into American big tech platforms because of will be a lot easier to argue that it is anti-competitive (which it always has been, but governments apparently don't consider postmarket operating systems as even part of the competition).
GrapheneOS recently added official support for forcing the availability of VoLTE, VoNR, 5G and/or VoWiFi with any carrier providing proper implementations. It was previously possible via ADB but no longer is since the December 2025 security patches which are included in our current security preview releases with the November 2025, December 2025 and January 2026 patches (https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/27068-grapheneos-security-p...).
The devices with our OEM partner will be Snapdragon flagships with Gunyah rather than pKVM. It should still be able to support the same things. It even has official Windows guest support upstream.
What is the VoLTE/5G issue? On T-Mobile, haven't had any issues with it living in a pretty rural spot. Isn't that like a Verizon problem?
It's more of an issue for carriers who don't sell Pixel devices, particularly in countries where the Pixel isn't sold officially (eg: New Zealand). So generally VoLTE, VoWiFi and sometimes even 5G too might not work. You can use a hack to get around that, but now Google has blocked that hack: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45553764
Edit: Looks like there's an updated workaround now, but this is what I mean - it's really unacceptable that an essential feature like VoLTE - which is required to make phone calls - may not work depending on your carrier/region.
GrapheneOS recently added toggles to work around this https://grapheneos.org/releases#2025100300
Actually I'm not sure it's reasonable to complain about a feature that you're informed won't work, on a phone that you're using in a region it's not meant to be in, doesn't work.
Yes, Pixels should probably be sold in all markets. But if you're explicitly circumventing that you shouldn't be surprised.
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Curious, what phone would you recommend/do you use?
I use a Samsung Fold because I read a lot of books/manga, and I also love its multitasking features over stock Android/Pixel. Finally I also prefer it's form-factor (roughly 3:4 unfolded screen, and a narrow front screen) over other similar devices.
But it's obviously not for everyone so I can't really recommend it to everyone. And to be honest I can't in good faith recommend any Android phone these days, I hate what Google and other OEMs have done to the ecosystem.
I'm quite bullish on Linux phones though, like the FuriPhone FLX1, the Volla Phone Quintus, and the Jolla C2 - obviously again they're not for everyone, so for normies I would recommend an iPhone, and for techies I'd suggest giving the Linux phones a try (or maybe get a OnePlus/Nothing phone and load LineageOS+Magisk if you don't mind playing the cat-and-mouse game with Play Integrity).
I have no special insights, but Sony's phones seem like a good fit. They are really easy to unlock [1], but there are virtually no mods but Lineage. Maybe because they are very stock Android and bloat-free?
They range from 300 to 1000 EUR. I personally am fond of the "lower end" and slender Xperia 5 and 10 lines and the customary 21:9 screen ratio.
[1] https://developer.sony.com/open-source/aosp-on-xperia-open-d...
Don’t Sony’s have the issue of crappier photos after unlocking because of some DRM key shenanigans? This is what I remember about my old Xperia X1C and I so left for Pixel and then eventually iOS so things would just work and last longer than a year or 2.
All android devices launched with android 15 or newer need to support Android Virtualization Framework. So there will be support for VMs.