Personally I refuse to buy any device that requires me to go crying to the manufacturer for an unlock key.
Google and OnePlus devices can be unlocked locally with no need to contact anyone and beg, so no one can refuse your unlock on a device you already paid for.
T-Mobile US's LG devices came with unlockable bootloaders as well, but that only helps if someone develops a ROM for it. Even then, more and more important functionality is getting locked behind closed doors. On my Stylo 5, it's not the camera, it's VoLTE. What good is it to run a custom ROM if I can't make and receive phone calls?
For me, personally, a major reason to unlock the bootloader is to install Magisk. Running an entire ROM is nice if you can find a trusted and supported one, but failing that, root access is the next best thing.
I've got background clipboard sync back in KDE Connect through a Magisk module. No need for an entire LineageOS ROM (would be nice if it were officially supported) if everything I want can be done another way.
VoLTE is incredibly fragile. You can often force enable it and it'll just work, but there's so much that can go wrong that I wouldn't risk it.
Just curious, is there any "trusted" custom ROMs? It seems that LineageOS is most reputed, but are they doing some good work about trustworthy like reproducible build, or just a reputation?. I was using random custom roms from xda until Jerry Bean era, but I'm now afraid to install entire OS.
Just nitpicking, but it's technically possible to install Google Play Services on any ROM, to my knowledge. What makes GrapheneOS apart is they apparently found a safe way to prevent it from gaining control of your entire phone.
I have an LG G8 from T-Mobile. It hasn't been updated since February. Rumor is they're rolling out android 11 in Q4 which is more than a year after 11 was released.
Contrast that with my wife's S10 that's got 11 around February.
At this point I have very little faith LG will follow through with updates for even the original two years let alone android 12.
Yikes. My Stylo 5 recently got an update, bringing its patch level to June 1, 2021 (still Android 10). I guess I should consider myself lucky. Considering that LG decided to quit the market, I'm not too hopeful, either.
I'm honestly considering going back to a flip phone once the Stylo becomes unusable. Sure, I'd end up losing some neat things, but the bargain we're being offered with smartphones is looking more Faustian every day.
Yes but they promised they would keep premium phones updated for three years.
"The three OS update guarantee applies to LG premium phones released in 2019 and later (G series, V series, VELVET, Wing) while certain 2020 models such as LG Stylo and K series will receive two OS updates.*"
Google devices cannot be unlocked locally. My USA spec Pixel 5, purchased unlocked from Best Buy, had to be connected to the internet - and I don't remember, but I may have also had to put a SIM card in - before it could be unlocked. Apparently a background service automatically checks with Google's servers whether the device is eligible for unlock (is it paid off or still under financing, and which carrier is it from?) and then automatically fetches the unlock code if Google decides to allow it. But the default state until that happens is locked with no possibility of unlocking.
So it's very unlikely that you'll be refused the unlock on a device you just purchased, and if you are then you can just return the device, but I don't like the internet requirement since that means Google's unlock code service and all the other Google applications on the phone sent out a bunch of information about my device to Google.
When I tried initially unlocking the option was grayed out and unusable. I had to find information about the internet connection requirement online.
I don't know whether OnePlus does something like that - my OnePlus 7 Pro was connected to the internet before I attempted to unlock it, but I'm receiving a OP 9 Pro today and would like to unlock it as soon as I get it without connecting to the internet or putting in a SIM card. Will see how that goes.
The OnePlus 9 Pro also required an internet connection, and I had to enable Google Play Services for the OEM unlock option to be enabled. I bought this phone unlocked directly from OnePlus.
Interesting, I can't find any such requirement online about OnePlus devices, but I did come across this mentioning that a law passed in California forced Google to do this on some devices:
Yes. That's what I'm talking about. Not carrier unlock. Bootloader unlock is blocked until the phone is fully paid off (if purchased under loan), and I believe T-Mobile requires a 40 day wait before bootloader unlock is allowed even if you pay in full upfront, and I think Verizon prohibits it completely. Google enforces these rules on their devices and requires the phone to connect to Google to authorize bootloader unlocking. It's an automated version of the manual bootloader unlock codes that some manufacturers do.
Google and OnePlus devices can be unlocked locally with no need to contact anyone and beg, so no one can refuse your unlock on a device you already paid for.