I was all ready to buy my brand new pixel 8a unfortunately I’m bummed I missed the sale by one day. I do not want to spend over $500 for a phone. I know y’all said refurbished is bad. I don’t understand how it would make a difference if I’ll be putting grapheneOS on it. Doesn’t putting a different os wipe everything off phone? In your opinion and yes I know the 8a is newer, is the pixel 7 pro better than the 8a? I’ve read conflicting opinions and I value yours. Thanks in advance I need to buy a phone today. Oh yeah how hard is it for a not so tech savy person to put grapheneos on pixel?
2 Likes
Refurbished isn’t bad
pixel8a > pixel 7 pro
edit:
- Pixel 8a — minimum 7 years support and hardware memory tagging support
1 Like
Hey Cntrygirl,
I feel for your financial situation, but it just seems like you’re taking a HUGE risk by buying a refurbished device. It’s possible that the seller has embedded a hardware or software malicious program that will be able to access everything you do on the phone.
You think you’re getting a good deal buying a refurbished device, but it seems too risky to me.
I’ve seen people sell old SSD’s and HDD’s only for their data to be recovered by data recovery experts and they get access to their personal user data…
2 Likes
While this is possible, in how many real world scenarios has something like this ever been identified? If it’s software, it’s more likely but would be wiped when OP reinstalls the OS, and if it’s hardware, it’s high enough effort that would probably only be used in a targeted attack
A computer would be higher risk but even then it’s 99.9% still fine
13 Likes
Wait until the end of the month or early November when it (new not refurbished) goes on sale likely $350-400 at Bestbuy and maybe Target if you’re in North America. You also get a price match guarantee for a few weeks in case the price drops again on Amazon or elsewhere.
Edit: I see that you need a phone today. Like I said buy it now and go back to the store when the price drops to get a refund for the discount. Just tell them the site to visit to confirm the price drop.
refurbished is fine, especially if you are putting grapheneos on it. You can use the verified boot and hardware attestation to verify that the hardware, firmware and operating system are genuine.
there are some significant benefits to getting an 8 over a 7 such as hardware memory tagging.
6 Likes
I don’t know why my other comments didnt show up under this thread. It’s been a hot minute. I pressed persons name and saw the message box, wrote message and hit send. Why didnt they show up in this thread
1 Like
You sent them a private message instead of replying to their comment here in the thread. You should press the arrow on the bottom of a person’s comment to reply.
3 Likes
Thank you
Hey Average_Joe,
While that might be a threat that can be conceived, you are missing out on a key component of decision-making here – namely, threat modelling and risk assessment. To put it bluntly, you’re just posting FUD based on unrealistic threats that basically no one posting on privacy guides dot net would actually be impacted by.
Also you’re comparing data recovery on drives that aren’t normally encrypted vs buying a phone where the storage is encrypted by default on anything from the last 5+ years, and where embedding (physical, nonremovable-by-a-wipe) spyware is something only really done by state actors lol
8 Likes
Not unless you want an extra camera. Otherwise 8a is better (hardware MTE, longer support, newer hardware).
Not hard at all. Just follow each step one by one carefully. Can’t go wrong if you follow each step carefully after reading it.
It does, no need to worry about a tampered OS. Flashing Graphene will mean a new OS from scratch.
Not bad, just might be risky from the hardware depending on how the vendor actually refurbishes the phone, and how long of a warranty they can offer. Sometimes, especially in SE Asia and Western Africa, vendors are known to ship with faulty hardware in refurbished phones. But if it’s something like Amazon or something, you are probably fine.
Congrats on the new purchase!
2 Likes
I’d say refurbished is better, you get the same phone but Google doesn’t get any money from you 
And you’ve got to trust the hardware anyway. If you think the seller has put some hardware backdoor in (that can still somehow call home after you install GrapheneOS) you might as well be afraid that Google or one of their suppliers could have done the same. Very, very unlikely. It’s the same discussion as Intel ME again.
2 Likes
No I’m not afraid, lol. Since my privacy journey began all I’ve heard on pg is that refurbished was bad. That’s why my original post asked if it was still bad if I changed the os. It went on sale today for $379 so I’ll be getting a new pixel 8a. I’m still putting grapheneos on it. Newbie I still have lot to learn.
3 Likes
I appreciate your reply!
I don’t know why I got flamed so much.
I just wanted to make it clear in my post that I know many of us are struggling financially just in case I was coming off as “elitist”.
My point was that in my mind, it’s not worth risking saving a few dollars buying an intimate device when you’re risking your user privacy with that intimate device.
Off topic:
Besides the potential user privacy problems, I’d also be scared of buying a 2nd hand phone. The phone is by far the most intimate device we use.
2 Likes
The chance of someone modifying a whole batch of refurb phones to achieve ??? is lower than e.g., state actors breaching carriers/ISPs to grab personal details and traffic metadata. If your risk appetite is low enough to not buy a refurb phone, it should also be low enough to not use the internet given the relatively higher likelihood of threats arising from just using an internet connection.
(which is why threat modelling is something noted on this site, and seemingly heeded by approximately 0.1% of people)
After reading this reply and this one: Why Samsung phones are considered (by some) more secure than the other stock androids? - #75 by Average_Joe
I can see that your risk assesment is completely out of whack.
Personally I dont buy used ones for anything I touch with bare skin daily, be it phones, clothes, shoes, keyboards, its not for security reasons, but from hygiene and psychological perspective. But you can definitely disinfect whatever you buy when it arrives.
Speaking of security risks for buying official refurbished phones, i really dont think it is any riskier than brand new ones as they got repaired, updated and fectory reset anyway.
If you think its risky to buy pixel as google forge both software and hardware, the same thing goes to apple as well, and actually, any closed sourced software and hardware poses the same “risk”.
1 Like
Personally, If I am buying used I am going to places like r/hardwareswap and just having the seller prove that they can access OEM unlock on the phone. Its still around ~$100 more expensive per model buying a refurb from Google, then it is from a 2nd market. Not concerned about security issues if I am just installing GOS anyway.
1 Like
Well unfortunately when I have the rest of the money in about 2 weeks, I’m buying a brand new pixel 8 pro not for $1000 though for around $750. The reason is I’ve been getting the same sentiment from all sellers as this when I ask if the bootloader is unlocked
“Unfortunately due to large stock, we can’t guarantee that the device you receive will be OEM unlockable or have an unlocked bootloader.
We apologize for this inconvenience.
Bayshine Trading Inc”