Any non Google phone running graphene would be epic.
I had completely forgotten Lenovo bought Motorola from Google some 10 years ago. Honestly haven’t seen a Motorola phone in at least that long …
Motorola Mobility belongs to Chinese Lenovo but headquarters are in Chicago. Not sure if that makes it better or worse regarding privacy and surveillance compared to USA only.
This is great news. While I still think we should make a push towards Linux phones being mainstream so that we don’t keep this duopoly on OSes, it’s nice to know that at least one manufacturer is currently defying googles obvious goal of suppressing third party ROMs and marketplaces.
Volla phone (has choice between ubuntu touch and android rom) seems pretty cool.
Thanks for the reality check. While this a good development, I share your concern and we should not stop,or even slow, developing any fully free as in freedom OS. I tried PostmarketOS on an old Oneplus 6T recently and I estimate we have one or two more phone replacement cycles until I think it’ll be ready for me to switch.
I have a 6T and was thinking about getting postmarketos on it, what didn’t work for you? Which “desktop” did you choose for it? there’s like 5 options for that and I really have no idea what to do.
I used KDE because that’s what I use on desktop. I hear some of the others are further along. Flashing was easy. I could not set up my SMB shares in dolphin and if it wont talk to my NAS, it’s not terribly useful to me. I will play around some more with it sooner or later. I believe I used Android- tools on Linux to send the partitions via fastboot commands. It was a 2 gen old phone for me (had the OP9 after it) so I wasn’t worried about anything going wrong. Feel free to shoot me a DM if you get stuck and have a specific question. I will try to help.
They spotted an opportunity
Good. Now if only they could make the Edge+ with the same relative spec sheet and ditch the curved glass in 2027. I’d buy it in a heartbeat for Graphene. My next phone WAS going to be a Pixel for the broader case/screen protector support, but that would make me reconsider cause I would really miss the chop chop flashlight.
Chop chop flashlight?
Motorola phones have a feature that allows you to “chop” with your phone twice to turn on/off the flashlight. It sounds super mundane, but it is way more convenient than you can imagine. Especially for me as an athletic trainer when I’m testing pupil response during a concussion evaluation. They also allow you to twist your phone twice to open the camera, but I don’t find that as convenient since double tapping the lock button also works.
That’s pretty cool. Did you ever find it activating accidentally?
No. You have to be pretty deliberate about it. Honestly, its pretty impressive how well tuned it is.
Now I need to try it somehow
Just tried it on my razr, had no idea it was a thing but that’s not surprising given I don’t really set up accessibility features on my phones. You do have to be quite forceful with it, kind of whipping it back once at the end of a swing. Neat.
maybe my next phone will be a Motorola.
My last few phones have been Motorolas and I’ve been very very happy with them.
My only issue was that back then, I wasn’t really paying attention to alternative OSs like Graphene, Lineage or e/os and was therefore not really too concerned with ROM support/chip set. When I switched over to e/os, two of my Motorola’s (including the one I WANT to use with it) has no ROM support because it’s running a Mediatek chipset. So I’m using my second to last one while my nice new one collects dust.
Moving forward I’ll be paying more attention to Qualcomm vs Mediatek.
yeah i might focus on Android phones that have Good ROM/ support
i think their graphene OS powered phone will have bootloader unlocking.i hope Google does not take away Sideloading. (but i think graphene returns it)
Me too. I’ve always bought Google Pixels but I don’t want to give Google my money anymore.
So I’ll probably buy a Motorola if this deal gets through.
Me too. I’ve always bought Google Pixels but I don’t want to give Google my money anymore.
what about used?
What phone do you use now?
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I’m on a Google Pixel 9A.
But at least I didn’t pay for it, Google paid me, thanks to a clever mix of a big 9A launch discount, a trade-in discount and the fact that the older Pixel I traded in had already been partially refunded because of the infamous battery problems.
i bought a mororolla 3 years ago and it still lasts 2 days on a charge. id say go for it.
i gotta see first if Motorola/Lenovo will actually ship graphene OS and other factors.
they dont sound like bad phones and even better with this collab
If I can get GrapheneOS + headphone jack + SD card slot, I am in.
I’d add “less than 15cm tall” too. I’ve had enough of stupid giant phones that don’t fit in pockets and where you can’t even reach the top or other side with your thumb.
That would be like a dream come true. I’m about to become excluded from mobile technology as my phone seems to be starting to present hardware failures, and I can’t stand to use large ones.
I’d really like a removable battery as well.
SD slot would be great. Fuck every major company getting rid of it, so you have to use their cloud provider.
I didn’t even realise “no SD card” was an option. That’s shitty and awful.
+1 for the headphone jack
But how are they going to include useless “uninstallable” apps and advertisements?
Grapheneos is a pretty attractive selling point for a phone. They could even make money the old fashioned way: by selling phones.
Probably they will not support it for budget phones
which is fine, I mean, you’d want decent specs + a secure OS in this day and age
Not everyone want one tho, i saw people saying that they use 200€ motorola phones, tbh i am using a 230€ tablet and it’s fine for normal tasks and drawing
yeah, I was looking at the Moto G15 for my next phone, but with this news, I’m considering waiting a little longer for a better OS
I’m on a second generation of Motorola phones. I gave them a shot with the 2020 g power and upgraded to the 2023 edge+. The g power was fine for about 2 years but then I really began to feel the brunt of having such a underperforming chipset. I’d definitely suggest getting something that’s more in the midrange price bracket given my experience. My advice so take it or leave it.
You don’t need high specs these days. I was looking at the Moto G 2024, because it’s the latest version to support Lineage OS, and it has a Snapdragon 4 Gen 1, I think it is, which is actually just slightly better than my OnePlus Nord N200 on Geekbench, which is fine.
The main difference is that my OnePlus Nord N200 was released in 2021, and it has a lower geekbench score than the Moto G 2024, which was released in 2024, with a lower-end chip. But my OnePlus cost $300, where the G24 was released at $200, and is now available for $130.
So at its release, I would have gotten more storage and a better CPU for $100 less, and now it would be $170 less.
I have one. It’s honestly not bad. The only thing it could use is 8GB RAM and not 4. Otherwise it’s perfectly good for my uses. Seems quick enough, has a jack, etc.
What I do when I’m shopping for a new phone is go to the LineageOS download site and look at what the mid-range devices are available for each of the OEMs and then make my choice from that list. Otherwise, the Moto G 2024 probably wouldn’t have crossed my radar screen. A couple of years ago I had the Moto 1 5G Ace and thought it was a great device except that the charger port started to give out on it and so I couldn’t reliably charge it. That made me realize that at some point I would like a device with wireless charging even if I do primarily use the USB charger so that if the USB port ever breaks I can just charge it wirelessly and not have to give the phone up entirely.
Supposedly the article says that Motorola will be implementing “some” of the features from GrapheneOS in some of their other phones. So whilst not GrapheneOS proper, you still might see some graphenOS like/lite type stuff on budget phones.
Graphene might be marketed towards enterprises first. Look at that leaked slide again: it mentions “bloatware-free interface with Business Edition.”
The bigger leak is Motorola acknowledging they ship bloatware, IMO
Ironically I bought a cheap moto g because microslop intune settings where I work do not allow for Graphene os in the attestation check. Only use it when wfh so if I’m away from my desk I don’t miss teams calls and look like I’m doing laundry (which I probably am)
Easy. By not making it a budget phone.
Motorola doesn’t have to sell apps. Apps sell themselves. And an App Store that isn’t riddled with crap is appealing to everyone.
I mean, they could still include those on the base model of the phone, but just officially support flashing Graphene for those who want to do it. I am reasonably certain the target markets for pre-installed apps/ads and people who would be interested in flashing Graphene are completely separate groups. Kind of like how a stock Pixel is basically Google/Gemini Spyware, but Thayer doesn’t matter to someone who buys one to install Graphene.
Well, fuck. I really hoped they would pick FairPhone. Motorola is… Okay. I guess they made the Nexus 5 ; which was one of the best phones ever.
I hope they make a SMALL one, I am so tired of this GIGANTIC pixel 9.
Fairphone isn’t available everywhere while Motorola is. It’s pretty easy to understand why they chose them.
That’s not the reason, the real reason is Fairphone doesn’t take security seriously. The GrapheneOS devs have called them out numerous times on that.
Also a good reason but you can’t get Fairphones in North America which is a huge market.
Who haven’t the gosdevs called out? Not even OpenBSD are as callous and their work is rock solid.
But if they partnered with GrapheneOS, there could have been a concerted effort to remedy that.
Depends on if Fairphone wants to take security ‘seriously’ by Graphene OS opinion.
I don’t know the details of these specific folks, but sometimes a security team can be wholly unreasonable and advocate for breaking useful capabilities. E.g. there are some security folks that would say the entire possibility of unlocked bootloader is an unforgiveable security no-no. They can even argue with each other, I know a security team that says password managers are a no-no and humans should remember every credential that they would have otherwise put in a password manager, while most security folks would agree a password manager is totally worth it for using randomized passwords.
So I tend to reserve judgement on disagreements between a ‘security authority’ until I hear nuance of specifics on both sides. I could easily believe GrapheneOS wants some things that are fundamentally at odds with what Fairphone wants rather than just Fairphone being sloppy about it or something.
An unlocked bootloader that can’t be relocked IS a major no no since in that case it’s impossible to verify the integrity of the operating system and prevent malware from loading during boot up.
Motorola gets a little bit of love from me because they were (maybe still are?) the only ones who allowed me to shout “COMRADE MOTO!” to wake my phone up
I will not say “Hey Google” in a million years. I refuse.
SOVIET ANTHEM PLAYS IN THE BACKGROUND
That’s definitely worth a fair few points. Always rubbed me the wrong way that you couldn’t change it to whatever you wanted.
I think LG made the Nexus 5, though.
Actually LG made the Nexus 5, Moto did the Nexus 6, developed while Google owned Motorola and released a few weeks after Lenovo bought them.
Depending on your definition of ‘small’, your only hope might be if they did Razr and you used it folded up. That’s credibly small, though I don’t know if Graphene would be game for bothering to do that sort of multiple display work.
I actually bought a new Motorola phone 2 months ago precisely because i wanted a phone with an unlockable bootloader, and motorola delivered that.
Vote with your wallet.
Just wanted to echo the vote with your wallet sentiment. It’s the only power we have!
I once bought a Motorola one phone because it would have quick and lengthy updates. Motorola certainly didn’t provide that.
Other than that it was a decent phone.I have used Motorola for the last 5 years or so. They had superior battery life compared to the others and were inexpensive. I bought my last one for like 40 bucks on clearance. I won’t spend more than 100 bucks plus tax on a phone anymore. I use minimal apps, don’t take lots of pictures with it, mostly text and make phone calls on it. I don’t keep social media apps on it nor restaurant apps. I mostly use the Maps, the Notes, and the browser applications. I don’t like the android/google calendar interface but will use reminders/tasks. I also use book/reading/podcast apps (Librivox, Podbean, Kindle, and another one…). I had overly invested in Kindle years ago unfortunately. I don’t really watch video on the phone as it is too small, but have YT music on it. I could use advice for alternatives that are better.
I’ll buy if decent specs and price good
I solely need camera, contactless payments and projection for cars. If it is capable of these I am pre ordering.
Projection for cars?
I think he means the equivalent of car play.
Android auto equivalent.
Something like that is what I’ve been waiting for a long time for. Really looking forward to it.
My biggest concern is the life cycle of the device. I almost went with Motorola for my last phone, but saw that you were lucky to get 3 years of OS updates. Is that likely to be better on GrapheneOS? If so, that is a huge win imo. If not, it still isn’t ideal because I don’t want to have to buy a new phone every 2 years…
GrapheneOS was claiming 5-year support IIRC. Apple level support is infeasible. Not sure how affordable longer firmware support from Qualcomm is.
Thats the trick, when a company supports romming, you can extend the support for however long you want!
But gos dropped support for pre-6 Pixels so not quite.
Never had graphene, but been using Lineage since it was called CyanogenMod on my Galaxy Nexus
Why do you think they are $300-500? I don’t care about “only” 3 years of updates if i don’t have to spend $1300 on a friggin cellphone.
I mean, I sort of get what you are saying but it also feels a little like Grimes’s boots thing from Terry Pratchet. Like, I can spend $200- $300 and get a phone that will stop getting security updates in 2-3 years… Or I can spend $700-$1000 to get a phone that comes with 7-10 years of security updates. Money per year, you are the same or better off if you can afford the up-front cost of the more expensive product, and we are generating a lot less techno-garbage clogging up the planet.
Generally, I hate the hard limit of use of these things. Coming from desktop computers, if you spend more money the machine is faster, but if you don’t need the speed you can use the cheap machine just as long (or longer if you really don’t need performance). All phones feel like they are just a subscription model.
Upvoted for Sam Vimes reference!
Reading the original press release might be a good Start
Their Thinkphones pretty much always had good update policy
Almost like you cant really sell a 100€ device and expect it to be optimised like a mid range
but saw that you were lucky to get 3 years of OS updates.
fucking great, less enshittification when they stop shoving the updates down your throat.
Yea, except you aren’t getting security updates either… Basically anything connected to the internet should be getting security updates…
Fucking finally. Please be a Qualcomm chip.
a future smartphone to have GrapheneOS pre-installed
I’ll not trust Lenovo (Motorola is Lenovo) preinstalling stuff on my phone. They’ve already ship Windows laptop with literally malware and backdoors (even in UEFI, so persistent across format) preinstalled.
I will rather install it myself.
Fully agree on that. Always better to start fully fresh, even without such problems.
That said, it’s still important that it will ship pre-installed. That way app-developers who block GrapheneOS cannot excuse their actions anymore by saying that it was your decision to use another OS, and therefore not their problem.
Good point you got there.
That’s nice, but how much will those phones cost? Will GrapheneOS be an option on the low end devices or will they only support “some” devices, which happen cost as much as a Pixel anyway?
Pixels have hardware documentation and are directly supported by Android, making them possible for the GrapheneOS dev community to support. Good luck doing that on a Samsung.
Motorola is doing good here. Also, buy a used Pixel 8, you’ll have almost three years of support left.
That’s the thing, even used Pixels are almost twice the price of what I paid for my new phone.
Back when I bought my phone I considered that route. but then since I can’t replace the batteries on new phones without risking destroying the device. And there’s a big probability that the phone comes with an almost dying battery.
I also understand that GrapheneOS can’t be installed on any “unlocked” phone, it needs to be OEM unlocked and most sellers don’t know/specify, so ended up considering too expensive and too much of a risk.
I asked Motorola for an OEM unlock code for an Edge 30 Neo and got it straight away. I then installed Lineage OS 22, and the phone is working really well. The total cost is one-third of what a used Pixel 8 would cost.
Pick your poison. Want cheap? Be tracked. Want privacy? Pay the price.
Hey mate, don’t need one of the Motorola’s, buy a second hand pixel, I’ve got a 6 and a 10 pro (soon to be converted to GOS now that there are stable builds since it’s my daily).
It’s a bit of a shock compared to stock android but you’ll actually feel like you own and control your phone again (like I do here on the pixel 6), but you’ll lose features like the scam block, hold for me etc. that the stock OS does).
The onus becomes on you to keep the device secure, you can do another user profile to install stuff you want separate and it works nicely. It’s all sandboxed and asks your consent before giving any permissions to an app, like android used to.
While the Motorola/GrapheneOS news is interesting, it’s a shame that GrapheneOS’s lack of root access continues to be a significant limitation. For users who prioritize data ownership and the ability to create full, local backups (Swift Backup being a prime example), it’s simply not a viable option. Security is important, but so is control over your own data.
Have you seen the “Shizuku” app? It utilises the debugging api to give some extra permissions that regular apps wouldn’t usually get. Works on GrapheneOS and can give SwiftBackup a lot more power on devices that can’t grant root access. You might find you don’t need full rooting.
