this post was submitted on 19 Nov 2023
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Privacy
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Not OP but interested in both privacy and high-tech features. My current (stock) pixel 4a device has a worse camera than many other phones, but the software compensates a lot, netting better picture quality overall very often. I'm wondering how much of that is lost when using graphene instead of stock android, do you know?
Similarly with the latest gen pixels having AI features built in, I'm assuming much of that is software that's not as easily installed somewhere else..
I'm not sure what the GrapheneOS stock camera app does under the hood, but if it's not enough for you, you have the option of installing Google's Pixel Camera app from the Play/Aurora store if you want to compare. I don't imagine it would require Google Play Services to run on devices older than 8 since they don't have the AI integration, but I could be wrong. You can easily deny the app network permissions to ensure that the app isn't sending your photos to Google. As far as the AI features go on newer devices, I could see those requiring Google Services installed to work, but again, they're available through a Graphene mirror, run sandboxed for privacy, and can be denied network permissions. I'm satisfied with how my pictures turn out (7 Pro), but I may try Pixel Camera out just to see what the difference is.
If you do that I'd be very interested to see the results! Especially things like night sight, my gf's camera is as night blind as she is 😅
It's been a couple years since I tried the graphene camera, but (at the time) it's essentially trash in comparison to the Google camera. I just use the gCam without internet permissions and call it a day.
But I'm not hardcore tin-foil 'the NSA will use your office mirrors reflection to precisely heat up a 2mm space on the side of your phone that somehow enables Bluetooth and with that the G + glowy bois will exfiltrate your data at 10Kb/s'. I want additional security hardening and some privacy additions, but I also use the play services and store, like a typical user. Yada yada threat model yada yada - I just want my phone to simply function at the end of the day. Middle of the road, if you will, between stock os users and the guy that's now boarding up all his windows because of the 2mm Bluetooth mystery vulnerability.
Unknown about the claimed AI features - my 8 pro is in transit. But I can check in a few days, if interested.