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Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

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Re: Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

#131

Post by gorbachev »

whyagaindavid wrote: post #22

> Matthew Forsyth, Director of Product Management, Google Play Developer Experience & Chief Product Explainer, said the system isn’t a sideloading restriction, but an “Accountability Layer.” And... What about accountability for hosting distributing spyware, malware loaded apps from Google Playstore and hundreds of copy cat, misleading apps? Why can't they pose a question when the phone is setup? - Yes, I want to side…

This right here exposes the bullshittery about the reasons behind preventing sideloading on Android phones.

For Google everything is about protecting revenue, even when doing so exposes their users to real harm, and that's why they will not address the issue of copycat apps, poor practices on play store security or anything else that lowers the number of downloads on apps on play store. But, heaven forbid, I want to download an app that doesn't create revenue for them onto a phone I OWN, Google spends money lavishly.

The Internet cranks are right. Google is run by bean counters and all the invective the cranks heap on the Google leadership is entirely earned.

Re: Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

#132

Post by MrDresden »

max_ wrote: post #76
rich_sasha wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the EU should pile in as well. It's basically an oven-ready independent mobile OS.

Europe is hostile towards Graphene users.

I am sure you know this, but just in case:

Europe is a continent, with many disparate nations and cultures. This continent is not hostile towards Graphene users.

In Europe there is the European Union (EU), which also is comprised of many disparate nations and cultures but a subset of those comprising Europe.

I say the following as a staunch supporter of European integration and cooperation:

The EU is actively hostile towards any software with the stated goal of safeguarding users right to privacy and security. That means GrapheneOS but also Signal, Matrix and more.

edit: spelling & grammar

Re: Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

#133

Post by Al-Khwarizmi »

xandrius wrote: post #121

I take the opportunity to let people know that there are alternatives to Google/Apple duopoly on mobile. Link: https://www.ubuntu-touch.io/ Sure, GrapheneOS is often suggested but Ubuntu Touch is a really interesting alternative, their own store and ecosystem. The community is amazing and welcoming. If there are Android apps which you can't do without, they can be emulated and used anyway. Imagine switching to Linux…

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I suppose emulating Android apps on a non-Android system will have the same problem as trying to run them in an Android without Google Services or in a rooted phone, i.e., banking (and similar) apps detecting it and refusing to run?

Were it not for that, I would never have stopped using Huawei, IMO the best phone brand by a mile. But I'm too busy a person to depend on hacks and having to regularly find new workarounds to access my banks.

Re: Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

#134

Post by ben_w »

karlgkk wrote: post #80
onli wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see any iOS advantage with the apps anymore. That was maybe true in the very beginning, during the gold rush time of the app store. But not since then. In which category are there better iOS apps? Browsers? No, strictly worse. Youtube app? No, worse. Texting? Worse or equal (Whatsapp). Podcast client? I assume worse, since there is no Antenna Pod. Social media apps? The iOS variants of those apps are afaik in…

Honestly, you’re so wrong about the app situation that it’s almost staggering. iOS apps tend to be more stable, better polished, have better integration with system features (like the Dynamic Island), and even often have more features. This isn’t even an unfounded opinion, it’s a material problem for Google and led them to vastly investing in automated testing and quality efforts App addressable user base is another…

> iOS apps tend to be more stable, better polished

It's been a while since I was last using Android, but first-party Apple apps no longer meet my standards for "polished".

e.g. type this sequence into the calculator:

  [2] [-] [4] [=] [x²] [=]
The answer should not be negative, but the app says "-4".

The desktop Contacts app has been putting invisible LTR and RTL codes around phone numbers for years now, breaking web forms when auto-entered. The mobile version refreshes specific contacts several times in a row to add no new content, preventing copy from working while it does so.

The MacOS Safari translation button appears on the left of the omni-bar, until you click it, at which point it instantly moves to the right and your click turns out to have been on the button that the left-side translation button had hidden. Deleting a selection of items from browsing history is limited to about 5 items per second, as it deletes one then rebuilds the entire list before deleting the next.

If I'm listening to a podcast on headpones and an alarm goes off, it doesn't play the alarm through my headphones, it plays on device speakers only.

Podcast app's "Up Next" is a magical mystery list that can't be disabled or guided.

The "Do Not Disturb" mode can be activated unexpectedly, leading to missed calls, and cannot be deleted.

Localisation is inconsistent at every level, including system share sheet and behaviour of decimal separators.

I could go on, but you get the point. Apple's quality control just isn't visible in the software at this point.

Re: Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

#137

Post by ffsm8 »

trinix912 wrote: post #114
eloisant wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This market still exists and is pretty strong, especially outside of US. It's all on Android so Google doesn't need to try to compete here. This is why with Pixel they're focusing on competing with the iPhone, they want people to use Android so there is no point in competing with other Android manufacturer.

Is it really Google's Android? I have the feeling it's mostly Chinese manufacturers with their own Android versions sans the Google services.

Android is still developed by google, yes.

The chinese are mostly adding skins on top, not developing the core of the operating system.

There is however a chinese fork of android (state sponsored), but it has not gotten wide market adoption in china either to my knowledge, but i dont live in china so i'm open to be corrected.

Finally, even if that OS has gotten widely adopted in china - it IS a fork. the changes are not being upstreamed to android, hence irrelevant to the discussion on this forum.

Re: Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

#139

Post by gspr »

Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #133
xandrius wrote: post #121

I take the opportunity to let people know that there are alternatives to Google/Apple duopoly on mobile. Link: https://www.ubuntu-touch.io/ Sure, GrapheneOS is often suggested but Ubuntu Touch is a really interesting alternative, their own store and ecosystem. The community is amazing and welcoming. If there are Android apps which you can't do without, they can be emulated and used anyway. Imagine switching to Linux…

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I suppose emulating Android apps on a non-Android system will have the same problem as trying to run them in an Android without Google Services or in a rooted phone, i.e., banking (and similar) apps detecting it and refusing to run? Were it not for that, I would never have stopped using Huawei, IMO the best phone brand by a mile. But I'm too busy a person to depend on hacks and having to…

I think you're right about certain apps refusing to run in an emulated environment.

I'm beginning to think we need to consider such apps, and the hardware they run on, as the outsiders. Keep a cheap "normal" Android phone for those apps, and those apps alone. Then keep a "real" second device for everything else. Up to you which one gets the SIM card and provides connectivity for the other (and ordinary phone services).

I'd rather go back to old-fashioned hardware dongles from banks – but hey, lacking that, maybe I'll just think of the first of those two devices as a clunky, overly expensive one of those.

Re: Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

#140

Post by patrickk »

AlotOfReading wrote: post #12

Google's long term strategy with Android is baffling to me. Apple has had better mobile hardware for years. Apple has higher consumer trust. Apple has better app selection (for most people). Apple has been increasingly implementing the core features that differentiate Android devices, like USB-C and RCS. Every Android user lost to the increasing iOS market share is another customer Google has to pay exorbitant fees t…

Apple only implemented USB-C due to pressure from the EU.

One area Android has a clear advantage is Android TV devices verified by Google, because there is a much wider array of streaming apps of all kinds available. However google doesn’t seem to focus on this very much, and if you look for forum recommendations for google android streaming devices it’s very often the NVIDIA shield pro from 2019. Hopefully that device will I’ll be supported for a few more years because there seems to not be good easily available alternatives.

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