There’s more to it. It wasn’t Play Integrity blocking Graphene per se, but the fact that Revolut checked the build ID string, which was uniquely identifiable as Graphene for any build. This was then made more generic, so the block doesn’t work for now, but the workaround could break any moment and be made impossible by Revolut enforcing “strong” level of Play Integrity. Such bullshit.
Instinct gang! I got an Instinct 2S Solar after being fed up with "smart"watches with 1-2 day battery life, now I get 10-14 days realistically even when frequently training with GPS. I’ve also returned to Gadgetbridge recently and it’s an OK experience, minor bumps here and there, but definitely something I can daily drive in exchange for having control over my data.
What I find nice is that the Instincts don’t need the phone to see all data and can function pretty much autonomously - everything important can be checked on the watch itself. And the watch itself is so rugged (among other things, it has a 10ATM water resistance vs 5ATM for a lot watches, and pretty much all of the WearOS/general smartwatches like Huawei), I don’t have an issue taking it for swimming, which is very important for me.
I just wish there were more watches like Instinct that would also match the functionality these series have. But unfortunately, looks like most people prefer fancy displays over a watch being practical and not needing to charge it as often as your phone.
The PS3 is such a nice console. There is something special about using a device with such unorthodox CPU (Cell BE), especially when you see it running graphics intensive games in (relatively) high fidelity, like The Last Of Us. The console only has 512Mb RAM and 256Mb VRAM, and the GPU equivalent of the 8600GT! But due to the architecture of the Cell BE, a lot of the graphics processing was performed on the SPEs, so basically on the CPU instead of the GPU.
There’s also the option of using Private Space (Android 15+) or its multiple clones in manufacturer OSes. It effectively creates a new user profile which can be deactivated at will. The new user profile also has no access to any data from the main profile that can’t already be controlled by permissions, like the app list. It has its own instance of Play Services, so AFAIK it shouldn’t be linkable to the main profile. It’s the best middle-ground I’ve found this far if the app needs to be installed in one way or the other.