news
Review: CalyxOS 6.8.20
Quoting: DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD. —
After using CalyxOS for a week I would say that, of the de-Googled members of the Android family I have tried in the past few years, CalyxOS feels the most vanilla. By which I mean it doesn't feel like CalyxOS has a specific speciality, it feels more middle-of-the-road compared to other projects.
Most open source, de-Googled Android flavours have a niche or a particular focus. Murena, for example, tries to make the experience beginner friendly. They have cloud storage, the security features are enabled with a single-tap, there is one unified software centre. Everything is designed to be easy for newcomers. iodeOS is highly focused on monitoring and filtering network traffic. With iodeOS we have tools to see where our data is going and we can respond to these spying and telemetry concerns. GrapheneOS is strongly security focused with low-level hardening and most features disabled or locked by default. GrapheneOS starts us off with a minimal system and we need to confirm each new app and permission we allow.
In contrast to the above three projects, CalyxOS doesn't feel like it is trying to focus on any one area or any one feature. It's not as convenient to set up as Murena's /e/OS, it doesn't take nearly as much work as GrapheneOS, it doesn't include as many network monitoring tools as iodeOS. CalyxOS feels more general purpose - the master of none, but pretty good at everything. It has some security tools, some conveniences, there is a little manual work to do to get everything set up, and it has some nice privacy-protecting features.
For someone like me, someone who doesn't mind a crafting and customizing a little, but wants it to be as painless as possible, CalyxOS is a good fit. It isn't something I would hand to a beginner, someone new to exploring custom ROMs for Android devices, at least not yet. But the project is providing a good, solid experience with very few issues. I also appreciate the extra performance I have experienced since installing CalyxOS, it has made my phone run faster and that is always a nice perk.