alkaliv2

Agree to disagree then, because I wouldn't choose Samsung or their Knox locked phones under literally any circumstances. A series moved to Knox security in 2024. Also, Samsung has kept a proprietary VoLTE implementation that doesn't work on LOS or any third party ROM making it a step down for those who want freedom from the stock OneUI.

Unlockable bootloaders that can be relocked without voiding the warranty and using no proprietary VoLTE technology is a huge reason to support Nothing over Samsung. But you have your reasons and I have mine. Enjoy your A Series, I'll keep my Nothing devices until they go the way of OnePlus and Pixel.

I can't speak for the A73, but I purchased US Verizon branded Galaxy S23's for some family members since they needed compatible phones out of the box. The 23s were filled with all of Meta's apps, everything from Verizon, Verizon partner apps and games. Much of which could only be disabled even though we didn't want them or preferred to use our own version of the apps.

I agree with you that no one is blameless, but you'd be yelling into the void if you wanted Samsung or Verizon to remove apps that supplements their profit on the phone they sell. At least for now, Nothing is small enough to respond to this and I imagine are just playing a numbers game allowing uninstalls for those that want it but just hopes to retain the Meta money from adding it to the phone in the first place. Whatever the reason, at least they responded and are making changes.

F-Droid and the Izzydroid repo works without issues on my Nothing Phone 3. So does Aurora store. I am not rooted, just utilizing Shizuku and ADB to disable unwanted items and it has been a flawless experience. My bootloader can be unlocked though it won't be until we can easily work around this Play Integrity garbage. But if that gets worse I'll disable everything Google and just use or make alternatives myself. Nothing's Essential Space and their widgets all use OpenAI calls rather than Google and it is stored only on device. I would know, I lost it all when I wiped my phone for the Beta update.

I really think Nothing gets undue hate from a loud minority. I agree it isn't cool to add apps that you can't uninstall from spyware companies, but:

1. The community backlashed and the took it back
2. Samsung phones, arguably the most popular Android phone by a large margin comes with LOTS of bloatware that cannot be disabled and they won't backtrack on that
3. Pixel is only going to get worse as Google Play Services digs deeper into every aspect of the device and the custom rom community for them collapses due to Google removing Pixel hardware as the AOSP standard.

We're running out of good phone options, but at least Nothing is still listening...for now of course.

You noted on the phone hardware but not the software so I'll comment on that. Recently OnePlus has announced as of Android 16 that they will restrict bootloader unlocking to only those who fill out an application.

Nothing Phone 3 and all prior Nothing phone bootloader are still unlockable to this day with no call to restrict it. I would know, I have a Nothing Phone 3 running Shizuku and am waiting for Google to move Play Integrity off of its Kanban board so I can root again. Their forums have a strong development presence and as far as I'm concerned this is the one of the last good holdouts on this new restriction standard.

Pixel was the de facto standard for unlocked bootloaders. However, Google is the core of the "registered developers only" movement for their phones, killing sideloading and removing Pixel images from the development models in AOSP. I no longer support new Pixels (certain used ones are still good, don't get the 6 series though they are BAD).

As everyone on LTT has said before, their talking points are provided by the manufacturer but their opinions on those talking points are their own.

I got the new Keychron M5 ergonomic mouse with all the gaming features and I love it. It didn't take me long to get used to it and David praised it as well on LTT's Short Circuit channel.

This is the BEST write up I have ever seen on the topic. Had no idea it was out there and explained a lot about the inner workings for security I wasn't expecting.

https://www.reddit.com/r/LineageOS/comments/n7yo7u/a_discussion_about_bootloader_lockingunlocking/

Is it? Because it sounds like it is the same as what Samsung is doing with Knox. If you unlock your bootloader they have a way to track that now and it hurts the experience on the device. Want to sideload your apps in protest? You'll only be allowed to sideload apps from developers Google screens and says are okay. Want to use custom firmware on your hardware? You can, but they won't pass the integrity checks and even if you pay for the apps they can become incompatible with your device. And as someone else pointed out they stopped providing Pixel configs for AOSP so even getting people to try and make custom ROMs will be more difficult.

Samsung did it first, but Google just took it to the next level.

The Phone 1 and 2 have official lineage os support as well. Nothing is still bootloader unlock friendly (for now). Phone 3 is too new for LineageOS but is still an excellent phone with a good development community on their forums.

This article supports your comment and should be higher up considering two phones 4a and 6a were recently recalled due to being unsafe. Pixel 10 has this feature on at cycle 200 while you can turn it off on the Pro and Pro XL. But what good is 7 years of updates if they are going to hurt your battery charging speed after less than 2 years? Samsung battery tech is FAR superior.

https://www.androidcentral.com/phones/google-pixel/the-pixel-10s-battery-takes-a-hit-after-200-cycles-courtesy-of-a-feature-you-cant-switch-off

This used to be the case but Google is actively working to kill unlocking the bootloader on their devices (and all devices really) through their Play Integrity Validation. So while you may be able to install ROMs and add Gapps you'll slowly find that less and less apps from the Play Store will work due to stricter integrity requirements from Google; even if you bought the app. The current hoops required to run a custom OS and not be detected by the new framework is daunting with many landmines like people installing software they don't understand to get "Strong" integrity or paying for keyboxes that ultimately get banned.

Google is quickly becoming developer unfriendly and I would encourage people to look into the mess that is Play Integrity before suggesting Pixels, or any Android for that matter, in the context of custom ROMs.

Had this experience today. It was incredibly frustrating. Had to meme about it since I can't get approval for my fix until tomorrow at 9am in another meeting.