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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?

#201

Post by tomcam »

izacus wrote: post #116
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.)

I have been nominated seven straight years for hacker news reader with the least knowledge of security, so I’m embarrassed to ask: what keys would one want to sign and why?

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

#202

Post by system2 »

jamesnorden wrote: post #130
system2 wrote: post #45

Do yourself a favor, buy an iPhone.

Ah yes, the phone where you can't even disable stock apps at all, very insightful.

You probably will understand me when you are expecting very important business call but your Android phone doesn't ring because the operating system decided to crash.

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

#204

Post by nradov »

scarface_74 wrote: post #200
nradov wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of that is the OS kernel design. Unlike Linux, Windows has a stable device driver API which makes it easy for hardware vendors to release drivers separately and maintain them across versions.

And there is absolutely nothing stopping Google from doing the same thing.

Google kind of tried to do the same thing by building the Fuscia kernel to replace Linux in Android. But that project appears to have failed.

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

#205

Post by kdklol »

scarface_74 wrote: post #199
kdklol wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They arguably never did. Android updates are all-encompassing, unlike Windows. You still depend on manufacturers of your hardware (motherboard, CPU) to provide firmware updates (BIOS, Microcode). How old is your Motherboard's firmware? You probably don't even know, because most people don't consider these things important, which is a mistake. On Android, generally, firmware updates are included.

My Mac Mini built by Apple without using BootCamp was able to run Windows 7 just by sticking a DVD in. How much more all encompassing can you get than that. I assure that Apple never went out of its way to release firmware for the 1st gen Intel Mac Mini so it could work with Windows 7. Windows 7 supported all of my Mac hardware - Bluetooth, gigabit Ethernet, wifi, and it found the IR sensor for the remote. I never tr…

I'm not talking about compatibility updates for your network card, but about security updates. That is why you should be updating first and foremost.

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

#206

Post by neogodless »

hospitalJail wrote: post #122
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.…

>walled garden This is a marketing phrase that twists a negative into a positive. Its better to use more objective terms. Gardens give you a perceptions of flowers and fruits.

Hostile external incompatibility?

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

#207

Post by ntauthority »

david-gpu wrote: post #107
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 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 s…

Qualcomm actually started offering LTS (long-term support) BSP (board support packages) to device manufacturers for a fee. This is why some vendors like Samsung and Microsoft started providing updates for phones with older SoCs for longer than usual: they're paying the additional per-product license fee for being allowed to ship updated firmware.

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

#208

Post by scarface_74 »

kdklol wrote: post #205
scarface_74 wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My Mac Mini built by Apple without using BootCamp was able to run Windows 7 just by sticking a DVD in. How much more all encompassing can you get than that. I assure that Apple never went out of its way to release firmware for the 1st gen Intel Mac Mini so it could work with Windows 7. Windows 7 supported all of my Mac hardware - Bluetooth, gigabit Ethernet, wifi, and it found the IR sensor for the remote. I never tr…

I'm not talking about compatibility updates for your network card, but about security updates. That is why you should be updating first and foremost.

The Windows update mechanism also includes updates for third party firmware.

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

#209

Post by kadoban »

tomcam wrote: post #201
izacus wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.)

I have been nominated seven straight years for hacker news reader with the least knowledge of security, so I’m embarrassed to ask: what keys would one want to sign and why?

The keys that verify that new boot software is allowed, the ones that verify it's coming from _you_ and not some other asshole trying to take over your phone after you rooted it.
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