/e/ docs say it uses Android keyboard, wouldn't that be a source of a data leak?
Review of /e/ – Android-based alternative for mobile phones
121–130 of 245 posts
Re: Review of /e/ – Android-based alternative for mobile phones
#122"We are making a mobile phone ecosystem that lets users escape the permanent and industrial harvesting of their personal data." I have never heard any normal person ever talk about data privacy. It feels like there's this giant bubble that the tech world lives in, and they are the only people who care about this issue.
0xbadcafebee:
> I have never heard any normal person ever talk about data privacy. It feels like there's this giant bubble that the tech world lives in, and they are the only people who care about this issue.
Honestly, I don't know if I've just missed your irony here, or if you don't realize there are lots of 'normal' people out there who have been thinking about this since like... the 50s of last century or something? Most certainly, they were talking about it (freely that is) since at least the 90s of the same century. Like, people who grew up under a totalitarian regime which could assign spies to eavesdrop and collect data on anyone, anywhere for any reason at all. Like the GDR for instance[1].
Re: Review of /e/ – Android-based alternative for mobile phones
#123/e/ docs say it uses Android keyboard, wouldn't that be a source of a data leak?
The "Android Keyboard (AOSP)"[1] in /e/ is a fork of the LineageOS keyboard.[2] Neither of these keyboards have network access.
This is different from the keyboards that are preloaded on some Android phones, such as Gboard and Samsung Keyboard, which do connect to the internet.
[1] https://gitlab.e.foundation/e/os/android_packages_inputmetho...
[2] https://github.com/LineageOS/android_packages_inputmethods_L...
Re: Review of /e/ – Android-based alternative for mobile phones
#124Calling 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.
The problem with Android based "alternatives" is Googles licensing. The licensing agreements for Googles apps require that Google gets to decide which android forks device manufacturers are allowed to sell if they don't want to be completely cut of from Googles ecosystem. So if you actually plan to use it for anything bigger you wont even be able to find a manufacturer willing to touch it, even Amazon had problems getting the Kindle produced. Any attempt to de google Android will be stuck as a niche product for enthusiasts.
Re: Review of /e/ – Android-based alternative for mobile phones
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
What does it matter for, exactly? It matters if you equate success with total domination, or think that something is only worth doing if it can create a huge gathering of people blindly supporting it. What if we simply don't care about that? Here we have a system that works well, that can do all the things that I need and that respects my freedoms. I've mentioned it to other people already, all of them simply said "o…
From /e/'s website: > Our mission: make technology that respects user privacy accessible to everyone. https://e.foundation/about-e/ I don't think it's unreasonable to suggest that /e/ should rebrand itself, if the new name makes /e/ more accessible to potential users who are searching for it. Good marketing doesn't necessarily mean "total domination", but it can help /e/ fulfill its mission by extending its reach.
Being accessible has nothing to do with being popular.
> I don't think it's unreasonable to suggest that /e/ should rebrand itself
Unreasonable, it is not. It is just vapid bike shedding. It is the kind of discussion topic that I would expect from corporate MBA types and useless hacks who never built anything in their lives, not something worthy of so many comments here.
Re: Review of /e/ – Android-based alternative for mobile phones
#126When the title said "Android alternative", I was actually expecting an alternative OS (like Sailfish or Ubuntu Touch), not a mere LineageOS fork. That's like calling Ubuntu a "Linux alternative".
It's closer to calling Rocky Linux an alternative to RHEL.
Re: Review of /e/ – Android-based alternative for mobile phones
#127I feel like I wouldn't use this based on the name alone. How do I say it? forward slash ee forward slash? I don't understand why anyone would think it was a good idea to name it this!
I thought it might be referencing an upside down G.
Re: Review of /e/ – Android-based alternative for mobile phones
#128I have been using LOS since 17.1 on OP3T and OP6. How would my experience with /e/ differ?
How are you using Google services on LineageOS now? Do you have microG preinstalled (LineageOS for microG)[1], did you install GApps, or are you not using Google services at all?
/e/ has microG installed, just like LineageOS for microG. Compared to the proprietary Google Play Services in GApps, microG is a FOSS library that allows apps to access Google services. microG lets you selectively enable/disable push notification access for individual apps that depend on Google's Firebase Cloud Messaging, and also lets you choose a location provider other than Google. On the other hand, microG is not compatible with all apps that depend on Google Play Services. For example, Android Auto and Google Pay are not supported.
Also, /e/ and LineageOS support different versions for different devices. Since LineageOS supports Android 12 on OnePlus 6T,[2] while /e/ has that device on Android 11 (R),[3] LineageOS for microG may be a better choice on that device. Both /e/ and LineageOS support Android 11 on the OnePlus 3T.[4][5]
[1] https://lineage.microg.org
[2] https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/enchilada/
[3] https://doc.e.foundation/devices/enchilada
Re: Review of /e/ – Android-based alternative for mobile phones
#129I have used /e/ as my main phone for 1 year - and I am a heavy user. It’s a bliss! I also got a phone with /e/ installed on it for my 73 years old mother. She loved it. It’s really surprising to see how the bigtech monopoly has nothing to do with the quality of their services, but everything with their unfair practices - Microsoft yesterday, Google today.
pretty much the same story for me. started 3 years ago, and got a phone for my 70 year old mother almost two years ago. she gets help to install new apps, but otherwise it works just fine for her.
And it’s « stable ». I mean it works and will keep on working for years.
Re: Review of /e/ – Android-based alternative for mobile phones
#130From 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…
It suffers from the same problem as all other Android forks: no updates to binary blobs that actually make phone a phone.