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Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?

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Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?

#111

Post by ThePowerOfFuet »

Chatter9220 wrote: post #46
laktak wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you run normal banking apps on graphne?

Yes you can! I do a lot of banking on GrapheneOS. You might want to check this site out to see if your bank app works though: https://privsec.dev/posts/android/banking-applications-compa... Even if your app isn't listed there, there's still a chance that it'll work. Mine isn't listed on that site, but it still works with no issues.

I will back this up by saying that all the banking apps (plural) I run on GrapheneOS run perfectly fine. I don't even have Google Play Services installed, either.

Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?

#112

Post by convalescindrey »

veave wrote: post #87
Daegalus wrote: post #10

The 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 the same reason Linux failed in the desktop: the Linux kernel developers want everything mainlined and are not interested in keeping a stable kernel API for drivers, but in the real world, drivers are closed source.

Oh right, it's those open source kernel guys. Has nothing to do with incentives to sell phones being aligned with business/profit (i.e. avoiding a phone to be usable well across the 5+ years mark).

Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?

#113

Post by convalescindrey »

jillesvangurp wrote: post #19

The short answer is no. There is the Google Pixel. But it has limited updates and proprietary software for things like the camera. That camera is really nice though and it's as close as the Android experience Google intended to ship because this basically is Google's version of Android. I have the Pixel 6 and it's fine. Nokia stays close to that but ships their own camera app. It too has limited updates that run out…

The panorama function of Open Camera is terrible, and I only keep using that app because I'm too lazy to find a suitable replacement.

Any suggestions?

Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?

#114

Post by uguuo_o »

ShamelessGenius wrote: post #61

I bought Pixel 7a and flashed GrapheneOS and running it without a single Google app. My experience has been pretty good so far.

This is the only combination I also went with, nothing else seemed acceptable on the android side. GrapheneOS has been fantastic, no Google apps.

Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?

#115

Post by tourmalinetaco »

veave wrote: post #87
Daegalus wrote: post #10

The 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 the same reason Linux failed in the desktop: the Linux kernel developers want everything mainlined and are not interested in keeping a stable kernel API for drivers, but in the real world, drivers are closed source.

> drivers are closed source

And that’s a problem that needs fixed. Out of any piece of software, the one that connects my hardware to my OS is probably one of the most important.

Although I find it dubious this alone is why Linux historically has failed at desktop. It certainly sucks to deal with, but at least people attempted to use Linux. Personally I would argue that people’s innate fear of change is the bigger problem, in my experience.

Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?

#116

Post by izacus »

Daegalus wrote: post #10

The 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.…

I'm seconding the Pixels - they're also pretty much the only phones that allow you to upload your own signing keys, so you can run Google-free GrapheneOS with secure boot enabled.

(Which is also nice for long term support.)

Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?

#117

Post by agent008t »

djaychela wrote: post #98
pyrelight wrote: post #88

Motorola 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…

Just want to mention that the moto camera is made FAR worse by the software.

E.g. video on my moto would always be blurry due to bad de-noising settings used by stock software. mcpro24fps allowed me to take dramatically better videos. The difference was HUGE.

Same with photos. Custom gcam roms, after a long time of trying different ones and tweaking, gave me dramatically higher quality photos. Again, night and day difference.

So the hardware is fine; they shoot themselves in the foot with the software.

Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?

#118

Post by tourmalinetaco »

ajsnigrutin wrote: post #73
wiseowise wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cloud sync that works across all of my devices in a centralized manner. Zero bloatware, adware OS that works out of the box and doesn’t change every year. Consistent experience across devices. iOS, specifically, all of what I listed there and really nice, fluent system compared to Androids that have frame drops even on top end devices.

Can you actually block in-app ads in iOS? Like the way adaway does it, by modify /etc/hosts and thus removing 95% of the annoyances in apps?

Eeeh, kinda. A local DNS server is the only way I’ve found, and that causes problems on apps that block the “VPN” status and completely breaks cellular data.

It also doesn’t always work, particularly if the app isn’t covered in your blocklist (which it isn’t always possible to add them in any easy way, because “think different”)/the app hosts ad content directly.

Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?

#119

Post by aborsy »

I’m curious how do pixel phones and pixelbooks running ChromeOS compare with iPhone and MacBooks running macOS in terms of security?

I know in terms of privacy, Google is worse due to built in telemetry (and cloud based chromeos). If there is no security benefit either, then there doesn’t seem to be a major reason to prefer Google’s products over apple’s. Pixels aren’t much cheaper either (particularly considering the shorter support period).

Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?

#120

Post by tourmalinetaco »

throw0101a wrote: post #77
Zambyte wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What service do they provide you?

> What service do they provide you? Security updates for 5-7 years.

GrapheneOS and CalyxOS both provide that same benefit while being FOSS.
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