For me the most interesting piece from the Mastodon thread is the fact that the Motorola partnership was born out of Google making it more difficult for non-OEMs to get access to AOSP source code (emphasis mine):

Google replaced pushing Git tags for certain source code with obtaining source code via Google Drive after making a request through Google Forms. It's completely ridiculous and they've gradually become very slow at handling requests. They're in clear violation of the GPLv2 now.

These changes won't negatively impact GrapheneOS on upcoming Motorola Mobility devices. In fact, it's a major part of why our partnership exists. It only negatively impacts Pixels and hurts Google more than anyone else. Google wants to make Pixels worse for no apparent reason.

This also means that in the future Motorola devices will get faster security updates on GrapheneOS than Pixels.

This is exactly why I've waited to get a Graphene OS phone, Google can't be trusted.

One thing I really dislike about the Mobile ecosystem is how much different each device is to each other.

Imagine owning a laptop and not being able to install linux without the manufacturer permission.

They really messed us up with how they created the phone architecture, so closed and restrictive.

Capitalism

bad sign. i hope it's at least available in my country.

I'm actually kind of excited about this, despite it meaning my next phone is going to be more expensive than I want (or can really handle, so I'll start saving now.)

I figured this would be the case, too, for the exact reason stated in the article, the Moto G devices aren't secure enough.

BUT why I'm excited is usually Moto's flagship phones have expandable storage!!! I want nothing more from a phone than a grapheneOS phone with a microSD! I'm still mad at the cell phone market for killing expandable storage. Now if I could just convince them to give me two USB-C ports so I don't have to wear my charge port to use wired headphones...

Lower end phones are supposed to be coming later. I'm honestly not surprised that the first will be a flagship

There is a reason we are putting up with decades of legacy stuff still from the original x86 architecture in PCs... the compatibility of hardware and the standardisation even if it's through several extensions build off each other is unmatched.

ARM architecture might be much simpler but you constantly need hardware specific adaptions, which makes support for different mobile devices this mess.

One thing I really dislike about the Mobile ecosystem is how much different each device is to each other.

I thought you were sarcastic when I first read this part, since way back when phones used to be innovative in both hardware and software. The current market offerings are all carbon copies of eachother with a strong trend towards converging into the exact same lineup.

Multiple cameras, one in front, 2+ in back. A power button and two for volume. Reader apps may hijack it for scroll. Gesture movements. Fingerprint and face id. Less and less conusmer freedom in software choice. Irremovable battery. No removable back plate. A rectangular brick. A near-100% display area. No headphone jack or SD card, with SIM on the way out.

Covers the vast majority of offerings on the market, with a few slight adds/subtracts. Dumbphones are a rounding error.

This definition covers even tablets, and it isn't even deliverately vague.

Without much experimentation and development on the hardware front, no wonder software's behaving exactly the same.

There just isn't enough interest for proper innovation and experimentation.

Oh that's 100% true.

I was just thinking on the firmware of the thing. And how incompatible are they between models that are almost the same.

And as you say all phones are basically the same, there's no excuse for how little normalization there is in the software they carry.

Please Motorola, please make something like Pixel 4a sized or iPhone SE / 8.

The 4a was the last light one. When I tested the newer Pixels every of the a models was much heavier. I can't get around it, why would engineers think it's a good idea to make a successor heavier and not lighter?

And we're not even talking about iphone

Gonna buy one, gotta support the cause. We need this phone to do well.

I took micro SD for granted! I miss being able to just pop a card in and upgrade.

hoping so! cheap graphene phones will be cool to have.

I had (still works, just retired now) the last Samsung flagship with a micro SD as my phone until 9 months ago. Note 20 Ultra. 8 miss my s pen, still, but Samsung has been charging too much for lazy trash phones for too long now, so I bailed.

Unfortunately once microSD, headphone jack, and removable batteries were gone I moved to iPhone.

My thought was if I lose all the the things I like about Android, why would I not be in the more cohesive ecosystem?

I use Linux for gaming and Mac OS for work. I waited years for Android/chromeOS to catch up, but Google can’t even get a messaging app/video chat app right.

The day memory cards and removable batteries come back I’ll think about leaving.

You're supporting diva devs selling out.

We don't need GOS to do well. We need a fully open ecosystem for phone operating systems. GOS devs don't let anyone incorporate their code.

They also refuse to provide basic functionality like inverted navbar buttons. Because they're diva devs.