I enjoyed reading and following this thread and based on the information, I decided to purchase a “Nothing 3a” phone, wanting to replace its ROM straight away with a custom ROM. Wish me luck.
1 Like
the 6a is a decent choice
none of the Pixel’s require an account.
Verizon ones are permanently locked and cannot be bootloader unlocked, even if it is carrier unlocked.
I strongly encourage you to cancel/return it and get a Pixel. They have clear and long support periods and dramatically better aftermarket OS support which will allow you to use it for a very long time.
1 Like
When I last checked it has UFS 2.2 memory which is unacceptable for me today.
If I was buying phone today it would be probable OnePlus, possibly Nord 3 or 4.
Btw. I wouldn’t expect long life from 250$ phone. I still own Realme 7 Pro bought 4 years ago, that works decently, but is 4 years long? Definitely longer that companies want us to buy new devices. 
Currently using 3 y.o Realme GT Neo2 (UFS 3.1 wowed me), but after what they’ve done last autumn (while I’ve just bought 2nd hand in a very good condition) with bootloader possibilities… Never ever Realme 
An additional nice addon for the Pixel phones is that you can flash the back to stock Android using a Google webinstaller. Very convenient, this way rooting the device does not break warranty (at least I had no problem when I returned one once with stock Android flashed again where the mic was broken).
Pixels… Overpriced?
Motorola has Software Fix which can get easily flash back to latest stock, and the author looking for budget phone, afaik.
$250 phone that is stuck on privacy invading stock that gets 2 years of updates or $450 phone that has many aftermarket systems available and has official updates until 2032 and will have even longer community support after
1 Like
In case it is interesting. I recently helped a family member purchase a new OnePlus Nord N30. I immediately unlocked the bootloader (one setting in developer options and a fastboot command) and installed LineageOS 22.2 (the instructions on the LineageOS site are easy to follow for anyone with basic executing commands in a terminal experience).
The Nord 30 was chosen owing to having an official LineageOS build, SD card slot, headphone jack and < $250 US price.
For those that do not care for an SD card or wired heaphones/speakers, a Pixel is probably a better option.
that device has been end of life since January 2024 afaict and even with LineageOS would be missing 15 months worth of security fixes
if it was that recent I’d strongly suggest getting a refund
Using the phone vs trying many custom roms. When I wanted some change it turned out that from ROM to ROM some things don’t work. Fast charging, fingerprint reader etc… Of course I’m talking about my experience, don’t want to convince anyone to anything, but show my point of view.
Still 450 Vs 250 matters.
Btw. I haven’t seen Pixel that I liked it’s design, but that may be secondary thing. Imho I wouldn’t like to use the phone more than 5 years. Lately I was bored with one after 3 years.
What about battery life after so many years? What are the chances to buy good, new spare part in 2032? 
When I wanted to give second life to Galaxy S5 it turned out that I can’t already buy good replacement battery.
One, that pretended to be original, swollen after the year, 3rd party replacements weren’t even worthy buying and the real, used one original had really degraded capacity. Further expenses for that weren’t worthy.
Since Pixels are officially supported by AOSP anyway they largely entirely are fully functional.
Yes I fully understand this. But I really hate seeing people burn their money on a worse choice.
Pixels an also be reguarly had for on sale for $100+ off especially shortly before a new model is released. And can be bought used for less than half their price.
Google is partnered with iFixit to sell genuine parts at reasonable prices: Google Pixel 9a Battery - Genuine
That might be a good idea. Are the “Android Security Update” dates listed in the “Android Version” in “Settings” in LineageOS inaccurate? It lists “May 2025” but I imagine that could easily be faked.
Correct, it is not accurate. They pull in the core Android Security Bulletin patches, but for a device that is EOL by its vendor it cannot receive any patches for vendor components.
2 Likes
Good to know.
How about the date listed for “Vendor security patch level”? Is that one similarly inaccurate/misleading?
Yes, it is also arguably inaccurate: see what I used to write about this here: Patch Levels - DivestOS Mobile
in this context: larry (n30) officially only has Android 14 for it available, so even if it theoretically has the 2025-05 ASB level on stock, it is still missing security/hardening features introduced in Android 15 for the vendor components even if LineageOS is providing Android 15 for it unofficially thereby any claimed future patch level is a lie.
please please please just get a supported Pixel: Google Pixel | endoflife.date
and use a proper fully updated OS such as GrapheneOS which you can see actually is already shipping the June ASB the same day as Google published it:
- Android Security Bulletin—June 2025 | Android Open Source Project
-
Published June 2, 2025 | Updated June 2, 2025
-
- Releases | GrapheneOS
-
2025060200: full 2025-06-01 security patch level
-
meanwhile Lineage still has the fixes pending: https://review.lineageos.org/q/topic:"V_asb_2025-06" and will take another week to rebuild all devices with it even once it is merged
this is a consistent pattern, not a one-off either: Patch History - DivestOS Mobile
1 Like
Thanks again to everyone who gave suggestions. I am currently waiting for my Pixel.
@SkewedZeppelin I believe rooting is not something you actively encourage, lol but I may ask for a tip,would Magisk do the job well? I wish to use some apps such as AFWall that require rooting.
THanks!!
If you go for /e/OS or iodé you get a firewall/adblocker built in that does not need VPN or alternatively root.
I have firewall/adblocker and my VPN stays free for me to use it (which I do) and I don’t need (and don’t have) root.
GrapheneOS, CalyxOS, and LineageOS can all do the same.
AFAIK plain vanilla LineageOS cannot. About the other two I don’t know. If GrapheneOS can, why does GNUser look for AFWall?
App info > Mobile data & Wi-fi
because most people are stuck in their ways
Or maybe some people just didn’t know?
Thanks for letting me know about the built-in “firewall” in Lineage. Although I still have to say AFWall does provide other options that I personally find interesting (it can with a simple parameter choice block every connection even the system ones,allowing me to only enable the ones I want, as for apps, Lineage still requires me to go to every app and change the firewall settings). BUT it’s great to know that there is this option 
THANK YOU!
On the other hand, I only see the options for firewall, not anything regarding adblock (which is not very important for me anyway, I don’t use apps with ads and for browsing the browser itself handles that). Just mentioning it’s not there apparently.
Still, I have to go back to my previous question, will Magisk work with this? I DO prefer to have the option at least if I choose to root, which is something I believe every owner-user should have. In my GNU/Linux machine I have (as much as possible) full control over my machine, so I seek the same in my Android device.