it would be something more like you buy LPs/tapes/CDs, then form a band that makes songs and albums based around solely those records you bought then destroyed. I think… or something like that.

I remember when carriers not just locked the phones, they also had custom firmwares filled with bloat and customized skins and even locking down features and all that shit. For example, I had a Sony Ericsson K700i and it had a disgustingly customized FW on it, and aside that it was ugly, I could only play MP3 files that I purchased through Vodafone. Sending them via bluetooth (or even with IR) didn’t work, the phone refused to play it back.

(Then of course I found out that Sony Ericssons were pretty moddable phones so I replaced the FW with an original one and that solved all my problems. For some reasons, the fact that I patched the FW with countless of VKP patches and even unlocking it with a patch, didn’t void my warranty so whenever I fucked up the FW beyond my abilities to repair it or simply bricked it, I just sent it to Vodafone and they fixed it.)

And they did this even when Android became a thing. (Though, it was a Vodafone branded phone so… it was sort of OK. (technically it was a Huawei though, also pretty moddable phone))

I assumed it meant using a separate device or software on the side

That’s what it is. I remember actually sideloading apps to my BlackBerry 10 devices (Z10 and Z30) (though it really wasn’t that long ago not to remember it…) using a PC with a Chrome based browser (though it worked on Firefox too with some minor fiddling) to push and install .bar files to the phone. That is what sideloading to me.

Now this term changed, so everything you install from a different source than the built-in appstore is called sideloading, which is ridiculous IMO.

I was about to buy a Pixel 9 Pro XL at my carrier and use Graphene with it, but unfortunately the Pro XL version got discontinued or I don’t know so now only the Pixel 10 variants, 9 and 9a are available. (Strange that the Pro XL got pulled only).

Now I can’t decide should I wait for Graphene on Pixel 10 or just go for the 9.

I mean, 9 would be probably more than good enough, but that +4GB of RAM that the Pro XL (and 10) has are keeping me back from buying the 9.

I probably don’t even need 12GB RAM, but my previous phone also had this much and if I buy a new one, an upgrade here and there would be nice.