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DuckDuckGo Is Now a Default Search Engine Option on Android in the EU

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101–110 of 233 posts

Re: DuckDuckGo Is Now a Default Search Engine Option on Android in the EU

#101
post #93

I personally hope DDG is going to namechange soon. I don't hate their name, but if you present the user with a choice of - Google - DuckDuckGo - Yandex Why would he click the "silly" option besides humor. It's a bad brand name IMO

Yes, whenever I bring it up to friends the response is ridicule.

Re: DuckDuckGo Is Now a Default Search Engine Option on Android in the EU

#102

It's somehow funny to see that Bing search results are so successful when packaged with privacy in mind into DuckDuckGo. I don't like bing search results, especially for Europe. They are just bad for many local things. The only other search engine beside Google which is interesting and surprising for me is maybe Yandex. It's also not as good as Google in (most of) Europe but it's interesting to see that many things a…

When I was in Russia, I was constantly surprised by the quality of Yandex's services. Their map data was far superior to Google Maps and their cab app felt better than Uber.

Re: DuckDuckGo Is Now a Default Search Engine Option on Android in the EU

#104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean? I am on iPhone 11 and my browser is Firefox, my email app is AirMail, my main messaging app is WhatsApp and I get all my directions from Google Maps (planning on switching to an alternative in the near future).

But Firefox (and Chrome) on iOS are using the Safari rendering engine right? Or did that change? Also, he said ‘default’; Siri etc still opens Safari or iOS Maps instead of Chrome or Google maps even though I never use Safari or Apple maps. You cannot change that or can you?

No you definitely cannot. I use FF on iOS and it doesn't really bother me but in the rare event when I am opening links outside of FF (email etc.) then Safari pops open.

Same with Maps.

Re: DuckDuckGo Is Now a Default Search Engine Option on Android in the EU

#105

How is Apple getting away with iOS? Unlike Android, you cannot cannot change the default browser, maps, messaging apps or anything.

My take is it's a consequence of their vertical integration. Maybe they saw all along, by not even allowing the option to change, there's no way they could be forced to present a rolodex of possible choices - since there's only one choice that works. You always had the choice with Android, it just had a default. That didn't smell good to regulators in the EU, and they saw an easy option out of that. Telling Apple to…

As a past Android user (still trying the new flagships out at stores every year) I find myself to just not be bothered by many "issues" in iOS proclaimed by Android users.

Default browser not Firefox? Meh... it barely even happens that Safari pops open despite me using FF all the time. It's a complete non-issue for me. Others may find it more annoying but the OS is 10x more fluid and better to use. The only Android I have seen come close is Huawei's which I prefer over stock/vanilla (but would never buy due to China). Samsung/LG etc. are a laggy mess out of factory although Samsung has improved with OneUI 2.

Re: DuckDuckGo Is Now a Default Search Engine Option on Android in the EU

#106

It's somehow funny to see that Bing search results are so successful when packaged with privacy in mind into DuckDuckGo. I don't like bing search results, especially for Europe. They are just bad for many local things. The only other search engine beside Google which is interesting and surprising for me is maybe Yandex. It's also not as good as Google in (most of) Europe but it's interesting to see that many things a…

I suffer through DDG to avoid Google, but it's not pretty. Especially for terms with ambiguous meaning, DDG just performs way worse than Google. For example, the tensorflow terminology for reducing dimensionality is "squeeze" and the scipy Gaussian distributing is called "normal". A DDG query for "python squeeze normal" shows me stuff about the animal. Google correctly infers that I want programming advice. I also re…

Just tried it in DDG the top 3 results for ‘python squeeze normal’ were for something called numpty.squeeze()

Re: DuckDuckGo Is Now a Default Search Engine Option on Android in the EU

#107
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As long as they don't alter the search results to give those links an advantage, I have no problem with them using affiliate links. It makes them money to absolutely no loss to me, right?

IMO there is a privacy loss to you. Amazon should not get to know what search engine you use.

They just see your referrer anyway, doesn’t really matter if they have affiliate tags or not.

Re: DuckDuckGo Is Now a Default Search Engine Option on Android in the EU

#108

How is Apple getting away with iOS? Unlike Android, you cannot cannot change the default browser, maps, messaging apps or anything.

Apple added DuckDuckGo as an option for the default search engine in iOS 8, over 5 years ago.

Re: DuckDuckGo Is Now a Default Search Engine Option on Android in the EU

#109
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's somehow funny to see that Bing search results are so successful when packaged with privacy in mind into DuckDuckGo. I'm kind of ambivalent about the privacy of DDG vs Bing (maybe I shouldn't be, but since I use DDG anyway, I haven't done the research) - I simply prefer the UI of DDG over Bing. > I don't like bing search results, especially for Europe. They are just bad for many local things. I wish Google was…

I live in Thailand and always get the Thai links first. Hate it because can't read Thai.

Shouldn't that change when you switch your region to "all regions" at the top of any results page?

That's my assumption at least, since my country isn't available as a region.

Re: DuckDuckGo Is Now a Default Search Engine Option on Android in the EU

#110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As long as they don't alter the search results to give those links an advantage, I have no problem with them using affiliate links. It makes them money to absolutely no loss to me, right?

If for convenience I search for "Amazon product X" on my browser bar instead of directly on Amazon, that means that in order for Amazon to generate a certain amount of profit on that product they also have to pay my search engine now, which means all other things equal, this costs me money. Of course in real life it's not that simple a situation but it's easy to see that everyone behaving like this ends up with the c…

>they also have to pay my search engine now, which means all other things equal, this costs me money.

Most customer focused companies could save a pretty sum of money by not advertising. Of cause it may hurt overall sales to not advertise.

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