What I don't get (plz help me) is why out of a sudden this vendors close up their phones and why is Google going this way? What's their intend?
Less conspiratorial answer: Bootloader unlock removal: It's actually not happening all of a sudden. The dam-breaking moment is more that Samsung, the number #1 Android vendor, decided to stop supporting it. The vendors stop maintaining bootloader-unlocking methods because the cost/benefit profile to develop/maintain/support that feature and its consequences is simply not sufficient, all while several of the biggest c…
Linux phones are more important now than ever
271–280 of 515 posts
Re: Linux phones are more important now than ever
#272Earlier quoted context omitted.
More money. More power. Greed. Don't ever underestimate human greed. It doesn't matter what people have or where they are, they will always want more. We only have what we have now because of a few very peculiar people like Richard Stallman, but now it's just a bunch of normies in control.
I've always assumed that there is some money related intend behind this. But I can't figure out what money reason it is.
Re: Linux phones are more important now than ever
#273Earlier quoted context omitted.
What do you mean by 'Belgium is not a nation state', if i may ask?
Belgium may be used as a stand-in for Brussels, i.e. the European Union.
In short, a state is about turf, and a nation is a people, and you need them both to look similar on a map to make a nation-state.
Re: Linux phones are more important now than ever
#274Earlier quoted context omitted.
Less conspiratorial answer: Bootloader unlock removal: It's actually not happening all of a sudden. The dam-breaking moment is more that Samsung, the number #1 Android vendor, decided to stop supporting it. The vendors stop maintaining bootloader-unlocking methods because the cost/benefit profile to develop/maintain/support that feature and its consequences is simply not sufficient, all while several of the biggest c…
sounds like Firefox OS would've been right up your alley(?)
What I sketched out here with a "Browser on everything" OS would be a concept for a aftermarket OS, where the device-vendor is not required to have his OS support the unlocked HW (because he can't be forced to do that), but he will have to provide components and documentation up to a certain layer to make use of the hardware. This could then be the layer for a generic "Browser on everything" OS to work on.
Re: Linux phones are more important now than ever
#275Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I don't mind banks requiring it, I don't have to use that bank. What if all banks require it?
Banks aren't required. Its ridiculously inconvenient today to not have a bank account, but you aren't required to have one.
Re: Linux phones are more important now than ever
#276As someone willing to put up with all manner of nonsense (overpriced/underpowered hardware, clunky UI, endless troubleshooting), battery life on mobile Linux devices alone prevents me from using them in the real world. Is there a single Linux phone/tablet that can last an 8 hour day of actual use? Librem/Pinephone/Juno can't. My uConsole can't. Different category, but my MNT mini laptop lasts like 4 hours and can't b…
This is a big part of why Android was developed in the first place. The operating system and application architecture that makes sense on desktop just doesn't make sense on mobile. Despite the many problems Google's restrictive APIs which you are forced to use can cause for developers, they are also highly optimized for power usage.
Re: Linux phones are more important now than ever
#277My Android phone prevents me from taking screenshots if an app author doesn't want me to. My Android phone prevents me from recording phone calls at the request of my carrier, even though it's totally legal for me to do so in my jurisdiction. I'm not loving where this is all going.
I'm curious about the second part, though. How do carriers influence the call recording feature on your phone? Is it because you run a carrier ROM or is there some kind of integration with the mobile network/SIM card that I'm not aware of?
Re: Linux phones are more important now than ever
#278Isn't Android... Linux? It's not "gotcha", just... there are many clones of Android that work without Google Play, because Android (AOSP) is based on Linux. Why not just use that? What does "linux phone" add?
People want a "Linux Phone" but have trouble explaining what software stack they want and how Android is not already it.
Re: Linux phones are more important now than ever
#279I understand that it would be cumbersome on Apple devices with all their efforts to lock down the system, isn't Android different?
Re: Linux phones are more important now than ever
#280Earlier quoted context omitted.
It does have a particular meaning, but it is one that's not relevant in this context, and it's probably narrower than what the poster intended. For example, Belgium is not a nation state, but I'm sure the GGP would be surprised by an answer like "no, it wasn't a nation state, Belgium asked them to do it".
What do you mean by 'Belgium is not a nation state', if i may ask?
This is mostly a language confusion for non-native English speakers. Nation, country, state, a people, nationality, ethnicity, citizenship etc. are used in confusing ways for speakers of other languages.
For many, "nation state" just means an independent state (roughly speaking, a UN member, note also that the UN is called United Nations), because just saying "state" could mean a subdivision, such as a US state. And "country" can be confused with the subdivision of the UK (they call, e.g. Scotland a "country").
In more precise contexts of political history, "nation state" mostly refers to modern (post-World War I) countries that more or less correspond to a people speaking the same language and having the same ethnic identity. It delineates nation states from the previously more common multi-ethnic empires and kingdoms, such as Austria-Hungary or the Holy Roman Empire etc.
Similarly, in English, nationality is often an exact synonym for citizenship, while speakers of other languages expect it to mean ethnicity, e.g. an ethnic Hungarian in Romania with Romanian citizenship would be considered a "Romanian national" in English-language news. This often makes people confused/angry. Also, in some contexts in English, "ethnicity" is more like a euphemism for something like "race", but not quite (e.g. in the US "Latino" is considered an "ethnicity" but not a race). In that sense "Hungarian" would not count as an "ethnicity" at all, but still phrases like "ethnic Slovak" refer to a minority group in a different country than Slovakia. But also "ethnic" can also just mean with "exotic foreign origin", e.g. "ethnic food" or "an ethnic woman" (this was really weird when I first read it). But I digress.