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Ask HN: What Apple alternatives are you switching to?

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Re: Ask HN: What Apple alternatives are you switching to?

#103
I don’t care anymore. Actually I do, but I’m exhausted.

However if I buy a new laptop, with or without CSAM, it won’t be a Mac. I would wish for a Framework kinda thing here (with local service), but since that’s not gonna happen - ASUS it would be most probably, with ElementaryOS on it (or some distro like that - non ugly and kinda simple looking).

It feels like WhatsApp —> Signal brouhaha all over again. After trying to get my contacts on Signal for 7-8 months and having deleted WhatsApp I’m back to it after my own struggles with Signal.

So no, not again. My next phone (if my iPhone 7 dies on me) will be an iPhone 12 Mini (or a 13 variant that’s around same size and cost) probably. Because that’s the only new phone that still bloody fits in my palm. After that? I’ll see.

Re: Ask HN: What Apple alternatives are you switching to?

#104
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google has been scanning photos for CSAM for... what, almost a decade now? Also, as an iPhone user, contrary to the recent Hacker News fight, I actually view this CSAM scanning with a sign of hope, because this hints that we could get end-to-end encryption on iCloud Storage. The CSAM scanning is rumored to be just a prerequisite to get the government to shut up with their biggest critique of E2E, so that Apple can th…

Oh yes, I'm sure the FBI will be satisfied with using the backdoor to only find CSAM, they definitely will not use the access for 'anti-terrorism' and drug enforcement. That sounds just like the FBI. What good is E2E encryption when they can scan your client with a backdoor? All Apple is doing with this hashing is giving themselves plausible deniability when this access gets abused down the road. "Oh we didn't know t…

E2E with some scanning at the onramp is still much better than no E2E. If iCloud was compromised, your data is still safe, among many other reasons. If the US Military physically raided the data center and carted out all the hard drives, my data would still be secure. It's still a better alternative. It's not perfect by any stretch, but it's better than what we have now.

Also you are aware Google Photos, Facebook, etc. do scanning anyway and have for almost a decade?

Re: Ask HN: What Apple alternatives are you switching to?

#105
post #20

For those studying MacBook alternatives, I think the most underrated “serious” notebook computer in the world is the Panasonic Letsnote SX/SV. Matte screen that actually works outdoors, removable long-life battery, unassuming vintage design (“let’s not rob that guy, he can’t even afford a new computer”). I haven’t investigated the Linuxability of this thing yet, but it’s super-light and impressive as a mosh terminal…

This will probally be my next laptop.

I like the retro look. I had a Panasonic years ago and adored it. It was huge, but did everything, even had a tv tuner. And it was easy to work on. Used it 10 plus years.

Re: Ask HN: What Apple alternatives are you switching to?

#106
post #58

It should be obvious that anyone who says “I’m concerned about privacy, so I’m going to switch to using Google products!” is not a serious person. If you’re actually going to switch to using open source hardware phones and whatnot, then good luck I guess. I can see where more progress in that area would lead to general improvements, so it’s not entirely tilting at windmills.

> anyone who says “I’m concerned about privacy, so I’m going to switch to using Google products!” is not a serious person

Amen to that !

To modestly paraphrase an old saying....

With Apple, you buy the product. With Google, you are the product.

Re: Ask HN: What Apple alternatives are you switching to?

#107

To be honest... None. It's a choice. You might wholly disagree, but recent events aren't enough to get me to switch yet, because I think the competition has too many tradeoffs. I can get my photos scanned against a CSAM database... or I can have Google tracking my location constantly regardless of what they say (as they've been proven to be misleading in the past)... or I can use a Linux phone and say goodbye to batt…

There are plenty of Android flavours that don't have Google apps, like https://lineage.microg.org/ In my limited experience so far, LineageOS works much better than it used to on my HTC Desire. Battery life has been better than any of my iPhones (3G, 4S, 5S, 7 and XS) ever had. That said, if I had to chose between a Google Android phone and an Apple phone, I'd still pick the Apple one. Luckily there are more choices…

I haven't used Android as a daily phone since the EVO (I know, its been a while). One issue I had with Android and custom firmware was the time involved. Being on a computer all day, and often times at night, having to deal with tech support issues on my device is a hard stop (for me, personally, plenty of people love it).

That's the nice part of Apple's ecosystem - its pretty simple and requires minimum intervention.

Re: Ask HN: What Apple alternatives are you switching to?

#108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly, I think people are just getting a little too worked up over this whole thing. Apple computes a hash of each image you upload to iCloud then check it against a list of CP hashes. Of all the things in the world to get worked up over, this is ridiculous. I get it, the mechanism they're using has apparent flaws, and maybe some whacko could somehow get access to your phone and start uploading things that trick th…

Apple hashes all of your photos offline and then pinky promises to only check the hashes against the official on phone database when the user initiated an upload. The problem isn’t about wackos it’s about governments forcing Apple to do things with this new weapon

Every other cloud storage provider has implemented scanning since 2011-2013.

Re: Ask HN: What Apple alternatives are you switching to?

#109

To be honest... None. It's a choice. You might wholly disagree, but recent events aren't enough to get me to switch yet, because I think the competition has too many tradeoffs. I can get my photos scanned against a CSAM database... or I can have Google tracking my location constantly regardless of what they say (as they've been proven to be misleading in the past)... or I can use a Linux phone and say goodbye to batt…

I'm reasonably confident that Google listens to every conversation I have within earshot of my phone. It isn't uncommon to find things in my news feed that are related to things I have no interest in but a friend or coworker had just mentioned to me in passing.

What do you say about the people who have tested this and found nothing?

Re: Ask HN: What Apple alternatives are you switching to?

#110
post #50

Desktop: Arch Linux Phone: Pinephone At the end of this article: https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7e77y/the-dollar149-smartph... "But even without those changes, this device could be enough to kickstart a Linux-driven mobile revolution."

> Phone: Pinephone

Talking as a Pinephone (and iPhone 12) owner, I think the software is starting to show promise, but the SoC is nowhere beefy enough.

If I’ll go this route fully and make a Linux-phone my daily driver, I’d seriously consider the Purism Librem 5 instead.

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