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Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send telemetry and preload ads

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Re: Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send telemetry and preload ads

#171

Post by asdfasgasdgasdg »

mdpm wrote: post #154
smt88 wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about LineageOS with a non-Google app store?

I've been trying to execute on this approach, as I'm very interested in checking out of the tracking-by-default ecosystems. We're using some Xiaomi devices we purchased, and I'm currently seething. I can't root without 'unlocking', which is a process that requires me to activate a Mi Account, which then requires my email and a SIM (?!), and 'find my device' (location) to even allow installation of apps via USB. To un…

This situation won't change until these companies are legally required to change, or until they have an economic incentive to do so. If even people like yourself who are interested in rooting don't bother to research the issue before making a purchasing decision, I don't have high hopes for the economic path. So the question is whether there is a sufficiently interested political constituency to get a law passed.

Re: Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send telemetry and preload ads

#172

Post by wongarsu »

smt88 wrote: post #142
luord wrote: post #93

Between this and Jeffrey Paul's article shared yesterday about Big Sur and Apple Silicon[1], it's becoming increasingly tempting to throw my phone away and keep using only Linux with no applications primarily developed by these giants (i.e. no Chromium, etc). Supporting initiatives like the Librem phone is also moving up in my list of priorities, once I get enough money to spare at least. [1]: https://news.ycombinato…

What about LineageOS with a non-Google app store?

If you have a supported device, LineageOS is great. But so far the ecosystem for non-Google apps stores is tiny. They exist in certain niches (most notably F-Droid for open source), but not using Google's Play store at all is a major downgrade of your experience.

Re: Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send telemetry and preload ads

#173

Post by javierseballos »

jhasse wrote: post #65
indymike wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows mobile wasn't going to change the world. That said, I'd love to see a real alternative to iOS and Android if for no reason than my phone is a very powerful, very real computer and I can't use it as such.

https://e.foundation

just please don't put this shit as a real alternative! Other ones mentionned all have their pros and cons imo but are worth the mention :)

Re: Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send telemetry and preload ads

#174

Post by Xelbair »

izacus wrote: post #15

> Under active use, Android devices transfer about 11.6MB of data to Google servers daily, or 350MB per month, it's claimed, which is about half the amount transferred by an iPhone. Interesting, so 350MB of data per month is abuse, iPhones 175MB per month isn't. I guess Google now has to half their data use for it to be at parity with Apple and we're all fine?

even a single bit is too much as long as it wasn't opt-in.

Re: Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send telemetry and preload ads

#175

Post by martinald »

cstross wrote: post #137
martinald wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW, both Vodafone and EE offer good deals for Canada roaming. EE includes Canada roaming in many of their plans (or its £10/month extra to add it). Vodafone also includes it in some of their plans or it's £6/day if not.

I use Three because apart from Canada their international roaming deals are way better for my purposes (as in: free all-I-can-eat data in almost all the countries I visit). The problem is the holes in the network of bilateral roaming agreements between carriers, which are deliberately opaque to customers.

If you do a lot of travelling Vodafone is usually better. Global Roaming Plus (https://www.vodafone.co.uk/cs/groups/public/documents/webcon...) covers more destinations than 3 'inclusive' and nearly every country in the world outside of that is £6/day. Whereas with 3 you're stuck back to £10/MB nonsense if you go outside of their roaming countries.

Re: Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send telemetry and preload ads

#176

Post by dimator »

smt88 wrote: post #142
luord wrote: post #93

Between this and Jeffrey Paul's article shared yesterday about Big Sur and Apple Silicon[1], it's becoming increasingly tempting to throw my phone away and keep using only Linux with no applications primarily developed by these giants (i.e. no Chromium, etc). Supporting initiatives like the Librem phone is also moving up in my list of priorities, once I get enough money to spare at least. [1]: https://news.ycombinato…

What about LineageOS with a non-Google app store?

I've been trying this, and let me tell you, the user experience is absolutely terrible.

The Play store and what it gives you is incredibly hard to live without, unless you really just want to use your phone for texting, browsing, and calling. If you're a minimalist, then great. If you're accustomed to what a smartphone can do, not so great.

The alternative app stores are full of unimpressive, small scale apps. Dozens of calculators and little games, but no maps apps (of worth), no yelps, no IMDb (which I use often), no Sheets or Photos, the list is huge. I'm sorry but these apps make a smartphone worthwhile.

To avoid such a spartan experience, I ended up just installing microG (an open source replacement for Google's Play Services) and Aurora (a replacement Play store client, which allows me to install most apps from the Play store).

The problem is that most modern apps require a mammoth cloud backend, which costs big money to run, which means you're going to need a huge company running it. You'll never find big scale apps like this on F-droid.

Re: Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send telemetry and preload ads

#177

Post by andysch »

mdpm wrote: post #154
smt88 wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about LineageOS with a non-Google app store?

I've been trying to execute on this approach, as I'm very interested in checking out of the tracking-by-default ecosystems. We're using some Xiaomi devices we purchased, and I'm currently seething. I can't root without 'unlocking', which is a process that requires me to activate a Mi Account, which then requires my email and a SIM (?!), and 'find my device' (location) to even allow installation of apps via USB. To un…

yea it's so annoying to unlock the bootloader on Mi phones.. Samsungs are less a pain

Re: Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send telemetry and preload ads

#178

Post by andysch »

meowfly wrote: post #156
smt88 wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about LineageOS with a non-Google app store?

I'm currently using LineageOS and I'm not going to use it in the future. The issue I have is that unlocking my phone creates a security trade off that doesn't seem better than the privacy gains. I'm more afraid of losing my phone and someone replaces the bootloader than I am of telemetry. I really have enjoyed the LineageOS and it's been great to have a phone that isn't as dumb as a flip phone but doesn't have all th…

Well what's wrong with a bootloader unlocked if your device is encrypted?

Re: Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send telemetry and preload ads

#179

Post by larntz »

windsurfer wrote: post #157
dogma1138 wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Linux high end phones will never be a reality, at least not what people here would consider Linux at best you’ll get is Android or Android like OS. Other than that you’ll get low volume low end devices at high end or higher prices due to lack of economy of scale. What most consumers actually want and I’ll put in that list also many many people that say they want a “Linux Phone” but in reality will go back to their iP…

I'm currently using an Fxtec Pro1 [1], which has a respectable Snapdragon 835 and 6GB of ram. It was released last year with an older processor but compare the Geekbench scores to the "High end" new Pixel 5 [2]. It unofficially supports quite a few distributions of Linux including Ubports Ubuntu Touch, Sailfish OS, and LineageOS. Official support for Ubuntu Touch and LineageOS is coming next month. It's a niche devic…

This looks very interesting! Headphone jack and everything!

I have an Pixel2 and was thinking I'd get an iPhone next, but I'm really turned off by Apple's behaviour lately. I also don't want to send more money to Google.

I'm willing to accept that it may not be as polished as the big players, but how would you say it compares to other high-end Android phones?

And if you've tried running linux on it is it usable with reliable call quality?

Re: Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send telemetry and preload ads

#180

Post by nunodonato »

luord wrote: post #93

Between this and Jeffrey Paul's article shared yesterday about Big Sur and Apple Silicon[1], it's becoming increasingly tempting to throw my phone away and keep using only Linux with no applications primarily developed by these giants (i.e. no Chromium, etc). Supporting initiatives like the Librem phone is also moving up in my list of priorities, once I get enough money to spare at least. [1]: https://news.ycombinato…

same with me. I'm buying a new phone soon due to mine being too old and slow. Librem seems like a great choice, even though it still has a quite good share of bugs... but I need to support this effort. It's sad the lack of alternatives
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