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Why I don't like smartphones

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Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#91

Post by wvh »

I've got a Jolla phone running Sailfish, which is reasonably open. I'm happy with it because as an advanced user I can enable developer mode and modify or fix things. It's a stable and usable system. But Jolla doesn't seem to be doing so well right now. Before that I had a Nokia N9, the only Maemo phone, precurser to Sailfish. Another capable although minimal system. That didn't go anywhere either, because Nokia sold out to Microsoft – who by the way don't seem to be doing so well either in the mobile space.

Also Firefox seems to have thrown the towel in the ring already.

I'm waiting to see what Ubuntu comes up with in the phone/tablet space. It's certainly taking a long time.

I don't understand that with all the people concerned about rights and privacy, and all the open-source affectionados, there just doesn't seem to be that much of a market for alternatives to the big two of Android and Apple iOS.

Is it because of locked-down hardware? Or that Linux on desktop and mobile is not a (funding) priority? Or are people that addicted to downloading low-quality apps (i.e. the "eco-system")? Or is there simply not enough demand?

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#93

Post by logicrook »

barnabee wrote: post #83
logicrook wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always find fantastic how these kinds of arguments can be made blatantly ignoring that they basically are a plea for authoritarian governments. Do you realize how bad basic freedoms are? Most people are better off without them, because many would harm themselves. And can you imagine the gains if instead of letting people speak for themselves, we has a single entity vetting everyone's discourse? Man, dictatorship is…

The argument is "it's an allowable trade off for a hardware product to be locked down and for consumers to decide whether they still want to buy it given the restrictions" not "all hardware must be locked down and all software approved by corporations/government"- the latter is clearly not OK.

You fail to recognize the political implications of individually opting for locked-down solutions. If many people opt-in for a locked solution, they essentially remove the possibility for others to adopt free solutions -university, businesses, have to be able to communicate with the maximal number of people.

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#94

Post by logicrook »

icebraining wrote: post #77
logicrook wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always find fantastic how these kinds of arguments can be made blatantly ignoring that they basically are a plea for authoritarian governments. Do you realize how bad basic freedoms are? Most people are better off without them, because many would harm themselves. And can you imagine the gains if instead of letting people speak for themselves, we has a single entity vetting everyone's discourse? Man, dictatorship is…

The difference is that you purposefully opt-in to a smartphone, but can't opt-in (at least, not on an individual basis) to a regime. Would a totalitarian state be as objectionable if people had to chose to move there, and could leave as easily as one can change phones?

There are consistently laws to purposefully remove digital rights for the people (think encryption tools). With this argument, you justify that rights should be taken from everybody for the sake of the majority, and there's no opt-in anymore.

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#95

Post by Zoon »

izacus wrote: post #69
raesene9 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry but I entirely disagree with you. From a security perspective allowing software installations form unknown sources is absolutely a concern for average users. It's hard enough for IT professionals to maintain the security of general purpose computing devices, let alone non-technical users achieving the same goal. Lets take a real-world exmaple. Look at the incidence of malware on a platform that allows unrestric…

And now compare it to OS X installations. Or Linux. A platform that doesn't have a rampant malware problem and still isn't completely locked down. We managed to somehow survive 30 years of unprecedented innovation and computer usage and NOW we suddenly need locked down devices where a single company decides which applications may be used on them and can forbid and innovative competition at will? Why would you defend…

You can't seriously compare iOS users to OS X and Linux users. iOS is for the masses while the other two have a relatively high percentage of tech savvy users.

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#96

Post by morganvachon »

wvh wrote: post #91

I've got a Jolla phone running Sailfish, which is reasonably open. I'm happy with it because as an advanced user I can enable developer mode and modify or fix things. It's a stable and usable system. But Jolla doesn't seem to be doing so well right now. Before that I had a Nokia N9, the only Maemo phone, precurser to Sailfish. Another capable although minimal system. That didn't go anywhere either, because Nokia sold…

> Before that I had a Nokia N9, the only Maemo phone

The N900 begs to differ with that statement. It ran Maemo 5, and (in my personal opinion) was the best phone of its era hands down.

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#97

Post by jhasse »

wvh wrote: post #91

I've got a Jolla phone running Sailfish, which is reasonably open. I'm happy with it because as an advanced user I can enable developer mode and modify or fix things. It's a stable and usable system. But Jolla doesn't seem to be doing so well right now. Before that I had a Nokia N9, the only Maemo phone, precurser to Sailfish. Another capable although minimal system. That didn't go anywhere either, because Nokia sold…

I think because Android already IS open-source. Why would I need an alternative to reinvent the wheel?

When using F-Droid [1] with a custom ROM and no Google Apps, Android is as open-source as Ubuntu, Sailfish or Firefox OS. The one big problem left is proprietary drivers, and this hasn't been fixed be these three alternatives yet. IIRC Sailfish and Ubuntu use the same proprietary Android drivers.

[1] https://f-droid.org/

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#98

Post by jvandonsel »

If you had offered someone in 1916 a device that they could put in their pocket that would let them instantly communicate with nearly anyone on the planet, tap into a large fraction of the world's knowledge base, read books, navigate across the country, take photographs and movies, and play almost any song ever written, what do you think that person would say?

"No thanks." ?

The smartphone is one of the most significant inventions of the last 100 years.

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#99

Post by Laforet »

icebraining wrote: post #77
logicrook wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always find fantastic how these kinds of arguments can be made blatantly ignoring that they basically are a plea for authoritarian governments. Do you realize how bad basic freedoms are? Most people are better off without them, because many would harm themselves. And can you imagine the gains if instead of letting people speak for themselves, we has a single entity vetting everyone's discourse? Man, dictatorship is…

The difference is that you purposefully opt-in to a smartphone, but can't opt-in (at least, not on an individual basis) to a regime. Would a totalitarian state be as objectionable if people had to chose to move there, and could leave as easily as one can change phones?

People who are born in such a regime usually don't get a (easy) opt-out but I digress.

My feelings towards AAPL was pretty mixed from day 1 and has changed surprisingly little over the past few years. I genuinely applaud their take on many issues such as strong encryption and the ability to side-load your own apps from source. On the other hand I am very alarmed by the fact that backing up apps from iOS device is no longer possible from iOS9. It might be an improvement for security, version control or whatever, but it made me very reluctant to pick up my iPad again knowing that I have less control of the platform than ever before.

Keep in mind that iOS devices must phone home for activation and repeat the process every three years. It is rather unlikely yet not entirely impossible that one day Apple will cease to provide activaton for older devices and render them useless. In that sense I don't really own my iPad but paid a premium for the priviledge to able to use it, only as long as Apple allows me to. Suffice to say I refuse to be subject to the same tyranny again.

Re: Why I don't like smartphones

#100

Post by cognivore »

jvandonsel wrote: post #98

If you had offered someone in 1916 a device that they could put in their pocket that would let them instantly communicate with nearly anyone on the planet, tap into a large fraction of the world's knowledge base, read books, navigate across the country, take photographs and movies, and play almost any song ever written, what do you think that person would say? "No thanks." ? The smartphone is one of the most signific…

Ah, but you didn't mention the most egregious aspect of a smart phone - a device that they could put in their pocket that would let nearly anyone on the planet instantly communicate with them.

That is one Hell of a lot of people I have no interest in talking to.

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