this post was submitted on 22 Mar 2026
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Cheap android devices don't have the proper security hardware. Hopefully the Motorola phone is cheaper than a pixel though. Used pixels are also pretty cheap, all things considered.
Correction, the oldest supported Pixels that will likely lose support soon are pretty cheap. Everything else was still around $400 when I checked last month.
$400 is pretty cheap for a phone these days.
$400 is more than I have ever paid for a phone (and no, I never bought a carrier locked subsidized phone). From 2014-2022 I had 3 phones that cost a total of $450. This ain't it.
No, $400 is about $300 more than any phone could ever be worth.
I'm not interested in using anything with DoubleClick's hooks in it. I'm happy with my $30 Tracfone for most of the features it offers.
Pixel's a Google device in design. A used one unlocked, and GrapheneOS, and there is no Google.
Your TracFone will never have the security features required and will always be vulnerable to things like Cellebrite. If it's an Android phone, you're also being tracked by several companies.
That's what it is then.I just don't want to deal with the arbitrary nonsense like age-verification and software install limitations. Then again, I only have a phone at all because of my wife. If it were just me, I'd just keep a featurephone in a drawer and maybe check that it's charged once a month. As it stands, I may end up having to give up the small amount of morality I have and just give up on Android and pay a ridiculous amount of money just for phone service.
I'm glad to see that Graphene won't be doing the age verification thing, because I'm afraid all new phones (including TracFones) will require it moving forward. But the hardware limitations will continue to be a blocker for people with cheap phones.
I agree on wanting to ditch my phone altogether. Maybe if I can retire, I can ditch it.