And official Android-based OS bring advantages too. For example, Samsung has lot of proprietary and useful features, and GrapheneOS you cannot use Google Pay (one major feature of a phone).
The primary reason why I haven't bought a Pixel and switched to GrapheneOS is because Samsung's OneUI is just so far ahead of the curve. They innovate new software features years before anyone else does.
And something that Apple has been doing generally from Android (while trying really hard to catch up) - feature after feature and shamelessly releasing it as the next biggest revolutionary thing since the moon landing, or an invention shadowed only that of the wheel and fire.
In fact last few years of Apple's phone advancement has been nothing along with some features which has been Android for years. Or maybe that's not "copying", that's bringing "at par" which is of course different?
That being said, it is a reasonable compromise that, as long as people know that beforehand, losing Google Pay as the price to loosen Google's grip on your data, location and preferences is an acceptable one [price].
Apologies. I misread. Yeah, it sucks that Google Pay doesn't work on GrapheneOS.
Though Google Pay is also probably the least private of the major tech-company payment platforms (the others being Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, and Garmin Pay). It is, I think, the only one that actually requires an open network connection on the phone to work. The others all generate one-time codes that get sent through the payment machine's network for verification by Apple/Samsung/Garmin on the backend (i.e. you can tap an Apple Watch to pay with all its radios off, but you can't do that with Google Pay).
From what I gather, Garmin Pay can work with GrapheneOS if you have one of their smartwatches. And Privacy.com works, but not with tap-to-pay.
As an aside - I think the Paypal app in Germany offers HCE tap-to-pay, and In the UK/Europe 'Curve' is a Google pay replacement that runs fine on GrapheneOS (and they have first-party support for huawei phones that don't even ship Google play services anymore)
