One thing I have yet to understand and maybe I am missing something is that why is there no web-only OS for mobile? Something which literally is based on websites only and there's no concept of apps. Is there something like this which can be installed on an Android phone?
The Search for a Free/Open Source Mobile Operating System
101–110 of 156 posts
Re: The Search for a Free/Open Source Mobile Operating System
#102I’m bummed to hear about a bad experience with the Librem phone- I was hoping that would be a better experience than I had with the PinePhone which was slow and essentially broken for calling and camera usage. It may have improved since last year but at the time calls would rarely work properly, either by not connecting, failing to interrupt the session properly, or have latent echo of one or both sides of the call.…
The LibreM phone is just too darn chunky and heavy. I didn't get into details in the article, but I do on the Fediverse: https://emacsen.net/@emacsen/106811743118755156
Why do you spell it “LibreM”?
In the article, you simply say it’s “I find the hardware too clumsy and heavy”, and your fediverse text only complains about its thickness. However, it’s thinner than both the Nokia N990 and the older Nokia 9000.
Re: The Search for a Free/Open Source Mobile Operating System
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
How are cross-distro Linux app packages looking these days? Not so much the packaging aspect but the sandbox environment they set up to run third-party apps in peace. Is this something librem is working on?
I would expect lots of mobile apps to ship via Flatpak these days.
Does flatpak create a sandbox comparable to iOS?
Re: The Search for a Free/Open Source Mobile Operating System
#104Switched to GrapheneOS with the Pixel 5. Email/Calendar integration works fine (K-9 Mail). Signal as instant messenger. Organic Maps as Map application. Replaced Apple Watch with GadgetBridge and a Mi 6 band (cheaper and I have easy access to all data, you need to sync once with their app after you get the key you can delete it ... did the setup on the iphone and copied out the key with a commandline python script fr…
Though not FOSS, Magic Earth is a good OSM based car navigation app that respects privacy. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.generalmag...
Why not Osmand? It's FOSS, a bit complex though.
Re: The Search for a Free/Open Source Mobile Operating System
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
My favourite thing about the pixel 5 is the camera. I understand that they do a fair amount of software processing to make it so good. And most other apps don't let me use the wide lens. Is the experience as good on Graphene?
You can use Google's camera application, which is optimized for the Pixels of course. I think it will probably work with the new sandboxed play services implementation, but there is a simpler way: https://github.com/lukaspieper/Gcam-Services-Provider This is a stub implementation of what gcam needs and it works great. I believe, independent of sandboxed play services, GrapheneOS team plans to implement stub play serv…
Hi, thanks for the tip. I have a Pixel 4 XL, do you know where could I find Google's camera app (obviously without connecting to the play store)?
Re: The Search for a Free/Open Source Mobile Operating System
#106Like the author, I've tried a ton of open source handheld platforms, and I've recently moved to CalyxOS for my daily driver. (And about to sell a box o' devices to help cost-justify buying a second Pixel for a backup CalyxOS device.) As Android devices go, CalyxOS seems a good choice, if you're willing to not have all the Google service conveniences. I actually found some of the UX smoother than on iPhone, and e-mail…
Honestly, I don't understand the selling point of CalyxOS over LineageOS. Can you explain the differences? The website just seems to be a little mumble about Privacy without explaining the technological differences. As a daily driver, I'd recommend a setup of an official LineageOS device, combined with a set of Apps to increase the level of privacy: - AppWarden to check for trackers and loggers - RethinkDNS as a VPN…
I too was wondering why LineageOS's forks were being discussed but not LineageOS itself, I assumed the author had made some remarks on it but after reading the article it seems the author made no attempts to explain why forks of LineageOS were chosen over itself.
I'm all in for android forks, I strongly believe improvements in such forks can be up-streamed for the benefit of the entire ecosystem but I'm yet to see a valid justification for recommending something other than LineageOS for someone new to aftermarket android scene.
Re: The Search for a Free/Open Source Mobile Operating System
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
Beware of Signal: it depends on the proprietary Google Play Services library, so even if you don't have the Play Services on your phone, the app is built with the "client-side" code which speaks with it (or with microG) and checks for its presence. FreeSignal was a project that aimed to remove this dependency completely but was stopped by the main developer of Signal. It is possible to clone Signal's repo and do this…
What's the problem there? If the code is there but not executed, and no data is sent to Google, is there any risk as a user?
It is executed to test the presence of the Google Play Services on the phone when the app is launched.
Then, it's probably not risky, but it is still proprietary code that you can't inspect and verify. You can't easily know if the library will not silently do something. If you are seeking to avoid running any proprietary code, then it's something you want to avoid.
Re: The Search for a Free/Open Source Mobile Operating System
#108Like the author, I've tried a ton of open source handheld platforms, and I've recently moved to CalyxOS for my daily driver. (And about to sell a box o' devices to help cost-justify buying a second Pixel for a backup CalyxOS device.) As Android devices go, CalyxOS seems a good choice, if you're willing to not have all the Google service conveniences. I actually found some of the UX smoother than on iPhone, and e-mail…
> There also seems to be an additional barrier of US carriers imminently requiring VoLTE, and in some cases only allowlisting a small number of models. Is this all carriers, or just some? I know that AT&T is the main one since I'm affected by it (their whitelist arbitrarily removes my OnePlus 6 from being supported this February despite the phone supporting VoLTE), but I heard that other carriers such as T-Mobile are…
I want to say T-Mobile is requiring VoLTE (I recall discussion about this because it effectively mean the Nokia N900 cannot be used on T-Mobile or its NVMOs anymore).
I will comment that the Pinephone works with VoLTE on many carriers (I know it works with T-Mobile), and Purism is actively working on VoLTE for the Librem 5 (I remember seeing them actively working it a few months ago, so I guess they have it working now?).
Re: The Search for a Free/Open Source Mobile Operating System
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
Beware of Signal: it depends on the proprietary Google Play Services library, so even if you don't have the Play Services on your phone, the app is built with the "client-side" code which speaks with it (or with microG) and checks for its presence. FreeSignal was a project that aimed to remove this dependency completely but was stopped by the main developer of Signal. It is possible to clone Signal's repo and do this…
> Beware of Signal: it depends on the proprietary Google Play Services library, so even if you don't have the Play Services on your phone, the app is built with the "client-side" code which speaks with it (or with microG) and checks for its presence. That exposes client information to Google but not content. Besides, if my understanding is right, The Signal Protocol is non-repudiable, which means there's no way for a…
It probably exposes nothing at all to anyone if the Play Services are not on the phone or the relevant feature is not enabled on microG. But it is still a chunk of code that is partly run and that you don't control. It probably just does what it says (check if the service is present), but it is a black box.
Re: The Search for a Free/Open Source Mobile Operating System
#110Thanks for the Aurora rec. It works great. I needed few proprietary apps and was looking for a way to get google play apps without installing any google services or downloading apks from untrustworthy sites.