I am currently using an S9 with /e/OS, and I’m thinking about upgrading next year, since the battery is starting to act up.
Are there any phones released in the past few years that are a decent upgrade and that support a privacy-oriented ROM?
I can go up to 500USD, but I live in a 3rd world country, so Fairphones, Pixels, and some other phones aren’t available here.
Thank you in advance!
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Redmi phones that have Qualcomm processors. Check out XDA forum for which models are supported.
I’ve heard that unlocking the bootloader is a bit of a mission. Have you got any experience with that?
I have had several Redmi phones. Yes, the current unlock process is a convoluted - You need a Xiaomi account. Then you need to toggle “unlock” in Developer settings. Then go to fastboot. Then while connected to your PC, you need the Xiaomi Unlock app to unlock the phone which you need to wait 2 weeks to happen. After 2 weeks, you go back to fastboot and the Xiaomi app, click Unlock and it is done.
(phew!)
It is tedious but not horrible. Once this is done, your bootloader is unlocked. You can then install your own custom recovery, custom rom, etc.
And do you have a preferred ROM you use?
From most preferred… CrDroid, EvolutionX, LineageOS, Bliss ROM.
I use a Poco F4. F5 or F6 should be good enough too! Most Xiaomi devices have massive custom ROM support. Plus openly available firmware updates.
Unfortunately there aren’t a lot of Pocos in my region
If you want a privacy oriented custom ROM, there is no beating pixels with grapheneOS.