Fingerprint was a bit wacky on the X too. But not too bad. Yes just screen format for me at least. All other specs seems fine
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I ended up with a Google Pixel 4a using CalyxOS.
What an amazing experience it has been. I loved the OS , the privacy settings, the ability to use apps if I needed to.
Battery life was the most surprising. When you dont have everything spying / tracking you, your battery life is UNREAL. I would use my phone a lot and have to charge it ever 2 / 3 days. If I barely used my phone then I couldâve went 4 / 5 days without charging.
Overall my experience was great and I highly recommend CalyxOS on the pixel if anyone is wondering.
I went with CalyxOS because it seemed to be in between of all the other OSâs. GrapheneOS was too much in the extreme direction of privacy for me and a regular degoogled OS didnât feel like it was private / minamalist enough so I went with the one I felt was the in between ( CalyxOS ).
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Graphene has improved a LOT in terms of usability these days. It now has sandboxed Google Play services, meaning you can install normal apps from the Play Store and use it like a regular phone, but with the advantages of Graphene.
In fact itâs a lot more usable than Calyx.
That said, Iâd prefer Calyx over Graphene due to the developers of each.
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I think GrapheneOS supports the Pixel 6 already.
Preach it brother.
Same here.
Itâs been a while since I moved from graphene to calyx; last I looked sandboxxed play store was a beta thing. Is it available as a default now?
How long will Graphene and/or Calyx support the phones?
(I need an update to my Nexus 5 and want a long-term option rather than something I have to dump as e-waste every year)
They support them as long as google releases security updates for the most part, which has been 3 years in the past. The Pixel 6 has released with a 5 year security update commitment from Google. Android 12 has yet to be ported fully by Calyx or Graphene, however.
Thatâs a little disappointing considering that projects like LineageOS keep phones alive for much longer. 
Yea, I feel ya. Their focus is more on security. Not like you have to stop using the phone after updates stop, though.
True, but LineageOS also includes security updates from AOSP - doesnât matter what the manufacturer does.
When I installed it was available as a separate download from the main rom.
Graphene is currently Android 12 on my Pixel 5, with the December 5th security update.
Including the awful chunky badly-designed UI 
LOS isnât hardened to the same level as Graphene, but it is a great rom though, used it before on an old Huawei device.
Ah yea, sorry I wasnât clear, I meant on the Pixel 6âs. Graphene has it on them, but it hasnât gotten the full graphene treatment.
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Ahh, fair enough 
I am not sure if I am reading the following correctly but it seems that the supported devices will be getting updates to some extent ( the OS code, kernel) even after the manufacturers âsupport periodâ has ended?
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Nice, this means they will update even if the blobs are not updated. Itâs not the perfect solution (which is Googleâs fault in the case of their phones) but itâs as good as any other long-term ROM release (like LineageOS).
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Yea, though itâs not necessarily a guarantee. Word from the head dude of the org in their matrix channel:
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As I wrote to eFoundation in April 2020 - I now have the shiny nearly new phone. The very expensive 273,56⏠price paid for the phone above market price is okay if the difference is used to install the OS and also help the e.foundation journey. Now just as with my wifeâs Moto G I spent an hour or more with my S7 ePhone denying permissions to this that and about everything â it seems to be riddled with google. What on Earth is microG other than google? Why wonât it let me turn off connection to google servers and deny permission for network based location â terrible!
Was hoping that I could get far away from google and USA Inc. but looks like I have just spent a lot of money to get into bed with them and canât even kill location of the bed. 
A few weeks later they agreed to refund my money on returning phone as it was not as advertised.
The owner Gael admitted that - âMoreover, there is TLS 1.2-encrypted traffic from/to www.google.com, gstaticadssl.l.google.com, googleadapis.l.google.com, and www3.l.google.com via IPv4/IPv6.â
Later on another forum I wrote this:-
You may think that I am coming across too strong with disastrous security but these are not my words they stem from a German Tech site golem reviewing eOS. I was greatly assisted in the translation by German speaking posters at eFound community and discovering DeepL translation site with AI apparently! This was the final nail in the coffin that determined my shiny gold eS7 phone was to be returned â what a disaster? 
Here is an extract from the lengthy golem article - Please draw your own conclusions about e foundation, golem and InfoSec and do a little research yourselves.
/e/ would be a great system that nerds and privacy activists could recommend or install to their less tech-savvy parents or friends so that their old devices get security updates and are less monitored by Google. In reality it turns out to be a bit different, because outdated apps, especially messengers and browsers, both in the app store and in the operating system itself, as well as the unknown origin of the apps do not allow for any recommendation.
This is also no excuse for the fact that /e/ is still in beta, because /e/ is already advertising users and selling devices with pre-installed operating systems without any indication of the disastrous security. However, this is not visible at least not for a less tech-savvy target group.(âŚ)"
I think Golem is referring to me â
Privacy enabled ??? Spok; This is privacy Jim, but not as we know it! 
You may dismiss this independent review as a one off but for the fact that InfoSec confirmed this and more in their independent review. Admin tried to dismiss this too as being an old review and things were now fixed at eFoundation â Yeh, right? Admin did not say that the article had been updated not once but twice with recent final review of e. Whilst e admin including Gael Duval will not respond to golem and refuse to answer questions and emails from InfoSec then they roll-out cheerleaders to post how super eOS is and then add their personal likes to the cheerleaderâs post. Tacky or what! Barf Out! 
In the background e admin then shut down posts relating to this disastrous security to stifle any future discussion â this is done under the false guise of Automatic shut-down. 
Okay now outdated â but â would you buy a phone from this company?
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Perhaps some here might like looking over these secure phone providers before buying a used Pixel 3a and making your own�
Instructions video at techlore dot com