I’ve been searching pretty intensely for a new phone for about 4 weeks now. I’ve looked on here, XDA, duckduckgo searches, YT, etc. I can’t seem to find a device that works on T-Mobile, supports 5g, ideally under $400 USD, and will run /e/. I’ve looked at the OnePlus 8 but there is no support for the T-Mobile (IN2017 I believe) variant.
Does anyone have any advice or recommendations for devices?
P.S. Thank You/Merci to Gael and the rest of the /e/ team and community for all your hard work!
I really like the OnePlus 9 Pro which is 5G and I run on Mint Mobile (a T-Mobile MNVO). The 9 Pro build isn’t ready yet but it does have a LineageOS w/ MicroG build. You could use that as a bridge until the /e/ build is ready, which is what I’m doing with my 9 Pro and my backup 6T. I realize that is above your 400 dollar target, but I think it would have to be a “I want 3 things, I can have 2” type situation.
Thank you for your response. I get what you mean about wanting 3 things but can only have 2. I honestly considered dropping my 5g prereq. Unfortunately, the two areas I’m inflexible on is carrier and price. I bought the tmobile oneplus 8 yesterday, but I think I’m going to cancel the order and buy the oneplus 8 pro. I have to find out if the US version is supported/unlockable. Unfortunately in the US it seems like so many of the phones I look at can’t be unlocked, rooted, etc.
Thanks again for your reply though. I really do appreciate it.
One more quick question/addition, if you don’t mind. What about the OnePlus 8T? I think I’m going to up my price range to $500 USD. I really really really don’t like Google and the Play Store, all the tracking, etc. I use my phone for either productivity or light gaming, e.g. Lemuroid from F-Droid and playing all the old games I could never beat back in the day. lol
The 8T is a fine phone. Generally “T” models are a refresh of the base model to bring it in line with the “Pro’s” specs. It doesn’t represent a huge upgrade from the 7T or even the 6T for that matter, but if you’re buying standalone, it’s a good deal, especially where Best Buy currently has it priced. The hardware will stack up against “modern” phones for years to come (hence why I’ve held on to my 6T despite upgrading to the 9 Pro).
You could again use Lineage with MicroG as a bridge until an /e/ build becomes available to escape Play Services/trackers.
You’ll find that even on US versions, OnePlus is very accommodating with unlocking, rooting, etc. I had no issues, and the issues I did have were able to be rapidly repaired because OnePlus gives you the tools to reflash stock if need be.
All in all, I would say that a OnePlus phone running /e/ or Lineage represents the ultimate Google free experience.
I have the T-Mobile OnePlus 8T+5G. Been on OOS the past year until recently. Most apps disabled with mostly FOSS stuff replacing them.
Before one can unlock the bootloader it would have to be SIM unlocked first. That’s at the discretion of the TMO people (device paid off?, customer in good standing?, etc.).
I saw an XDA article about rebranding the TMO device. Replaces the firmware with the Euro OOS. Euro firmware provides more frequent updates and the ability to install locally downloaded OTA upgrade zips.
Requested a SIM unlock from the TMO people on Facebook (quickly granted) and went about the conversion.
The upside of the “rebranding” is that I was then free to fastboot unlock the bootloader if wanted. No need for codes or waiting from OnePlus.
Did so and messed around a bit. Currently running Jaguar ROM with microG.
I also vote for support for the OnePlus 9 Pro. I am also looking at upgrading to a recent OnePlus variant that is supported by /e. I am leaning toward the OnePlus 9 Pro in a few months. Hopefully the new models (OnePlus 10 and new versions from competitors) coming out will drive down the prices on the 9s. From the reviews that I’ve read, the 8 Pro introduced much better firmware and algorithms for the camera that the 8 and 8T don’t have, so it taking photos or videos with your phone is important to you, you may want to stich with either the 8 Pro or 8 Pro over the other variants.
I have a Samsung Galaxy S9 256GB that I installed /e/ on and used with t-mobile for a week.
Its brand new other than having used it for that week. No 5G though. Would definitely sell it to you for $400.
If youre in the states, I can ship it reasonably easy.
Let me know!
Thanks for all the great recommendations! I actually ended up giving the OP8 to my son and picked up the OP8T unlocked from Amazon for $449 USD. The hardware value OP8 offers is incredible. There were actually a few OP apps that almost made me want to stay stock OOS. The OP8T should be here by the weekend. I’m excited. Last phone I bought for myself was a Pixel 2XL. Even with most of the google addons and system services turned off or blocked I was still sending so many packets of data.
I have the OP8T (T-Mobile). Really nice device. Stayed on OOS for a long time. Disabled almost all Google stuff and replaced everything with mostly FLOSS alternatives. Good stuff.
Recently saw an XDA article on “rebranding” the TMO. In short, swapped out the TMO firmware for the Euro. Only requirement was to be SIM unlocked (which TMO granted and did without delay). “Rebranding” provided an OOS with more updates and the ability to install OTA zips from local storage within the ROM.
A positive side effect of making the change is that I was now able to bootloader unlock the phone via fastboot without need of a code or wait from OnePlus.
Of course, had to go custom after that. Tried a couple like Jaguar and Carbon but settled on an old favorite, crDroid.
I had no intention of getting a modern Android device (essentially calling it quits with Pi/e/ on my Essential PH1) after what Google has been doing with the OS starting with Q.
But I must say my current setup is like the old stuff so I’m quite pleased. Even got OmniSwitch so double pleased.
