I know that most customizability features that were once exclusive to custom roms are available for use right out of the box these days.

In the case of manufacturers like Samsung, I think,there are still no official builds of lineageOS for the newer phones after the galaxy s10 series.

I’m aware that GSI roms are available. My experience with GSI’s have been kinda bad. Most of the time they lack a lot of features which makes the phone not viable anymore. Then there are also the random UI bugs, which frustrate the hell out of the user.

I miss the old days when there were lots of custom roms, even for budget devices. I used to flash them when my phones were out of warranty. I could use my phone however I saw fit.

Is there no way to bring back these good times ? Or will the whole custom ROM community just shrink to the pixels and a select few devices ?

  • smegEnglish
    3·
    11 months ago

    I can definitely recommend GrapheneOS. Interestingly Google Maps actually runs fine without Google Play Services, but if you do need other Googly stuff then installing the Sandboxed Play Services is pretty trivial. Happy to answer any more questions about it if you want!

    • TrickDacy@lemmy.worldEnglish
      21·
      11 months ago

      Thanks for the info! Do you use maps for navigation while driving? If so, does it work as smoothly as normal? Also have you used the Google wallet for tap payments on graphene?

      • smegEnglish
        2·
        11 months ago

        I’ve not noticed any issues at all with navigation. Unfortunately contactless payments are one of the few things that don’t work.

        • TrickDacy@lemmy.worldEnglish
          21·
          11 months ago

          I was afraid of that. Hmm, any other pain points that stick out? Are you able to use things like Google docs and voice? I know I’m probably wanting to have my cake and eat it too. It’s truly overwhelming how many Google services I rely on and I hate it.

          • smegEnglish
            2·
            11 months ago

            Google docs is fine, I don’t use any of the voice assistant stuff but I think they do still work. I think the NFC payments are a bit of an edge case, I can’t remember the reason they don’t work but they are the exception.

            • TrickDacy@lemmy.worldEnglish
              21·
              11 months ago

              Makes sense. I am guessing it’s some kind of app/device signature thing that ties deeply to the OS. How about android auto? What camera app do you use and how well does it work? I hope I’m not taking too much advantage of your willingness to answer questions :)

              • smegEnglish
                2·
                11 months ago

                According to the doc android auto probably won’t work. I just use open camera and it seems fine, though I think you can use Google camera if you like.

                Ultimately you can try it out and switch back to stock if you’re not happy without too much effort!