I think they just aren’t sure how many instances you need right now (25? 30? all 50?) and that’s why they requested clarification for the actual resources needed. They don’t want to give you more than you actually need at the moment, so they don’t sit around unused for half a year until you actually use them.
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I don’t consider HMD Global phones, because they don’t allow unlocking the bootloader.
It is even worse on the Pixel 7, as its front camera is fixed focus. The Pixel 5 has a great front-facing camera in comparison!
I actually returned the Pixel 7 earlier this year, because of its size, weight, awful display (rainbow effects when viewing it at a slight angle) and fingerprint reader.
I also found the camera to be noticeably worse when doing closeup shots (which is what I do the most with my phone’s camera). All the pictures I took from the battery replacement of my Pixel 5 are slightly unsharp because of the 7’s camera. I later learned that you can use 2x zoom to workaround the problematic lens, but for the price of the phone I consider this to be unacceptable.
I got it at a discount and still found the phone to be too expensive for what it is.
I preordered the Pixel 5 (the only preorder I’ve ever done) to receive the Bose QC35 headphones as well. It was a great and well-priced package and I use both products to this day. The Pixel 5 is just right in my opinion. It has the right size, weight and hardware and its fingerprint reader is reliable (as long as it is dry). The vibrator is terrible in comparison to the Pixel 7, but everything else is better in my opinion.
I am really not sure what phone will be the replacement for my Pixel 5 … I either want a phone with GrapheneOS or mobile Linux. It has to be more compact and lighter than the Pixel 7 though.
The school I helped administrating did the same quite recently. I am so glad that we don’t have to spend time with such WSUS workarounds from Microsoft.
We now manage feature updates by specifying the target Windows build via GPO.
That’s enough for our needs and works great to ensure that all computers use the same feature update and the latest of all other updates.
Luckily that’s the only place I have to deal with Microsoft / Windows at the moment.
It would be nice, if you could incorporate those missing locations into OpenStreetMap once you come across them. Afterwards everyone else will benefit from your contributions, as they don’t have to lookup the location on Google Maps anymore. :)
OsmAnd actually has a map editing plugin. Another great application for improving OpenStreetMap is Street Complete. It is a good way to kill some time while waiting somewhere with incomplete OSM data. ;)
I would actually advise anyone not to buy phones where the manufacturer doesn’t allow bootloader unlocking (e. g. HMD) or where the phone gets permanently damaged/modified once you unlock the bootloader (e. g. Samsung). The only power a consumer holds is purchasing power, so the more people refuse to buy locked-down hardware, the more incentive there is to offer hardware with unlockable bootloaders.
My personal recommendation would be Pixel phones, due to excellent GrapheneOS support, but their regional availability seems to be limited and the quality of the hardware could be a lot better (e. g. the battery of my Pixel 5 failed just after the warranty period; luckily iFixit provides genuine replacements and I managed to replace it myself, but this replacement wasn’t easy and it has become even more difficult with newer Pixel phones).
I use GrapheneOS on my Pixel 5, even though I didn’t want to use Custom ROMs anymore.
I run it mainly because of sandboxed Play Services (i. e. Google services running as a user application with much less capabilities, instead of a system application, like with the factory image) and the additional functionality, which includes the ability to revoke network and sensor permissions for any app.
One of the reasons I decided to flash it, instead of remaining on the factory image, was that it behaves like the factory image once it is installed. Meaning the bootloader is closed and I don’t have to ever worry about updates (manually flashing the latest firmware files or the latest gapps, etc.). It even has automatic system updates, meaning it installs system updates whenever I am not using the phone. So while I’m asleep my phone is updating itself and the next morning I start the day with the latest GrapheneOS release. Very convenient!
I still download apps primarily from the Play Store (auto updates also work for those apps!) and use F-Droid only for apps that aren’t available there (due to F-Droid signing most apps with their own key). But, since the Play Services and the Play Store run as a user app, I am at least able to take all permissions away from them, which should reduce the amount of data that can be collected by them.
There are drawbacks though, one of them is the lack of Pixel features. Those missing features include adaptive charging and sound output improvements, which results in degraded speaker quality on GrapheneOS, especially with newer Pixel phones (verified on a Pixel 7).
In the future I hope to ditch Android altogether on my main phone and switch to a Linux phone (and have a cheap Android phone, or a compatibility layer, for disrespectful companies, like banks or EV charging providers, that force me to install an Android or iOS app), but I haven’t seen the right Linux phone hardware for me yet. I plan to replace my Pixel 5 when Android 15 releases (as Android 14 is the last major update for it), so maybe I can switch to a Linux phone by then. :)
I only go there, usually via an external link, to install new apps or to check for updates for already installed apps.
Google Play is usually way too slow for my liking with applying updates automatically. They tend to sit there for a day or so and are not getting installed for whatever reason, even though they have already been detected.
I haven’t ever seen a useful app in my recommendations, it’s always apps from big tech companies (i. e. Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Spotify, Snapchat, …), which I have sub-zero interest in.