alt Hacker NewsIt's always surprising how many people who like to tinker with their devices also deliberately want to tie themselves more into the Google ecosystem. I would've guessed that the Venn diagram of these two types of people wouldn't have much overlap, but the ROM's popularity kind of speaks for itself.
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> It's always surprising how many people who like to tinker with their devices also deliberately want to tie themselves more into the Google ecosystem.
I don’t believe that there’s a realistic alternative. The Apple ecosystem is even more restrictive, while even in 2026 the non-Android Linux phone market appears to still be pretty uncompelling.
Simple: Pure AOSP without Google Play Services is garbage as quite a lot of apps openly rely on it and the built-in core apps (phone, messages, ...) haven't been maintained in a while. Most manufacturers (cough Samsung) insist on loading their Android with bloatware. Google's Pixel has barely any bloatware, but polished core apps.
Tbf I (degoogled Graphene/ex-LOS user for more than a decade) can definitely see why you would rather have the mostly-AOSP-native Pixel experience on your smartphones than completely enshittified UIs that Samsung or Huawei provide...
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If you ignore the massive privacy problems and embrace the Google ecosystem, it's actually quite nice.
Google's ecosystem is a pain in the ass to work around if you don't like it, but I find it two steps above what Samsung is offering, for instance.
AOSP and Lineage are cool projects but their usability still falls behind devices like the Pixel by far. Copying some of the Pixel applications in (possibly after neutering them a little to cover for the privacy implications) can quickly turn a "works, I suppose" custom ROM into a usable experience.