So my phone (a Pixel 7) has picked up the habit of randomly rebooting for unknown reasons. It seems to be getting worse.

Once upon a time, I used to look forward, at least a little bit, to getting a new phone. Shinier better hardware, a software update, there was something I got out of the deal, even when I wasn't really feeling that I wanted to buy another hunk of electronic stuff.

When I think of a new phone now, I think of fending of a bunch of new AI crap, of trying to track down and fix a hundred different privacy settings that, mysteriously, don't get copied from the old device, and generally just trying to get back to where I am now.

In other words, it's not that I'm not excited about getting a new phone; I actively don't want that new phone.

Maybe I'll just go back to the land line.

@corbet
Relatable!

@corbet@social.kernel.org I have noticed this recently too, and think in my case it has to do with frequent OTA updates. Disabling automatic reboot helped there.

If you're using Graphene, you may consider disabling intermittent reboot (a defense against after-first-unlock attacks).

@corbet I bit the bullet and went for a Fairphone recently for these sorts of reason. It's more money than I'd normally spend on a phone, but I'm hoping the repairability, long warranty + long period of security update provision might balance out in the long-run.

@corbet maybe a new pixel with grapheneOS?

@corbet

Recently ditched iPhone 13 Pro for a Nokia 106

Winning - life may not be as 'convenient' but it is absolutely better in so many ways!

It's just calls and text messages, that's it, my phone no longer has such a high status in my life.

@corbet this is now also buying a car. No more fun at all.

@corbet If you live in an area where that is possible, consider yourself lucky.

@corbet If you are considering a Pixel anyway, I can recommend @GrapheneOS. Not sure about the zeal in their messaging, but it sure works fine and removes all the annoying things you mentioned.

@srtcd424 @corbet Sent from my #Fairphone 4 running /e/... OTA updates monthly. I replaced the /e/ default apps with Thunderbird, Firefox & Fossify. I can install apps from Google Play if needed, but I have few of these. Permissions (camera, location) are denied by default and enable per-app as required.

@srtcd424 @corbet I previously had a #Fairphone 2 for 7 years, maintained with second hand parts from ebay until the batteries finally died as software support ended.

The updates didn't continually degrade the performance as with previous cheap Android phones. OK, so the FP2 wasnt very powerful, but then *it didn't have its power wasted*. So I'm confident that the FP4 will also last 5-7 years.

@corbet I believe you already know I've been happy for a long time with my pixel 3 running a hand rolled secure boot version of LineageOS.

@jejb I'm still disappointed that you're not still carrying the Nexus 1.... That was as much a part of your image as the bowtie...

@corbet I still have it (and a stack of replacements) but it unfortunately won't run the apps I need today.

@prl @srtcd424 @corbet I also bought the fairphone last year. I hate any protective cases around my phones, so it is great to know I will be able to get easily replaceable parts in case something breaks. I failed to glue my last phone properly back together after the black glass broke. Also the time wasted with that failed repair 🙈

@corbet Does postmarketOS not work for you?

@jejb @corbet Pixel 3? Wow, that's what I have. Would you mind sharing your config, so I can roll a similar build?

@ptesarik @corbet sure, but its heavily modified to include a secure sip stack and verity boot. You can find my modified repos on github:

https://github.com/jejb

You need all the android repos.