mick wrote:

I am /not/ a huge fan of Google, but since I hate apple even more, the android device offers me the best functionality for the least inavsion of privacy (within limits). [...]

I had to put a CyanogenMod fork on mine to stop it demanding a Google login before it would work properly.

[...] Previous devices (from HTC, Sony and Samsung) have allowed me to set up a local, "device only" calendar. This new one won't and insists that I link in a google account before I can add /any/ data at all. So I'm looking for an alternative app. [...]

I don't have that problem and I even have "Offline Calendar" (org.sufficientlysecure.localcalendar on fdroid) to give me a calendar which isn't synchronised anywhere.

If you really want a whole new app, then I think aCal is one of the few. That will use caldav and its user email list was fairly helpful when I was using it. With Android 4, I moved to CaldavSyncAdapter (org.gege.caldavsyncadapter) and don't use it much any more.

Android phones are basically a strange type of GNU/Linux device. Have fun!

Hope that helps,