Google Pixel 2XL

Random rants about my current smartphone.

It is running Android 9.0, it is pretty much a mainstream-device, not hacked (no intention of doing so as long as the warranty lasts and/or Google provides decent software updates) so there will be no hard-to-find secrets on this page.

Things I like

• Large
• Fast
• Very good software updates support.

Things I don't like

• It has no card-slot
• Quite overpriced
• Some of the unneccessary apps can't be uninstalled (Google *cough* Photos *cough*)
• Quite slippery surface
• Android (and Android apps in general) feel like an excuse to spam people with advertisements and nag-screens. WTF? Even paid apps sometimes still show adverts or start being anoying by asking for Play-store ratings etc.
• The camera apps internal picture-preview seems to depend on some Google-crap and does not work, if most of that has been replaced by alternatives.
• Support for transferring apps, settings and data between an old and the new phone is a bad joke.

Things which might have prevented me from buying the phone had I known them before

None so far.

Useful apps

Beware, I support most of what Tristan Harris has to say about Smartphones -in short, I think most apps are shit and a means to occupy your attention. On top of that, Android (and iOS) are some sort of scam to make you give away your private data. Find the more elaborate and more differentiated arguments on his website: http://timewellspent.io/

• First thing: Install some self hosted calendaring and cloud software (I use Zimbra, as I don't have much need for file storage). Otherwise ownCloud or Nextcloud may be your thing.
• Second: Encrypt your device and it's SD-Card
• Follow one of the various How Tos for securing your device and disabling/uninstalling unwanted apps.
• Pay for the non-advertisement version of the apps you like (none of them cost serious money). Also -or especially- the Open Source ones. Even if they are only donationware.

aCalendar
	Replace the Google calendar spyware.
DAVDroid
	Link aCalendar with a CalDAV/CardDav source, (e.g. Zimbra).
CADroid
	Allows you to easily import self signed certificates (in case you happen to have one for your home server in the basement).
K9 Mail
	Replace the Google mail spyware. This will also sync your GMail account and provides GPG support
OpenKeyChain
	The GPG extension for K9-Mail.
Firefox
	Replace the Google Chrome browser which always wants to phone home
DuckDuckGo
	Search the web without being searched.
Keepass2Android Offline
	To store your secret passwords and other stuff, even works without cloud sync.
Öffi
	Very usefull public transport schedule viewer.
Podcast Addict
	One of the leading podcasting apps.
Nova Launcher
	An alternate app launcher, which is more flexible than the default one provided by Google.
Tasker
	Automate everything. Even without using a cloud-based service (like IFTTT)
WarnWetter
	A usefull advertisement-free weather forecast app (for Germany, directly from the DWD). Since they lost a lawsuit, you have to cough up a few bucks for it.
TotalCommander
	A free file browser.
Aida64
	Android hardware and software information.
Simple Gallery
	A simple gallery application. Open Source, no advertisements. In case you hate the constantly-phone-home-bloatware provided by the phone company.

Verdict

Nice so far.