Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

211–220 of 324 posts

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

#211

Post by highwaylights »

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?

It’s not your keys, it’s the Operating System keys uploaded to your device.

Essentially the same way UEFI secure boot works in the PC world.

You’re telling the device hardware “it’s only ok to run software that’s been signed with the private key that matches this public key”, so that once you’ve done that, you can have confidence that the operating system hasn’t been modified in future by anyone other than the original vendor (as only they have the private key).

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

#213

Post by ptmcc »

jjice wrote: post #137
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.

Tangential but I really miss the gestures. I'm much happier with my Pixel 6a, but I had a run of Motorola phones beforehand. God the shake for flashlight and rotate for camera were godsends. Everyone got a kick out of it too, it was always funny to see people react to how great shake for flashlight was. I wonder if there's an app that can do this now on any phone, but I hadn't thought to look until now.

It's not exactly the same, but iOS has an accessibility feature where you can map double and triple tapping the back of the phone to things like turning the flashlight on and off.

It's nearly like shaking and uses the gyros because there's no touch interface there.

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

#214

Post by tootie »

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.

Moto phones are excellent value and generally sturdy. I find myself going further and further down market buying cheaper phones like Moto G because I haven't seen a flagship feature that looks really compelling in years. Unless foldables really take off (doubt it) my main concern is really just battery and the Moto G Power is the current king.

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

#215

Post by omniglottal »

scarface_74 wrote: post #144
tourmalinetaco wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Only if you have a supported device and you are one of the single percentage of people who want to run non Google Android or deal with the hassle.

There is, in fact, zero hassle. "It just works " Also, GrapheneOS updates never remove functionality or battery life. But yes it only works on supported devices - in related news, iOS does not run on unsupported devices, so what's your point?

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

#216

Post by mrweasel »

codeulike wrote: post #101

Fairphone 4

I'm really interested in the Fairphone as my next phone, but which OS to go with. I'm currently on an older iPhone, because given the choice of the two, I trust Apple slightly more than Google.

You can load at least a few different alternative operating system, but finding one that will give me at the very least Signal is proving difficult.

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

#217

Post by OkayPhysicist »

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.

Last two phones have been Moto G Powers. Multiday battery life, stock Android, SIM and MicroSD cards, and a headphone jack.

Camera's definitely terrible, but I don't really use my phone camera all that much. Biggest advantage, IMO, is the <$150 price tag. It means when I trip and toss my phone into traffic, or forget to take my phone out of my pocket when going snorkeling, or drop my phone off the balcony of my apartment, I can just order a new one on Amazon, swap the SIM, and carry on with my life.

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

#218

Post by omniglottal »

wiseowise wrote: post #64
Zambyte wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What service do they provide you?

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.

It could double as a Ferrari and still wouldn't replace a primary function I want in a phone/personal computer: trusted privacy and confidentiality with auditable configuration by the owner, me.

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

#219

Post by allarm »

tiberious726 wrote: post #196
wilsonnb3 wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GrapheneOS stops supporting phones when Google stops releasing new firmware for them for security reasons, so you aren’t going to get longer term support from it.

To do anything else would be snakeoil at best: no open source project can support the radio firmware

Is it technically possible to write an open source firmware for the existing wireless chips?
Post reply on HN