Thanks for the ROMs you produce. Do you recommend any particular devices (phones and tablets) to use a device-independent ROM?

As far as I could see in your GitHub project wiki, most devices tend to have a few glitches (probably due to issues in the hardware abstraction layer from the manufacturers side?): https://github.com/phhusson/treble_experimentations/wiki

I could see some that look mostly flawless, like Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.0 2019. It'd be good to have a curated list of preferred devices. Buying Android devices with ROMs in mind is quite frequent, and your generic ROMs are a huge leap ahead!

Hi phh,

Doesn't the DRM stop working once the bootloader is unlocked? That'd be a big concern since most streaming apps would refuse to install or work in that case.

What other such changes is Google pushing into Android that discourages unlocking the bootloader / rooting?

That's a globally incoherent mess, I'll try to summarize, but the TL;DR is that depending on the device and on the streaming service, it ranges from "it'll just work after bootloader unlock" to "nope, there is no way to get it to work", with an intermediate of "shitload of hacks are required".

So first point about the DRM itself: - Google here is "benevolent". Devices are allowed to keep working Widevine L1 working after bootloader unlock (without needing relock), and it does work just fine on Pixels. - Some devices clears their key after bootloader unlock, so unlocking means you'll never get Widevine L1 - Some devices have the key tied to being locked, to relocking will work - Some devices doesn't have restrictions, but have poorly written drivers that need to be hacked around to allow to work on unlocked bootloader

And then, there is the extra issue of what streaming apps decide to give you. For instance Netflix will not use Widevine L1 even if it works unless your device is whitelisted. So if you flash a "simple" alternative ROM on a Pixel 5, you still would get only 480p. The ROM needs to lie, and tell it is the original Pixel's ROM. (Also Netflix won't be listed from PlayStore unless the ROM lies and says the app that yes the bootloader is locked)

In my opinion, the biggest vendor lock-in about bootloader unlocking is that you'll loose all your data when unlocking, with no way to properly backup your data on stock ROM.

Just download DRM-free movies from BitTorrent trackers or other sources, and ignore the DRM-encumbered streaming services.

Hi phh, I remember using your software to root my Nexus 5X a few years ago, thanks for that! Good to see you're still in the scene.