The problem with GrapheneOS as a way to protest what Google is doing with Android is that you have to buy a Google Android device to be able to use it. Buying a Google device to be able to protest what Google is doing with their Google devices seems counter productive.

I don't know how good /e/OS is, but at least there is a place to get it factory loaded on cell phones and install it on phone brands other than Google.

And then there is Lineage OS, which I've had good luck using the extend the life of phones in the past. I haven't tried it since Play Integrity started being such an important feature, but I suppose that just pushes one to be even more open source on their Lineage device. I've been wanting to try Lineage again, but I misplaced the phone I want to try it on.

Yeah this was also my reasoning, that's why I got a second hand OnePlus 9 Pro and installed LineageOS on it. Well actually iodé, which is a privacy oriented fork of LineageOS with MicroG and a firewall installed. It works flawlessly, I'm very satisfied with it.

It's really unfortunate that until now, the only decent phone you can buy was a google phone. Everyone else locks and encrypts the bootloader and probably self destructs if you even try.

We all knew this was inevitable, but nobody made any better options.

GrapheneOS is luckily working with another OEM but that's still 1-2 years away.

Buying a phone from Google is hardly ideal, but the effect is limited by the earnings being nothing but a blip in the grand scheme of things. Having an alternative OS is important enough to offset it IMO.

there's already a comparison mentioned in the article

https://eylenburg.github.io/android_comparison.htm

Never buy new