Yeah they were actively porting to the Pixel 11 when they hit this roadblock. I think it’s pretty clear they really wanted to be able to finish the port.
13 Likes
Hopefully Motorola will eventually release a smaller phone that supports GrapheneOS, although I very much doubt it. I find the Pixel 10 too large as is. 6.9" is simply too large to be viable for me. I had planned to stick with Google Pixels as a result of that. Well, the Pixel 10 should last a good five years at least.
12 Likes
Well I’d be damned.
Unclear still if they can/will support it. If the performance is terrible then it may not be worth it.
1 Like
Poor take IMO. They’ve given the explanation of the point they’d got to whilst implementing the P11 port, why would they lie? That makes NO sense.
1 Like
Forgive my ignorance, but could someone elaborate why it was not an issue before MTE was first implemented (Pixel 8)?
Many years of GOS precede MTE, so was it just “good enough without it” before, or does GOS now have critical dependencies that would no longer work without MTE?
The requirements are a moving target and change depending on what becomes available in devices. Supporting non MTE devices would be a massive downgrade when other devices with support exist.
9 Likes
I get that it’s a moving target and I’m all for requiring the most security backing features. But the “outrage” seems a little big for something that was first introduced with the Pixel 8.
I agree, but on the other hand this further narrows down device options in a market that is already a monopoly. And now this seemingly disqualifies even the only two lines of devices that were supported in the first place.
I get they have limited ressources and commendable high standards, but maybe now is the time to consider a GrapheneOS “Lite”.
I mean, in a world in which they have not partnered with Motorola, they would die with Google dropping the Titan.
1 Like
GrapheneOS is open source with permissive licensing for exactly this reason. While they use their resources to pursue a good standard of privacy and security, other projects can fork or incorporate aspects of their project to build something like a CarbonOS with different goals.
Not sure you want GrapheneOS to be lowering their standards to avoid hypotheticals that have never happened.
Even if that hypothetical were to happen there would be years of the older models still receiving security updates for GrapheneOS to take a wait and see approach before having to lower their requirments or “die”.
2 Likes
Sure, a fork is almost always an option, given someone is willing to put in the effort.
But my point is that their standards, regardless of how commendable they are, were possibly subject to reconsideration given the MTE situation.
And…
… it is not about unproven speculation, rather than extrapolating the current situation. They were completely depending on Google’s whim …I mean business decisions. Now they might no longer be.
That, too, is a point of concern. Of course security updates cover many years, but GOS’ main appeal comes from their hardening instead of only security updates, case in point being MTE, which only has 3 supported generations for a seemingly substantial function. So it is implied that Pixel 7 series is no longer adequate, I feel.
Actually, this would make the whole discussion about MTE moot. Pre-Pixel 8 devices are still supported by GOS despite lacking MTE.
So while we established security and hardening are moving targets, these targets have not moved for pre-Pixel 8 in MTE regards.
Newer models have become new targets instead of moving old ones. And Google’s whims …sorry, I mean business decisions again, makes this target narrower than it generally seems.
They kind of are. I think GOS has been explicit about that.
The current situation differs greatly from your speculated scenario. So I am not sure how you could consider what you did extrapolating.
You are conflating two issues here. Their commitment to support devices as long as they receive updates and their commitment to not support devices that do not meet their requirments.
Requirements are a moving target as security and hardware improve. These requirments are not retroactive. GOS is explicit that MTE is a big upgrade but they also honor their support promises. Hence why Pixel 7s are still supported.
1 Like