The Affordable Purple Private Phone

published 2024-04-30
last updated 2024-11-30

photo of the my purple Google Pixel 3a

In 2016 I got my first real smartphone on contract with Bell. A Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. It was a good phone. But it was expensive; I paid Bell almost $3000 CAD over the course of my two year contract. After some years the phone got long in the tooth and stopped receiving security patches. So then what? Another luxury contract? I can't speak for everyone but I don't want to afford that much. Not to mention the e-waste. There had to be a better way.

Budget phones are affordable. $200-400 for a crappy Samsung, unlocked. That's solved the expense problem. But these phones usually don't receive any software updates or security patches. And they come with whatever bloat and other crap the manufacturer wants.

While Linux phones are still not market ready, the only other option is a good android ROM.

LineageOS is a popular android image. But there are a lot of android phones, and not every ROM there is well supported. I don't want to sweat too much.

I found CalyxOS, which seems to be a more curated and well-supported ROM by the Calyx Institute. It's mostly for Google Pixel phones because their bootloaders can be unlocked, though there are a few others.

So in spring 2022 I bought a purple Pixel 3a on eBay for ~$100 CAD shipped and flashed it with CalyxOS. I had to be sure it was the proper international unlocked version of the phone for it to work in Canada. The installation was straightforward and without issue on my Linux computer.

I've been using this phone for the last two years and it's mostly been a regular reliable smartphone. It did get stuck in a bootloop last month (it recovered and returned to normal once it depleted its battery). Other than that, it's been a perfectly normal phone. Though, I won't overpromise -- ROMs can be unstable sometimes. Always back up your data, and keep your old device in a drawer.

My biggest concern was whether the battery health would hold up, but so far it's been fine. It lasts a little more than a whole day, as long as you don't spend it watching YouTube.

I like the Pixel 3a a lot because it's somewhat smaller than other modern smartphones, it has a headphone jack, and it's purple 😃 You don't see that these days.

I think this phone is worth it if you want to de-Google your life, as I did when I first looked into it. CalyxOS doesn't have any Google Services on it, but you can still install Play Store apps using the "Aurora Store". It's essentially a client for the Google Play Store but without the login -- it uses an anonymous login. No Google account required. The only hitch is that you can't get paid apps of course since there is no account (well, you could always sideload an .apk 😉). Otherwise, there are good apps on F-Droid.

And the best part? I get security updates and the latest version of Android. I bet other phones from 2019 can't boast that.

As I'm writing this it's on Android 14, and I am starting to see some occasional framerate slowdown. I wouldn't be surprised if I only get another year out of this phone. But 3 years isn't bad for a used phone; I was able to double its original lifespan. I wish manufacturers and engineers had a larger focus on devices with more longevity, maintainability, sustainability. And privacy of course.

screenshot of my homescreen

Here are some apps I installed:

In any case, I'll be making a donation to the Calyx Institute.

Edit Nov.30: I've since started using Firefox Focus as my mobile browser. I like it. It clears everything (tabs, sessions, history) when you restart your phone, which prevents tab hoarding and habitual browsing. So it's good for a quick search or an emergency browser, but that's it.


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