hankthetankie [none/use name]

  • 3 Posts
  • 45 Comments
Joined 6 months ago
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Cake day: March 5th, 2025

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  • I have done a lot of pixel repairs and GOS installations . Pixels are glued shut. It is repairable but it is quite sure to say that the screen will break if removed , it’s kind of like removing two eggshells glued together. Requires a lot of patience and luck to do it without breaking it. Once in it’s not harder than any other phone. That said my own has a a 40 euro case to avoid the issues of repairs, I recommend that. Screens are 100 + euros nowadays. So repairs is rarely worth it. Depends on the price you can get the parts for it.

    Batteries can be replaced but takes some work and hot air gun to remove glue.

    For GOS yeah that’s what you want it’s the best. And I do everything from debian distros.

    Don’t use aurora. Instead install GOS implementation of google play on a separate user profile if needed. The user profiles are a lot better sandboxed than regular user profiles and the gapp implementation better than aurora. And most things work without it also.

    GOS gets more support than regular pixels but are recommended to not trust after pixel official updates end. For the new ones it’s 7 years. Usually GOS gets a year extra of minor updates. Check the FAQ and device support on https://grapheneos.org/faq

    I use mine for nearly everything. And there are either FOSS apps from FDroid (and additional repos) or just use the mobile website for non Foss stuff like banking. There are a few exceptions , like Whatsapp that I need but it have fewer permissions and no access to contacts ( there’s a Foss app as helper for that as well) . Your headphones will work fine.









  • Not sure I follow the problem here. Is it easier in the countries you are in to get blocked for using vpns? I mean if the goal is to access games and stuff i would just use a good vpn , mullvad is the only one i still have good trust in.

    Start using onion sites for sensitive stuff. If you use a always on vpn , then you dont have to worry about state actors seeing that you are using tor.

    The thing you really should watch it for is your phone. If you can the best is to use a phone without sim card and with GOS on it, preferably with a broken papertrail and no sim card use previously. If you need internet on the go use a sim card in a travel router and connect that via vpn to your devices. But no tech solution would save you from user error of course.

    And use a secure email service , I use tuta wich never complaints about my vpn. Other stuff sure but i dont miss those sites. Good ones will lift any blocks if you ask.

    VPS is of course an option , but it does have the downside of not being able to blend in with the crowd.

    For the legal issues yeah UK is a bad option. But any EU country should be fine even if they in the eyes programme. Germany have decent privacy laws still. Iceland as well. But for me I just use another closer to home. I trust mullvad enough (and they dont know anything about me in form of payments or identification)

    And stop using services that blocks you. There are alternatives for a lot.