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Google activated battery saving mode on multiple phones, then rolled it back

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Re: Google activated battery saving mode on multiple phones, then rolled it back

#21

Post by gcb0 »

alexkavon wrote: post #9
mbrumlow wrote: post #4

This happened to me today! I was using my phone and then it went all weird with no haptic feedback when typing. I finally figured out that battery saver was on and disabled it... This really bothers me... I am starting to think we need a truly open source phone. That is hardware and software. like GNU/phone or something. We must have full control over our hardware and software! Viva La Gnu! (no clue what this actuall…

I’ll just leave this here: https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5/

the irony that a product which top feature is literally "Does not run Google Android" serves their javascript from google cdn :)

...also the fact that they have boot up sound means that they are not focusing on user experience and needs, but on copying any and all features from the current phones :(

Re: Google activated battery saving mode on multiple phones, then rolled it back

#22

Post by pritambaral »

ehsankia wrote: post #19

What a misleading, fake title. Honestly disappointing coming form HackerNews... The post quite literally says it's an experiment, accidentally enabled. A bug. Literally an A/B test, which they do all the time. The title makes it sound like they hacked in your phone. With that logic, any time your apps update or you get a notification, you're getting hacked.

> What a misleading, fake title.

The title is accurate. The Google account linked to says just as much.

> The post quite literally says it's an experiment, accidentally enabled. A bug.

And this can be accurate too, without being in conflict with any claim in the title.

> Literally an A/B test, which they do all the time.

On accounts enrolled into beta programs. Not on regular accounts. This one happened to phones with only regular accounts.

> The title makes it sound like they hacked in your phone.

The title makes it sound — at best — as if it was unexpected. Which it was. The title does not make it sound like they "hacked in your phone". Perhaps you're reading some outrage in the title that isn't there.

Re: Google activated battery saving mode on multiple phones, then rolled it back

#23

Post by kkarakk »

ardy42 wrote: post #12
ehsankia wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you even read the post? It was a bug... They do A/B testing and experiments all the time. What's up with hackernews and going full technopanic at the smallest most benign things. It's not like someone at Google hacked into your phone and turned battery saver off.

>> That is unsettling that they can remotely manipulate your phone without your permission. > Did you even read the post? It was a bug... They do A/B testing and experiments all the time. What's up with hackernews and going full technopanic at the smallest most benign things. It's not like someone at Google hacked into your phone and turned battery saver off. I'm sure he did read the post. For Google to perform A/B e…

obvious iphone user - google play services has full control of your phone. find your phone on android works because of this. if you don't trust google you CAN use the phone without google play services(you have to jump through some hoops like with everything privacy related)

Re: Google activated battery saving mode on multiple phones, then rolled it back

#24

Post by [deleted] »

ehsankia wrote: post #19

What a misleading, fake title. Honestly disappointing coming form HackerNews... The post quite literally says it's an experiment, accidentally enabled. A bug. Literally an A/B test, which they do all the time. The title makes it sound like they hacked in your phone. With that logic, any time your apps update or you get a notification, you're getting hacked.

[deleted]

Re: Google activated battery saving mode on multiple phones, then rolled it back

#25

Post by muks »

9935c101ab17a66 wrote: post #20
muks wrote: post #16

After my Samsung Galaxy S7 phone started having hardware issues, I looked to see if a phone running open source software was available, one that also could run the Android apps I currently use. I've had sucess with LineageOS 15.1 on a Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro (codename "whyred"). Unfortunately the phone's LTE bands don't support every country, but it works fine here in India. The phone hardware costs USD 210 and buys…

Fully aware this might be a silly question, but why do they make you wait, and why does the time period vary so greatly?

Waiting is inconvenient to buyers and to explain it away, Xiaomi provide some silly reasons such as saying they are trying to thwart sideloading of apps and custom ROMs by resellers, that does nefarious things like steal data... it's a silly excuse, and the wait time inconveniences buyers who want to unlock and install custom ROMs.

Edit: I suspect Xiaomi do this to keep you using MIUI as long as possible because they make money from showing ads in various parts of the system, and also sync your data back to their cloud which probably is resold in some derived form to advertisers. In my opinion, MIUI sucks. MIUI vs. LineageOS proved it is the phone OS (software) which influences how much a person likes a phone, rather than the hardware.

They've recently increased the wait time from 2 weeks to 2 months which had buyers complaining loudly on forums. So for their newest device (the Pocophone) they reduced the wait time to about 3 days. But I think the long wait times still exist for other phone models.

The wait time depends on Xiaomi's mood-of-the-day. They keep fluctuating it.

Re: Google activated battery saving mode on multiple phones, then rolled it back

#27

Post by moetech »

sandebert wrote: post #5
Rotdhizon wrote: post #2

Could they face repercussions over this? That is unsettling that they can remotely manipulate your phone without your permission.

I wouldn't be surprised if both Google and Apple could do whatever they want with our phones remotely. It's just that they usually don't, so we never see it.

They can't if you're running Lineage OS.

Re: Google activated battery saving mode on multiple phones, then rolled it back

#28

Post by sergiotapia »

ehsankia wrote: post #19

What a misleading, fake title. Honestly disappointing coming form HackerNews... The post quite literally says it's an experiment, accidentally enabled. A bug. Literally an A/B test, which they do all the time. The title makes it sound like they hacked in your phone. With that logic, any time your apps update or you get a notification, you're getting hacked.

Nobody here is talking about intent. They're just talking about Google's ability to do it. Who cares if they "didn't mean it".

Re: Google activated battery saving mode on multiple phones, then rolled it back

#29

Post by laserBro13Fcali »

ehsankia wrote: post #10
013a wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this for real? Was it deleted specifically on Google Photos, with a local copy still available or possibly available if it hadn't already been cleared locally? Or was it a legitimate "reach into local storage and clear it"?

I'd be wary of believing some random anecdotal story with absolutely zero proof and very little detail.

  anecdotal story with absolutely zero proof
If you lack real control over your device, "absolutely zero proof" is the new normal, and everything that gets zeroed out of RAM is rendered anecdotal thusly.

Re: Google activated battery saving mode on multiple phones, then rolled it back

#30

Post by taneq »

muks wrote: post #16

After my Samsung Galaxy S7 phone started having hardware issues, I looked to see if a phone running open source software was available, one that also could run the Android apps I currently use. I've had sucess with LineageOS 15.1 on a Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro (codename "whyred"). Unfortunately the phone's LTE bands don't support every country, but it works fine here in India. The phone hardware costs USD 210 and buys…

I've been running LineageOS (on Nexus 5X, then Galaxy S7, now Nexus 5X again) since it was Cyanogenmod. It pains me to say it but it seems to be getting steadily worse. The first install after the Cyanogenmod fork was perfect for two years until I broke the phone. I then got a Galaxy S7 and it was fine initially but an update introduced a bug which made it drop calls randomly. It took a couple of months of updates not helping before I wiped it and went back to the first ROM which worked perfectly. Now I'm back on a Nexus 5X again and there's an intermittent problem with voice calls where the sound goes quiet/muddy, and just in the past couple of weeks they broke Bluetooth music streaming (the music app crashes and needs to be manually restarted - which is great when you've hopped in the car and started driving!)

When I have time I'm going right back to 14.1 in the hope that that fixes it.

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