Fairphone 4
Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?
101–110 of 324 posts
Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?
#102The Pixel is the closest. The reason you don't see long term support on Android is because of Qualcomm. Qualcomm wants manufacturers to build on new chips, so they deprecate older chips and stop support. Most manufacturers don't want to hire kernel and hardware devs. Samsung can pull off longer support because of Exynos and they have a lot of inhouse expertise to extend support on old Qualcomm chips. It's all money.…
It's all money. They don't want you keeping a phone for 5 years.
Yes.
Hardware vendors love Open Source. It essentially cedes all control of the market to them.
They spend minimal time/money/effort on software development and updates because surprise, surprise --- it doesn't produce profits, it consumes them. Hardware is where they make all their money.
The only realistic way to get long term software support on Android is from Open Source. This means installing a replacement, 3rd party Open Source ROM. This is the first thing I do when I buy a new phone --- and I won't buy a phone that doesn't have good 3rd party support.
I have a Moto G4 Play from 2016 that gets regular software updates running e/OS. The last update was May 14th. This is my backup phone (I have a backup for everything that is considered "essential").
My primary phone is a Moto One 5G Ace (2021) which also has excellent support from e/OS and it's currently cheap as dirt considering the hardware specs. Only $129 from Amazon with 6GB RAM, 128GB storage, Snapdragon 765 processor, 2 day battery and microSD expansion.
If I accidentally leave it in an Uber or drop it in a toilet, it's sad but no big deal. I just switch to the backup until the replacement arrives. Try that with your $1000 iPhone.
Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?
#103Motorola does a pretty good job. Their "bloatware" is mostly the Moto app, which provides really handy and reliable gestures like a double "chop" to toggle flashlight, twisting the phone a few times to enable the camera, three-finger screenshot trigger, etc. Their phones are really solid but they do lag on OS updates, and their cameras are never good.
Came here to say pretty much exactly that. I've been on a series of moto G phones, from the 5 to my current G83. Good value, the moto app actually adds functionality without being a drag (or even mandatory to use). Cameras are always sub-par (partner has pixels, and I'm light years behind), although the latest is the least bad in comparison with her current phone. Current one has survived most of me building a home e…
> but only after I dropped it 12 feet onto a concrete floor
My brain went right to old Nokia phones and I thinking "Thank fuck it was a Motorola, back in the day you would have to had the foundations checked over if it had been an Nokia"
But yeah, Always been happy with Motorola G phones (bar the cvamera, but I'm not really a photo person anyway), I still have an old 2014 Moto G to test apps on old devices/Android.
Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree with everything you said about Fairphone, but their software support is decent when it comes for security updates (major Android versions upgrades are not guaranteed). They offer 5 years which is way better than average. Their track record is also good I would say. Fairphone 2 started with Android 5 and it currently offered Android 10 upgrade. https://support.fairphone.com/hc/en-us/articles/997918043739...
I've been exclusively on Fairphones since Fairphone 1. Recently switched from FairphoneOS (the stripped, bloatfree, google-free Android) back to stock Android¹ Its updates are fast, steady and consistently good (and improving). The FP1 is ten years old, and still works (though android there is EOL and old, and spare parts no longer available), my FP2 and an FP3 work fine, I can still get parts and Android isn't too o…
> The FP4 is top notch.
I think find the camera poor though. It takes passable pictures in good conditions. Do you have a better camera app that does a better job?
Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?
#105The Pixel is the closest. The reason you don't see long term support on Android is because of Qualcomm. Qualcomm wants manufacturers to build on new chips, so they deprecate older chips and stop support. Most manufacturers don't want to hire kernel and hardware devs. Samsung can pull off longer support because of Exynos and they have a lot of inhouse expertise to extend support on old Qualcomm chips. It's all money.…
It's all money. They don't want you keeping a phone for 5 years. Yes. Hardware vendors love Open Source. It essentially cedes all control of the market to them. They spend minimal time/money/effort on software development and updates because surprise, surprise --- it doesn't produce profits, it consumes them. Hardware is where they make all their money. The only realistic way to get long term software support on Andr…
You’re not getting the updated proprietary blobs for the chips.
You’re just getting an updated OS.
Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
I like a lot of the built-in Samsung apps.
In other words, Stock Android still isn't great. Samsung sometimes makes it better.
Yeah, I feel like I have only one complain (camera lag) otherwise a S-line Samsung is awesome (and better than iOS for me, though I'm using an iPhone at the moment because the camera is awesome).
People seem to forget how ugly it was in the Samsung S5 times...
Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?
#107The Pixel is the closest. The reason you don't see long term support on Android is because of Qualcomm. Qualcomm wants manufacturers to build on new chips, so they deprecate older chips and stop support. Most manufacturers don't want to hire kernel and hardware devs. Samsung can pull off longer support because of Exynos and they have a lot of inhouse expertise to extend support on old Qualcomm chips. It's all money.…
> The reason you don't see long term support on Android is because of Qualcomm. Qualcomm wants manufacturers to build on new chips
Apple and Google make money off you for as long as you use your phone. Qualcomm only makes money when you buy it. Thus, Qualcomm has little incentive to maintain old chips for long. Not because they are evil, that would be another conversation, but because they only make money off newly sold phones.
Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?
#108Honestly, the Pixel phones are probably the best compromise between your requirements. While Samsung gets slightly longer support, the bloatware, IMO, is just too much (depends on your definition of bloatware though). Plus the Pixels are first for latest Android and are generally well-supported with third-party ROMs (Lineage, Graphene, AOSP, etc). So my suggestion is the Pixels, (the "a" series for a less expensive c…
This may just be the Stockholm Syndrome talking as a longtime Samsung Galaxy user, but I've found it relatively easy to disable most of Samsung's bloatware (and to simply ignore whatever I can't disable). Nova Launcher + Gboard + re-mapping the Bixby button makes a huge difference right off the bat.
Also things like the Edge Panel clipboard are a game changer for power users - ie save two pieces of information from first app, open second app, paste the two just like you were in a Mac with Alfred or similar. I miss that every week on iOS...
Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?
#109Pretty happy with my 3+ year old Nokia 5.4. It's been pretty good at getting OS and security updates. Came with Google apps and no Samsung-style apps.
same here...nokia 5.3, upgraded to android 12 without issues...love it
Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's all money. They don't want you keeping a phone for 5 years. Yes. Hardware vendors love Open Source. It essentially cedes all control of the market to them. They spend minimal time/money/effort on software development and updates because surprise, surprise --- it doesn't produce profits, it consumes them. Hardware is where they make all their money. The only realistic way to get long term software support on Andr…
You’re not getting the updated proprietary blobs for the chips. You’re just getting an updated OS.
Which is better than nothing.