Cops in this country think everyone using a Google Pixel must be a drug dealer (Updated)
www.androidauthority.com
Pixel phones are criminals' top pick in Spain's Catalonia for their strong security and mod-friendly design.

TLDR: Drug dealers in Catalonia have started to adopt GrapheneOS en masse leading to Catalan police suspecting anyone with a Google Pixel is a drug dealer

  • tourist@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    I don’t doubt the claim, but I would imagine others do because there’s a relatively minor technical skill hurdle on replacing a phone’s operating system which would turn most people away.

    I never used a Pixel or Graphene OS, but when I installed Lineage OS on a Redmi, Xiaomi made me wait a week to unlock the bootloader. Huge pain in the ass.

    Or there might be a better “drug-dealer-friendly” OS. I only know of Lineage and Graphene as open source alternatives, so I could just be speculating.

    Also, all my former drug dealers used WhatsApp on the stock vendor OS. But then again… I live in South Africa, so the police are more focused on violent crimes (both enforcement and perpetration)

    • qqq@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      3 months ago

      You can unlock the bootloader on a Pixel in about a minute.

      I can understand some people finding the whole process a bit daunting, but it’s not actually that difficult with Graphene.