I did something similar. Wanted a Pixel with Graphene OS but the screen hurt my eyes. Went with a Motorola with an IPS screen. Uninstalled or disabled all the crap. Never logged into Google. Went with Obtanium and F-Droid for most software. Aurora for a couple of apps that were only on the Play Store. Used NetGuard with a whitelist to lock it all down.
After all that was done, the phone felt like mine in a way that my iPhone doesn't. Was a good feeling. With luck, the Motorola + Graphene partnership will produce phones with screens better than the Pixel and I can keep doing this.
It may be worth checking Motorola's OLED models in person (for example the Razr Fold, Razr Ultra and Signature) so see if their Flicker Prevention mode helps. I don't think any IPS models are likely to be supported in the first wave/generation of supported devices in 2027.
I have a Razr 2024 with the pOLED screen. It's bearable with Flicker Protection on, though not nearly as comfortable as an IPS. Heard good things about their AMOLED so will give it a chance if they don't support Graphene on an IPS model.
I ended up with a Motorola phone, too (albeit with an AMOLED screen so not the model you have). I got hooked on Motorola phones because of the "chop/chop" flashlight gesture. I don't think I can use a phone without that gesture ever again! >smile<
I'm hopeful, too, re: Motorola + Graphene. I wanted to use Graphene last fall wehn I got the new phone but I was committed to not giving Google any money.
Not only do the CRUDs have value but they're good for your sanity. I knew a guy back in the dot-com era. Very skilled coder. Backbone of the company. He pulled off miracles. Fulfilled impossible deadlines. Then one day, out of the blue, he quit. Took a job at a non-technical corp. They put him in a cubicle where he wrote Visual Basic CRUDs on an 8-5 schedule. No weird deadlines, no sleeping under the desk. He called it his paid vacation.
> They put him in a cubicle where he wrote Visual Basic CRUDs on an 8-5 schedule. No weird deadlines, no sleeping under the desk. He called it his paid vacation.
That was all nice and good for a while, but the times are ending.
I suspect there will still be a human involved in the production of software, but it will be domain experts, not CRUd monkeys who picked up just enough domain knowledge to be dangerous.
The really valuable CRUD monkeys are already domain experts as well. The threatened ones are junior developers whose output is barely better than AI slop.
> The really valuable CRUD monkeys are already domain experts as well
Sure but that’s a minority I’d argue. There wouldn’t be such a volume of shitty business software otherwise.
I will be interested to see if there are any economic effects of ending one of the last well paid, low barrier to entry careers in which some level of meritocracy was permitted.
You can tell from my comment that I'm not AI. I've had a lifelong habit of using commas instead of dashes in situations where the dashes would have been more appropriate. AI would always go for the dash.
I have a mechanical keyboard with a metal roller for controlling volume. On my Mac, it works haphazardly. Rapidly rolling it downwards should mute almost immediately. But around 30-40% of the time, it'll just set it to a low volume instead. At least I work from home so this isn't an annoyance to anyone but myself. But it is annoying.
Oh well. From the UI's shown, I kinda like the 0-100 radio buttons. Yes, it's incredibly ugly. But I like the immediate precision of it.
My experience with the book became a bit meta. I greatly enjoyed the first half or so of it. Though it did start to feel a little repetitive after a while. But I couldn't get past the first half because all the black line "redactions" started making my Kindle unstable. First time I've seen an ebook's formatting crash the device.
Eventually gave up because of the constant slowdowns and crashes. Which in many ways fit the book. I liked thinking the data within was so dangerous and alien that my Kindle could not handle it. I know this wasn't intentional by the author but still, it was a nice metafictional touch.
I suppose a future horror novelist could replicate this intentionally. A creepy combination of symbols guaranteed to overwhelm a limited memory ereader. Coming at the right point in the story, it could be effective. Though it would also lead to a ton of 1-star reviews.
The redactions are definitely overused. There’s some pages almost entirely redacted. It would be more effective to write a shorter sentence with some mystery than to just block out a large portion of a verbose page.
Their OLED screens + software are some of the best for those of us who suffer. Motorola is one of the last major companies to still offer IPS devices too. In terms of screen hardware, Graphene chose well.
I just hope that GrapheneOS will be offered on one of the IPS phones in addition to the expected OLED model(s).
I'm in the same boat. Bought a 9 Pro XL and had to return it. Hope their OEM will use DC dimming for the screens or have an IPS option.
In the meantime, I use a Motorola G Power 2024 which has IPS. I'm very much a non-expert but made a minor hobby out of trying to de-google it as much as possible.
Never signed into Google with it. Using NetGuard with a whitelist to prevent most of the phoning home. Uninstalled or disabled most built-in apps. The apps I use are installed via either Obtanium or Fdroid. Have Dropbox from Aurora. Use Motorola's private space for keeping some data and apps in a separate, supposedly secure locker.
I'm sure this doesn't come close to GrapheneOS's security level but it's the best I can do within the limitations of this device. It was a fun mini-project. NetGuard is invaluable for this purpose. Almost feels like the phone is truly mine.
Author implies he was using a local account at the time of the error. Which answers an important question. I'd heard of people with Microsoft accounts getting locked out of their own computers, but that's a first I've heard of basic apps failing with a local account.
Medieval Dynasty attempts to do that. Despite having the word "dynasty" in its title, it's peasant centered. Early game is about building a house and trying to survive. Later game is building a village, recruiting people, assigning jobs to them, and essentially being the mayor. In many respects, it's a first-person village builder.
The "Dynasty" part comes from being able to have children and pass the village along to them if you play long enough. But everyone in game is a peasant of some sort. Nobility is mentioned but never directly visible.
I wouldn't call the game accurate exactly. But it is fun. I especially enjoyed having a ground-level view instead of the birds-eye view of most city builders.
After all that was done, the phone felt like mine in a way that my iPhone doesn't. Was a good feeling. With luck, the Motorola + Graphene partnership will produce phones with screens better than the Pixel and I can keep doing this.
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