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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…
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It's your phone, and you voluntarily allowed Google to control it. I didn't want Google to control my phone, so I installed LineageOS.
Without GApps?
If you mainly use a browser (Firefox, hopefully) and some messaging & mapping apps, works great.
If you want to use other apps, you'll have to do more testing.
Could they face repercussions over this? That is unsettling that they can remotely manipulate your phone without your permission.
Most people buy Google phones specifically because they want Google to remotely manipulate their phones as quickly as possible with the latest Candy-named software. It's an in-demand feature.
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I guess it depends on how you view your phone. Is it your phone or is it Googles phone that they can update with whatever software and settings they want to. The same debate is around Windows 10. Some people are fine with Microsoft getting a stream of privacy data from them. Others feel it's their device, not Microsofts.
It's your phone, and you voluntarily allowed Google to control it. I didn't want Google to control my phone, so I installed LineageOS.
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You've put into words exactly what I was thinking. From the thread: "Ok, but how is it that you have the power to control our phones this way? " Christ buddy. You have a phone thats made by Google. Google, the company that tracks you everywhere and rolls greenfield updates on all their other software. And then this person says they're going to turn 'allow modify system settings' off... What do these people seriously…
I think people with a Google phone should just implant a chip in their arm, reporting to Google. It's basically the same thing, and you can view your body information on a Google dashboard and get Google advice on health care, along with a Google map to get there.
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…
What you're actually looking for is a phone where you manually initiate updates, and where it's guaranteed that change in behavior (e.g. theough experiments) can only be controlled through the device and not remotely.
With OS it's more likely to get that, but not guaranteed.
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.
The title is: "Google remotely activated battery saving more on multiple people's phone today", which they did (saw it on my own 2XL). That's it. That's a fact. There's no mentions of Google hacking anybody's phone.
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It would take someone with reasonable technical skills to install LineageOS as it involves unlocking the phone's bootloader (depending on the choice of phone hardware), working around any anti-rollback features by flashing, flashing TWRP recovery, and then boot into TWRP and install LineageOS, GApps and Magisk (if you want root). But the OS once installed can be used by all. Take my non-technical cousin for example w…
Well beyond reason to assume something pedestrian for you - a developer - to be "reasonable skills" for the average Joe. Do you build your own car? Or bike? Or home? Or even mattress? All of these can be done with reasonable skills, they aren't because you pay for a finished product, in most cases, for the economy to remain productive. No one ever said 'reinvent the wheel' for making progress.
It is not to keep the economy productive. That is an artifact of real value.
And, "keeping the economy productive" can mean making things for people that seem like they have value, but maybe break early, or have some catch.
Just saying..