Switching from a Pixel 4a (Stock ROM) to Pixel 8 (GrapheneOS)

After losing security updates for my Google 4a for many months and open firmware vulnerabilities got exploited in the wild, I finally had to replace it with a smartphone that gets its updates on a regular basis.

I've been thinking of a replacement device starting with the release of the Pixel 8 series in autumn 2023. Too soon, as I've still got a bit of support range until end of 2023.

This is my story on getting a new smartphone in 2024.

In 2024-03 the design and some specifications of the Pixel 9 series leaked. I have to admit that I was very happy to hear that Google finally planned to release a phone with optical zoom and the same form factor than the entry level device. In other words, the previous Pro version hardware shrank to the non-Pro size. I was waiting for that for a long time. Unfortunately, a "small form factor" still means a large phone to me.

Meanwhile, I got intrigued by GrapheneOS: the private and secure mobile OS. I always had to use workarounds like NetGuard in order to be able to refuse network connection for certain apps that should not have network in the first place. Unfortunately, this workaround requires the one single VPN functionality slot of my Android. So I could not use the VPN functionality for something else like playing around with WireGuard or similar.

Having some plans for GrapheneOS, the list of potential devices was limited to the Pixel series. Google introduced seven years of updates (features and security) with their Pixel 8 series. Perfect timing.

After annoying my friends with too many smartphone plans, I finally decided to get a Pixel 9 Pro as soon as I've read that their device announcement event got re-scheduled for August instead of the usual October event slot. Unfortunately, the Pixels ought to be more expensive as well. Oh boy.

I ordered the phone shortly before September and used the early bird benefits: Pixel 9 Pro 512GB for 1099€ minus 257€ trade-in for my Pixel 4a and a voucher for the Google store which planned to use for covers and apps. Shipping was scheduled for mid September.

One downside was that I had to order in the German Google Store as the trade-in was not available for the Austrian Google Store. Since I bought my Pixel 4a using the same method (using a German re-sender for a German shipping address), I had no bad feelings about that.

As the earliest shipping date arrived, I logged in to the German store once again to check if there are more details on the shipping process already. To my surprise I read that Google had canceled my order for no particular reason in early September. They did not send me an email. They did not send me a text message. The order got silently canceled and so I lost the opportunity to use the early bird conditions.

I even contacted a Google helpline and tried to find out what went wrong but they could not tell me the reason either. They just said that something in the terms & conditions was not OK with my order process.

Without the early-bird benefits, the Pixel 9 Pro would have been approximately 400-600€ more expensive. Although I was prepared for a more expensive phone, that was way too much for me. I was very disappointed how Google was handling that deal.

So I switched to my plan B and bought the Pixel 8 256GB for 614€ from a local store - almost half the price of the Pixel 9 I wanted to get in the first place. It's slightly smaller than the Pixel 9 (Pro) but still larger and heavier than the Pixel 4a.

However, the Pixel 8 is far from half as good and it still got over six years of support! I just had to say good bye to the optical zoom lens, 512 GB of storage, the new fingerprint reader technology and the neat new hardware design.

But hey, I've got a very good smartphone for almost half of the price and I may keep my old one as well as a backup device!

After playing around with the stock ROM for maybe an hour or so, I quickly started the setup process for GrapheneOS. I first tried to use the adb path using my Debian desktop computer. Unfortunately, I've got an error message I could not overcome:

 Error: Failed to execute 'open' on 'USBDevice': Access denied.	  

I played around a bit, assumed that there may have been still some udev rules missing on my Debian host.

In the GrapheneOS matrix chat I got the recommendation to use the Android-to-Android method. So I installed a Chrome browser on my Pixel 4a, connected it to the Pixel 8 using the good USB-C cable that came with the Pixel 8 and did the GrapheneOS Web Installer method. That worked really nice. So I definitely recommend that method as it is dead simple and it seems to be less error-prone.

One advantage of GrapheneOS is, that the bootloader can be locked after flashing the new operating system. That means more protection and many banking apps and similar are not stopping to work.

With the new system, I wanted to do some things differently. Therefore, I did not use the feature to transfer data, apps and most of my configuration from the 4a to the 8 using a USB cable. I did a fresh start. That means much more work for me.

For example, I got the recommendation to use Obtainium to install apps instead of the Google Play Store and even the F-Droid app. There are some people who claim that the F-Droid app is weakening the Android's security model. Therefore, I switched to a three-tier app install process. First, I'm looking for an APK download from the original programmers of the app and include it in my Obtainium setup. If I'm not lucky with that, I'm trying the F-Droid repositories to get an APK. If that fails as well, I'm using the Google Play Store as I've figured out that I need the Google Play Store and Services for some bought apps in any case. However, GrapheneOS is able to include Google services in a sandboxed way which soothes my mind a bit.

Obtainium is really cool. At the moment, I do have 22 apps managed by that method. The majority needs to be installed from the Play Store as I was not able to find APK sources for most of my apps.

GrapheneOS is awesome on so many levels. It starts with installing new apps, when the confirmation dialog has a checkbox whether or not this app should get network permission or not.

GrapheneOS offers "Storage Scopes" for apps. With that, I may choose to disallow storage access except a list of manually defined paths to single files and/or folders. With that, I'm able to use one media player for my videos and a different one for mp3 music files and they only see their content and not the other. This pushes the usability very much.

When I disconnect from the last Bluetooth device, I'm now able to define the time-range when GrapheneOS disables Bluetooth altogether. I once wrote some Tasker scripts for a workaround that did not work as smoothly as that configuration option.

Apps that offer some sort of settings export and import are really a great help. This way, transferring my launcher setup, my podcast setup and many other setups was easier than anticipated. Unfortunately, OSMAnd+ settings import doesn't work. I need to check this out some time.

As always, you can get a list of applications I'm using on my blog.

If you're using GrapheneOS and you're as happy as I am with that, you should think of donating a few bucks on a regular basis.

The only thing so far where I would prefer a different implementation is the app disable feature. When an app gets disabled, it vanishes from my desktops and the list of installed apps. You can only re-find it in the app list in the settings dialog when you change the display filter to "disabled apps". It would be so much cooler when a disabled app stays everywhere with some visual indicator and an easy to reach method for enabling again. This way, I'd use it to freeze some rarely used apps and unfreeze it on demand (or never).

If you plan to set up GrapheneOS and optimize for privacy or security, you should watch this video where a guy discusses various hardening aspects you should do right after the OS setup and before you start configuring the system or the apps.

In case you can read German text, you should check out Kuketz IT-Security Blog as it contains many articles around GrapheneOS and (mobile) security in general.

I could write much, much more about my setup process but I just stop here in order not to bore you to death.

So far, I could not find much which is subjectively better than my Pixel 4a. Quite the contrary: the 4a has a much better form factor and it is clearly not as heavy as the 8. To my surprise, even after using the Pixel 8 for several weeks, it still feels very heavy and I did not get used to it already.

For my taste, the camera results are very similar as I was very happy with the 4a photographs as well. After all, I've decided to stick with the Google Camera as it is optimized for the hardware. The wide angle camera is new to me - I still need more experience with that. I still would prefer the optical zoom instead.

To my great surprise, I did not find any situation where the Pixel 8 showed significant better performance than the 4a. Somethings it is even slower. For example, in an app that visualizes the used storage space, the initial analysis of the storage takes much longer on the Pixel 8 although I did the comparison while both phones had the absolute same set of data.

The camera bump on the back side is not as annoying as I would have thought. The only thing that annoys here is the fact that it tends to slide more our of my jeans pocket than just the phone: other things get stuck and this way I accidentally thew a couple of things on the floor when I was getting my phone out of the pocket.

The fingerprint sensor is not as reliable and quick as the one on the 4a was - as long as it was working. The 4a sensor stopped working in mid 2023. This is a clear advantage for the Pixel 9 series where they changed the technology to a more reliable one.

What's definitively better with the Pixel 8 is the sound level of the speakers. I often listen to videos and podcasts while eating on the kitchen table or brushing my teeth. The Pixel 4a was much quieter on its maximum level than the Pixel 8 which can really serve as a decent speaker for a small to mid-sized room.

With the start of 2024, the Pixel 4a battery got significantly worse. I even had to start charging during the day which I never did. So far, I'm happy with the battery of the Pixel 8 as it takes me through the whole day. A friend suggested to use AccuBattery for logging the health state of the battery maybe even over the lifetime of the device. So far, the app did not recognize a full charge yet although I drained the battery until the device turned off itself. Of course, I also charged it to hundred percent a few times. Maybe the app isn't working with GrapheneOS?

Something that is completely new for me is the possibility to wireless charge the Pixel 8. I've learned that Qi2 is not just wireless charging with a magnet which helps with the correct charging coil position. Even with a magnetic Pixel 8 case (so far all Pixels don't come with a built-in magnet), Qi2 top charging speed is not available when the device isn't certified for it. That seems to be a plus for iPhones or other phones, if you do need that.

However, my plan to buy a cheap wireless charger in order to charge my Pixel during the night did not turn out as a great idea either. I had to learn that charging a phone wirelessly even with weak power does stress the battery due to the heat that gets produced in any case. This affects the battery health in the long run. Therefore, it's better to charge using a USB cable. I'm going to stick with my current method of using a not so powerful charger and a cable. This way, the battery gets charged only slowly during the night, resulting in a much longer battery life over the years.

All in all, I'm happy with the Pixel 8 and my choice for GrapheneOS. Let's see how long I'm able to use that combination. Maybe this is the first device I need to replace because the hardware died on normal use before the software support ends with 2030.

In case the old OnePlus5 of my wife dies (although it doesn't show any signs so far!), she might get my Pixel 8 and I might switch to a Pixel 10 or 11 with an optical zoom after all.

Let's see, what the future holds for us.

You might want to check out my current article on the price per month of my smartphones so far.