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Review of /e/ – Android-based alternative for mobile phones

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Re: Review of /e/ – Android-based alternative for mobile phones

#91

Post by bornfreddy »

ReadTheLicense wrote: post #22
mrsteveman1 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I understand it: The Google related things that are excluded from AOSP are things that Google doesn't want them to be there, for whatever reason. The Google related things that are excluded from this project are things that users don't want them to be there at all, i.e. everything Google related.

My point is, there's practically nothing Google related in my phone already. I am going through the settings and apps and can't find anything. Is LineageOS special in this regard? I thought this is the common AOSP experience, I had it the same with other ROMs.

Are you sure about that? Running NetGuard reveals a lot of connections to G where one would not expect them (looking at you, Firefox, too). Also make sure you don't use 8.8.8.8 as DNS.

That said, /e/ is practically LineageOS, except you can buy it preinstalled on new phones.

Re: Review of /e/ – Android-based alternative for mobile phones

#92

Post by commoner »

squarefoot wrote: post #88

From the /e/ Foundation website: "The easy-installer beta version supports 15 devices" This is the #1 problem, but it's not /e/ developers fault, as supporting devices is a time consuming and costly activity, and the risk of bricking an expensive device is just too high for normal users to want to try. Manufacturers are to blame. It's not a technical problem but rather a political one; manufacturers should be forced…

I'd expect the installer to support more devices over time, since /e/ officially supports 269 devices:

https://support.e.foundation/devices

It's promising that more and more alternative Android distributions are offering installers to make them more accessible to average phone users. On the Linux phone side, even Ubuntu Touch has an installer that supports 81 devices: https://devices.ubuntu-touch.io/installer/

But, device manufacturers need to make bootloaders unlockable for these installers to work, and I agree that regulation is a practical way to make this happen. I can see Europe taking the lead on this with the goal of reducing e-waste by encouraging the reuse of old devices.

Re: Review of /e/ – Android-based alternative for mobile phones

#93

Post by rglullis »

evilos wrote: post #85
rglullis wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who said that is hard to find it? Is it hard compared to what ? How much does it cost (in times and resources) to make it "easier" to find it? The people working on it are doing it for free (as in, it cost me literally nothing to download and install /e/OS on my phone) and you think you still feel entitled to get "good marketing" on top of it? If you think that the product is lacking in some part, how about you CONTR…

It's like if your buddy created an awesome website that provided a great free service and then called it jflasdjfjasdfjkereifsd.yzy You'd wonder they shot themselves in the foot like that. It would've been easy to give it a good name but instead they severely limited the potential of their hard work for seemingly no reason. It's not entitlement, it is confusion. Also why are you so confrontational?

I don't need to type the address to use it. If the site is "awesome", I will use it regardless of the name.I DO NOT CARE ABOUT THE NAME, I care about what it does and what are the guiding principles.

I am confrontational because your "confusion" is just stupid concern trolling. Do you think that it is important to get more people to be less dependent on Big Tech? Then here is an operating system that works pretty well. This is what you need to be telling people, not how you think that the name is bad. Stop worrying about the "marketing", and just use and promote better alternatives. By being and acting self-conscious about something that does not matter, you are not collaborating at all.

Re: Review of /e/ – Android-based alternative for mobile phones

#94

Post by bornfreddy »

attah_ wrote: post #61

Calling it an alternative is an insult against actual alternatives. It's still Android, just less googly.

Cool, except... What alternatives are there? With the caveat that phone calls (roaming too), SMS and mobile data must work reliably. Is there an alternative that provides this? Librem 5 maybe? Last I checked neither PinePhone nor Purism were there yet.

Re: Review of /e/ – Android-based alternative for mobile phones

#95

Post by commoner »

jqpabc123 wrote: post #90
ReadTheLicense wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My point is, there's practically nothing Google related in my phone already. I am going through the settings and apps and can't find anything. Is LineageOS special in this regard? I thought this is the common AOSP experience, I had it the same with other ROMs.

AOSP by itself still contacts Google --- without any additional apps or services installed. /e/OS has described were/how this occurs.

In case anyone missed it in TFA, here is /e/'s whitepaper on how they substitute and proxy Google services:

https://e.foundation/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/e-state-of-d... (PDF)

There's also an updated description of /e/ here: https://doc.e.foundation/what-s-e

Re: Review of /e/ – Android-based alternative for mobile phones

#96

Post by opan »

I'll never use a custom ROM that includes microg by default. LineageOS with no gapps of any kind is my preference. I can get apps from f-droid or even aurora store, and everything I need works. I don't want any google stuff on there, not even a slightly less sketchy version.

Re: Review of /e/ – Android-based alternative for mobile phones

#97

Post by fsflover »

thomaszander wrote: post #83
fsflover wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm using Pinephone as a daily driver (and waiting for Librem 5 to replace it) and avoid all proprietary Android apps. But you in principle can install them with Waydroid or Anbox. See also: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32396685 .

You can wait for the Librem 5 for a very long time, they haven't shipped any significant software update for a long time for mine and its in the state that if you turn on auto-suspend (i.e. don't always go at full 100% CPU) it freezes and needs a hard reboot. Linux on phone is still very much in the enthusiasts-only phase. Not for me, not for most. And I'm saying that as someone that is a KDE/Linux geek! Maybe that w…

I am well aware of the state of Librem 5 shipping. Every time they get the CPUs, they ship another banch of the phones: https://forums.puri.sm/t/estimate-your-librem-5-shipping/112....

Last I checked the forums, Librem 5 works for 10-12 hours on one charge, without suspend. This is mostly fine with me: it should survive a working day and one can buy a spare battery for emergencies. The work on suspend did not stop. Yes, I am undoubtedly an enthusiast.

Re: Review of /e/ – Android-based alternative for mobile phones

#98

Post by rglullis »

0xbadcafebee wrote: post #69
rglullis wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Relax, OP is just reaching for whatever rationalization they can get to continue sucking on Apple's tit.

That's a shitty comment man

What is shitty is this attitude of accepting the "solutions" sold by Big Tech and finding fault at whatever minuscule issue with the free alternatives.

What is shitty is being on HackerNews and seeing (presumably tech-savvy) people more worried about the product's name and "marketing" instead of discussing the system on its technical merits. Or seeing comments like yours that think that privacy is something that only concerns a "small bubble".

That is just not shitty, it is profoundly depressing.

Re: Review of /e/ – Android-based alternative for mobile phones

#99

Post by autoexec »

0xbadcafebee wrote: post #82
unethical_ban wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is your point? You're using loaded terms like "normal" to contrast with people who are tech hobbyists, and you sound as if it is bad for an organization to care about something moral if few people care for it.

Because it's like a trope now where a tech person builds a thing that bothers them but nobody else, and meanwhile most people are like "I just want to do X, why is it so hard". Like why does my Android phone take up 15GB just for system files? I care about having free space more than data privacy. Security would sure be nice too, seeing as I use banking apps from this thing. Call me crazy, but I think most people car…

> Call me crazy, but I think most people care less about Nike knowing what their shoe size is

They don't care because they don't understand. "Most people" think their shoe size or what ad they see doesn't matter because they're right, those things don't matter. What matters is that all of the data being collected about them will be used against them at every opportunity so that other people can get more money and power at their expense.

The data they give up will be increasingly used in every aspect of their lives. Restaurants will use it to decide how long to leave them waiting on hold when they call for a reservation. Employers will decide to hire them or not based on their purchase history, their health, or their political views. Stores will decide how much to charge them vs their neighbors for the exact same products.

The data they've been handing over will be used by corporations to extract more money from them. It will be used by by politicians who want to manipulate them and to create maps that will limit the ability for their votes to make any difference. It will be used by activists looking for people they can target for doing things they don't like. It will be used by law enforcement who will use that data against someone anytime they think it might help them make an arrest, or win a case in court. It will be used by their health insurance company to raise their rates when fast food spending in their zip code goes up.

The data "Most people" gave up thinking it was about shoe size and ads will be leveraged against them in countless ways by people they've never had any direct interaction with at all. The data never goes away and it ends up in the hands of hackers and data brokers who sell it to others. "Most people" aren't allowed to know who is accessing their data, how accurate that data is, how (or if) it is being secured, or what the people who have their data will be using it for.

Well, although they'll never be allowed to know specifically what their data will be used for, in a general sense they can be pretty sure it will be used to manipulate them, to categorize (and often miscategorize) them and to assign them a position in one or more unregulated digital caste systems that will increasingly limit their options and cause them to spend more money.

They don't care about data privacy now, but as more of them figure out that what they've been giving up is going to impact the rest of their life in ways they couldn't imagine they're going to start caring more and more.

Re: Review of /e/ – Android-based alternative for mobile phones

#100

Post by bornfreddy »

fsflover wrote: post #58
memling wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm using Pinephone as a daily driver What OS? Does MMS work out of the box for you?

Mobian. I'm not using MMS; according to [0], it's in beta state. [0] https://wiki.mobian-project.org/doku.php?id=pinephone

Can you share the current state with regards to basic functions (phone calls, SMS, mobile data)? Does it work reliably?
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