I’m really eager to buy this phone, it’s extremely bang for the buck, comes with an amazing screen, amazing cameras, and amazing specs.
However I don’t know much about how privacy conscious this phone is.
On the other hand, I really don’t want to spend money on a pixel because at this price point the hardware loses on all fronts to the oneplus 13.
It’s not a Google Pixel.
I know it isn’t. But is there no way to make a oneplus 13 privacy conscious?
I mean, you can’t beat the camera on the Pixel even if the OnePlus 13 has more bang for buck generally speaking.
We recommend Pixels because it is considerably more friendly to privacy-focused distributions like Graphene OS and Calyx OS. OnePlus phones are stuck with Lineage OS, meaning that you will have an unlocked bootloader. This makes you more vulnerable to digital forensic analysis and malware.
According to our overview on stock Android devices, you are better off using the stock OS on the OnePlus 13. You can somewhat degoogle your phone manually; however, it won’t be as complete as installing something like GOS. The OnePlus 13 is also not guaranteed to get security updates as fast as the Pixel regardless of its supposed support duration.
From what I’ve seen (and what reviewers have said) the hasselblad camera on the oneplus beats out both the flagship pixel 9 pro and galaxy s25.
Unfortunately can’t beat iphone with all the log and raw photo features.
I’m just wondering if oneplus can somehow monitor my internet traffic, send them over to china/US or just other snoopy spyware stuff will it be super harmful if I buy a oneplus?
If so then I might just get pixel.
There were reports of OnePlus having spyware pre-installed on their devices 7 or 8 years ago. Haven’t heard much about them lately, but they’re not a trustworthy company.
Interesting…I haven’t followed the OnePlus 13 enough to spot that.
Here is what another user said on this phone regarding Oxygen OS, which is installed on the international versions of the OnePlus lineup:
out of all the options honestly, Google Pixel, period
second best thing in terms of security and relatively good or okay privacy (emphasis because people don’t read) is iPhone
both have decent photos with iPhone leading the video pack
I would not recommend Oneplus as one of the reasons @KevPham put, among other things, no oneplus does not beat the iPhone nor the Pixel in photo, idk where you’re getting this from, not even in the blind test Oneplus ever won at least once. And the specs for both are decent enough and so are their screens
Geniunely makes no sense to be harping on a chinese brand phone.
Thank you for your input but I became a fan of oneplus after seeing tons of unpaid reviews. I initially was never a fan of oneplus and would’ve opted for samsung or xiaomi (worse options xD).
But yes, the dolby vision screen, along with pwm and 120hz oled is amazing. Hasselblad camera as I said. 6000 mAh silicon carbide battery. Build quality is a bit bad but nothing too noticeable.
So far the reviewers have only given the iphone 16pm the good camera seal of approval, but apple is just too expensive.
Pixel was beat out by samsung, apple and even the oneplus.
I have been researching more about the pixel lineup and grapheneos.
Can you tell me if banking apps (paypal, zelle etc.) will work on grapheneos? or does it vary by device?
I care about my privacy, but frankly I’m not doing super secret stuff to the point where I’d need something as hardcore as graphene (or maybe I do?) I don’t know and I’m seeking help from the community here, hope you guys can bear with me.
A basic strategy that is possible with Android 15, is the private sandbox.
If you get your oneplus, install it offline. Then create a private sandbox with a google account in the sandbox only. For your main android account, use Fdroid and opensource software only.
Can you even activate a modern Android handset without a Google account though?
you can
I was under the impression you couldn’t anymore (the ‘skip’ option no longer visible) with current versions. Glad I was mistaken.
If you can setup the device without a Google account, wouldn’t it be possible to remove the Play Store app (via something like Universal Android Debloater or the Shizuku + Canta combo) entirely, or will the device spit errors or gimp itself? Assuming that”s possible and one simply uses alternatives like the Aurora Store and an F-Droid client, you would still have Google Play Services stalking in the background, right?
Apologies for hijacking the thread. Figured it would be better than creating a new one. Recently won an Android (not Pixel) device in a mall raffle giveway, and it’s been sitting in a drawer unopened.
I did this with a pixel 7a. It work without internet and sim card.
So I’ve researched more about grapheneos. It removes the stock google pixel camera app (which uses google’s AI processing to take good pictures), and encourages the gcam from celso azevedo, which is not directly catered to the pixel.
And it looks like gcam isn’t all that good, especially when stock camera app from pixel 7 can beat a pixel 9 pro xl using gcam.
I think you can still install the stock Pixel camera app from Play Store.
I’m assuming graphene also removes the other cool pixel software features? like live transcription and captioning, etc?
Graphene already removes these features for good reason but they can always be installed back by the user
Including the Pixel Camera, Live Captioning/Transcription, Gemini[If for whatever reason you want that, I hope none does] etc.
Graphene is trying to actually have their camera app as consistent as possible with the Pixel Camera including adding the HDRNet processing among other things, it is fully documented on their website and being more secure/private than the Pixel Camera.
Keyword: give the user the choice still but have it stripped down of AI and anything else like that out of the box
You can have everything except Google Wallet and a few banking apps. It’s simple.
Though judging by everything you want to use, it seems you care more about cameras, AI, etc., than about privacy and security itself.