- cross-posted to:
- android@lemdro.id
- cross-posted to:
- android@lemdro.id
Google is kind of being invasive. Kind but kind of.
arent there mods on the sub to delete clickbait crap like this?
Title is misleading, they are moving away from google services.
Aww, and I here I was hoping multiple vendors were FINALLY going to contribute to mobile linux.
Year of the Linux phone
Yeah I was going to say there is very little alternative from iOS and Android or its derivatives. There used to be Windows Phones very breifly, but they’re gone now.
Anthing else has to emulate the other OS to run mobile apps.
Nokia also had Meego but an ex-Microsoft exec sabotaged that.
I had a phone that ran on Nokia’s Symbian OS before I got my first android. I kinda miss it.
I actually had a Windows phone around 2011-ish. It had some pretty cool features and was a Nokia.
Dude 2011 was like 6 years ago
USA is being horrible at the moment, but China has a LOT of convincing to do before I’ll let them deliberately have my data.
Best way remains to raise as high a digital moat against everyone. If you need a smartphone, get a Pixel, install Graphene on it and as few apps as possible.
I would love getting a Pixel but the 100% price premium and no official support is making it hard.
https://grapheneos.org/faq#supported-devices
It’s my understanding that the latest model pixels have official support for Graphene. I could be wrong but their FAQ says they do. I’m installing it on mine
I think shegorath meant official support from Google.
PostmarketOS for everyone!
I really want to get to a point I can transition to using this or another mobile Linux distro. My phone is fairly (hehe, it’s a Fairphone) well supported, but my impression is that basic phone features are still not functioning properly making it more of a pocket computer and less of a phone. I still need phone features. As for mobile apps, I don’t have many needs and I think Waydroid will get me far.
What ever happened to that other OS that was named after a color
Fuschia? That was a Google alternative to Linux that never panned out. It was weird with streams instead of files.
We are going to move away from Google, by basing our new future on AOSP, which is also primary maintained by Google…I smell another FireOS level product on the horizon. Still Android, but worse.
If it’s not proper linux I don’t care
German brand Volla has phones with Ubuntu Touch. Even allows dual boot with their own degoogled Android OS. Might be worth checking out.
Linux-mobileOS!
That sounds nice and all but linux still is subject to exploits and the open sourced nature of it makes it an enticing target for state actors to include extremely well made obfuscated exploits. I dont know how to win here, tbh.
“State actors” already have the ability to spy on anyone they want. It’s a whole industry
Uhh maybe more likely 15 years ago and also goes for everyone else. Actually, what are you even saying?
All you said, is infinitely worse with closed source
deleted by creator
Make it so
A rumor of plans??! Tell me everything!!!
Gurl let me spill the tea, there’s word floating round in China that some bde powa playas be considering maybe kinda putting something together.
Pretty soon they’re going to pencil in a meeting about possibly arranging a committee to discuss preliminary plans to do a feasibility study.
So that title is just a straight up lie. They want to use a de-googled Android.
To be honest I was hoping for an alternative OS, competition is always good. But a de-googled Android could possibly be good, but being Chinese I assume instead of Google telemetry you’ll just be replacing it with CCP telemetry.
I mean judging by the current American government id much rather my data is going to the CCP then the American Government via Google as a proxy.
How about neither?
Would love that if it was an option.
I don’t know to what extent they smuggle data out of the devices, but afaik a de-googlified phone such as Pixel + GrapheneOS gets you close.
Indded but as an Australian, if I have to have an anal probe i’d rather it from the CCP as they wont share it with my Government.
US telemetry == CCP telemetry, I can’t see how CCP will be more damaging to regular person.
Why bother switching then?
Because, at least for now, the US has the greater power to fuck up our lives with the information gathered.
I think it’s just that they were saying his won’t end up benefitting us. It’s just changing who is holding the binoculars.
Honestly, I think a person in either nation should consider using the opposing nation’s stuff. Harder for the US to backdoor Chinese encryption, or for Chinese to backdoor into an American phone. Play the bastards off each other.
Odds are, that the Trump Regime will use American apps and phones to identify and track targets for ICE traffickers. China probably does the same to Uighurs. The less attack surfaces they have, the better for their respective peoples.
Except that there are credible reports of the CCP running police operations on foreign soil.
But what reason would they have to go after you on foreign soil? Unless you’re like actively causing problems for China they’re not gonna spend the effort to go after you for saying “China bad” on one of their phones. That only matters if you’re in China at which point it’s silencing internal discontent. The much bigger likelihood is the American government seeing you, through data Google gathers, organize against US support of Israel or any other position they start abducting people for and grabbing you off the street for it.
Probably not me. Most of the recorded incidents are against Chinese families that have emigrated.
I complain about the CCP here and there, but not likely enough for any attention to be warranted.
That sounds funny, but In that reality, the government with all its power will find a way in (they probably already have programs (as in departments) for finding their way into other countries tech).
Better to just install a proper de-googled android build (grapheneos, etc) and only use wifi (if data/phone num not needed) for the best odds.
In a couple of years (with more r&d, development and investment) I bet this will change to being use a linux phone.
Apple building backdoors for CCP and sharing any and all data with them: am I a joke to you?
How easy is it to degoogle Android? Don’t currently use Android or iOS but dumb phone options are getting pretty limited these days.
If I got an Android phone I would probably be looking at something second hand because fuck paying 3 figures on a phone. I know I wouldn’t use data at all, call/SMS SIM only. I guess another option is not needing to degoogle it as it will never talk to google once I have finished downloading maps of the country for OSMand and a few other apps. Then it can be on Wi-Fi to allow communication with my PC over LAN but don’t allow it access to the internet.
If it never touches the internet after setup I guess outdated OS doesn’t matter too much.
SIM still has to be tied to a name.
What do you mean, like a humans name? Pretty sure it doesn’t. I can get one with cash and top it up with cash. Until pretty recently this is what I did. Pricing changes mean I now pay £4/month instead which would be tied to my card.
Yes, where I am, even cash requires it. Guard your liberties, fiercely.
It depends on your definition of ‘deGoogle’. You can disable the Google apps on most Android phones. They’ll take up storage space, but won’t run.
If you’re getting a second-hand phone and want to completely deGoogle it, you can check if (1) the bootloader is unlockable and (2) custom ROMs are available online (e.g. Lineage OS compatible devices). In general, Xiaomi, Motorola and Pixel devices have unlockable bootloaders, but not all their models have custom ROMs.
Ironically, pixels are best for de-googling (stock android that can be easily un- and re-locked)
If you’re looking at getting a new (used) phone, I would suggest GrapheneOS (the most secure/private de-googled rom afaik).
You need a Pixel phone, the newer you get the longer you will keep getting software updates for the future (if you keep the phone past these many years of support, then I believe switching to a other rom will be required for security patches etc. Each phone is supported until Google stops supporting them I believe). You said you don’t care about updates because you can keep it from connecting to the internet, but it’s a plus anyways.
If you plan on never touching a google service, GrapheneOS allows for that (nothing google by default), but on the other hand, if you need google play, etc for banking apps or whatnot, they have that covered with Sandboxed Google Services (which you can run solely in another user profile on your phone for added privacy).
Anyways, I think GrapheneOS in a great option & their website has much more info if you’d like to continue hearing about it:
p.s. you can check their website for how long different pixels will have continued support before (if) you get one (incase anyone else is reading this).
You have to be careful to get a phone and model supported by one of the projects. Check all compatibility and install instructions before buying a phone. And if you need a manufacturer supplied unlock code, make sure the manufacturer still gives them out . Some will discontinue that service after a few years.
For graphene os you need one of the gogle devices - i’ve never tried it but i think its the one most people like.
lineageos supports more devices usually older.
I recently got lineageos working on sony experia xa2 - very happy with it. But to get there i had to go try like 6 computers before one of them sucessfully sent the bootloader unlock code over the ADB. For some reason usb is temperamental when doing stuff like that
It is a lot easier on really old stuff like samsung galaxy s3 or s4 if you can tolerate something that old. Maybe you’ll lso end upon an old version of lineage.
Once you get the bootloader unlocked it is generally straightforward. but modern phones make that fist part awkward.
The only issue with projects like LineageOS is that the camera usually sucks because the full fat camera driver isn’t released to the public, it’s only the basic driver. The camera can still take photos but all of the features you’ve become accustomed to are not there. This was my experience and what the LineageOS team said during the Samsung S5-S8 days.
Easy for manufacturers to deGoogle. Trivial.
If you have a phone with custom ROM support, pretty easy. I’ve been running LineageOS without GAPPS for like 5 years now. Most stuff just works, but to be fair, I am not using any of the cool kids apps like google pay or android auto.
I just got my Pixel 9a and put GrapheneOS on it. The only thing that seems to not work right now is KDE Connect, but I’m unsure if it might be me doing something wrong rather than being imposdible.
It runs just fine for me, huh. Certainly not because of lack of google services.
Maybe graphene is doing some firewall things? KDE Connect needs some ports open (to the local lan) to talk
Google meet Zune!
You mean the brands that literally do this already? Pretty bad article