Just read my other comment https://lemmy.world/comment/8376049

Pixels have many hardware security features that can’t be found on any other Android phone. Examples are the Titan M2 chip, which uses the Android StrongBox and Weaver API, Insider Attack Resistance and hardware attestation. It enables a strong implementation of Android Verified Boot. On many other Android devices, Verified boot is insecure or entirely broken. Pixels are also the only phones on the market with hardware memory tagging.

I highly recommend this section of the GrapheneOS FAQ and this video.

Because Pixels are the only Android phones with reasonable hardware design (in regards to security)

You just described GrapheneOS, by far the best mobile operating system IMO

It’s pretty good for desktop apps, but it doesn’t provide CLI applications, so I still have to rely on the AUR. There are some issues with it, but overall I think it’s the best solution we currently have. And it’s very easy to use, which is great for new users and it will become important if Linux continues growing like this.

It works very well, I use it all the time on GrapheneOS

I would recommend you to try out Linux in a virtual machine and play around with it. You can watch this video if you don’t know how to set this up. You can do much more with a VM than with WSL. It allows you to basically try any Linux Distribution, whereas WSL only supports a few distros. In a VM you also get a desktop environment by default, whereas WSL mostly restricts you to the terminal. Sure, you can run graphical apps in WSLg, but you still don’t have a Linux desktop. Lastly, it’s much easier to take a snapshot of a VM, and roll back in case you break something.

After you get comfortable in a VM, maybe try booting a Live USB of some Linux distribution. That way you will be able to try it out on your actual hardware.

After that, you can set up dual boot. That way, you can still keep your Windows installation, but also use Linux without any restrictions or limitations.

Replacing Windows is always an upgrade

Yes

These guys can go fuck themselves

Did you read my previous comment? I spscifically said:

No, because Fedora DOES include proprietary blobs (for a good reason)

Intel/AMD CPU microcode

The GrapheneOS team is security focused to the point where it is detrimental to the regular user experience. I.e. “Secure App Spawning” increases app startup time considerably on older devices like the Pixel 4a.

That’s why Graphene allows you to disable the security features. Turning off secure app spawning won’t make your device incredibly vulnerable, it will just be set back to normal AOSP security level.

Also, the GrapheneOS team has very high standards for security features supported by a phone. Basically no phone besides Pixel supports those features, which obviously isn’t a big problem for most people (else we’d have a big problem).

You know which phone has basically all of those security features? The iPhone. GrapheneOS is not building something insane, they’re just hardening Android to a point where it’s actually comparable to iPhone security. Sure, usability might not be perfect because Google only releases base Android as open source software and keeps all their fancy apps proprietary, but it’s not in a state where it’s totally unusable either.

No, because Fedora DOES include proprietary blobs (for a good reason)

Obviously they comply with the GPL, otherwise they would get sued. But Red Hat acts exactly like a proprietary software company. That’s what the quote is trying to say.

The GrapheneOS team has already absolutely dismanteled the Fairphone on Mastodon:

Fairphone is an insecure device with substantially delayed privacy and security patches. It receives the Android Security Bulletin patches consistently 1 to 2 months late and receives the recommended patches years late. It has a broken, insecure verified boot implementation. They have also misled their users about support by claiming their devices will get 6 years of support when they can only provide 2-3 years of security patches. That is not a privacy first device at all.

https://grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/110272102808113949

exactly

It’s not that big of a deal

To quote Software Freedom Conservancy:

For approximately twenty years, Red Hat (now a fully owned subsidiary of IBM) has experimented with building a business model for operating system deployment and distribution that looks, feels, and acts like a proprietary one, but nonetheless complies with the GPL and other standard copyleft terms.

+1 for Graphene