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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

#371

Post by [deleted] »

onli wrote: post #56
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…

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…

[deleted]

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

#372

Post by gruez »

manuelabeledo wrote: post #218
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…

The iOS YouTube app is not worse than the one in Android. Texting in iOS is arguably better or, at the very least, there is one more app to choose (Messages). And I’m curious to know what makes Antenna Pod so much better than the thousands of other podcast apps out there. Social media apps have historically been worse in Android, because of lax app and privacy controls. > What else is there, where is the advantage? P…

>at the very least, there is one more app to choose (Messages).

How's that different than Google Messages being exclusive to Android?

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

#373

Post by Aardwolf »

odo1242 wrote: post #343
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…

iOS apps consistently get updates a few weeks to months earlier than the Android version. Including some of Google’s own apps, sometimes. To give examples: - https://www.phonearena.com/news/google-photos-update-to-reac... - https://www.t3.com/tech/iphones/google-maps-gets-an-iphone-u... Both of the above are updates to Google apps that released on iOS but are planned on Android. Haven't seen any examples of the rever…

Do those updates matter?

Not for me at least usually (exception might be something like an rpg game expanding the world), apps nagging to get updated is annoying in fact.

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

#374

Post by gf000 »

odo1242 wrote: post #355
odo1242 wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

iOS apps consistently get updates a few weeks to months earlier than the Android version. Including some of Google’s own apps, sometimes. To give examples: - https://www.phonearena.com/news/google-photos-update-to-reac... - https://www.t3.com/tech/iphones/google-maps-gets-an-iphone-u... Both of the above are updates to Google apps that released on iOS but are planned on Android. Haven't seen any examples of the rever…

To add more examples, a game I play on my phone got an update that adds controller support on iOS, with controller support on Android expected 6 months down the line.

There are plenty examples to the contrary. It's almost like one of the platforms has the supermajority of phones in most countries, so there are plenty of apps only targeting a single one.

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

#375

Post by mexicocitinluez »

shuckles wrote: post #353
mexicocitinluez wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> because things like Safari ...work really well Are we living in the same universe? We manage a fleet of tablets (both Apple and Android) for a healthcare company whose EMR is web-based. And because of that Sarafi has made our lives miserable. So much so that we're migrating to Chromebooks. I've been developing for the web for 15 years. The first half was spent battling Internet Explorer. Now it's Safari.

The people complaining about Safari often are running enterprise crapware that requires some esoteric Chrome API or bug to operate correctly and should actually be an app on iOS but cannot be funded as such because its creators don’t care about its users.

> some esoteric Chrome API or bug

Or simple things like supporting 100vh consistently. Is that estoric?

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

#376

Post by jorvi »

shuckles wrote: post #353
mexicocitinluez wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> because things like Safari ...work really well Are we living in the same universe? We manage a fleet of tablets (both Apple and Android) for a healthcare company whose EMR is web-based. And because of that Sarafi has made our lives miserable. So much so that we're migrating to Chromebooks. I've been developing for the web for 15 years. The first half was spent battling Internet Explorer. Now it's Safari.

The people complaining about Safari often are running enterprise crapware that requires some esoteric Chrome API or bug to operate correctly and should actually be an app on iOS but cannot be funded as such because its creators don’t care about its users.

Well, formerly you would have been right, but WebUSB and whatnot are gaining a lot more traction.

I didn't take WebUSB seriously until I steered someone to flashing a small firmware onto something and they could do it straight from the browser! And it was a nice workflow too, just a few button and a permission click.

Two other examples I can think of are flashing Via (keyboard) firmware and Poweramp using WebADB via WebUSB to make gaining certain permissions very easy for the layman. I imagine it's gonna get more and more user in enterprise too.

Firefox is seriously behind by refusing to implement it.

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

#377

Post by ottah »

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…

I have struggled with getting anything functional on a Fairphone running Ubuntu Touch. The problem is you can't really run any Linux app, it has to be written to support their specific display manager. Running regular Linux apps is possible but not properly documented and I haven't gotten it to work. Android apps through Waydroid sort of works, but is unstable and not suitable for daily use.

I really want Linux on mobile to be a thing, but I haven't found it yet. PinePhone is abandoned, Purism just isn't a finished product, Planet Computers doesn't even build a phone with Linux support anymore.

The only thing that's current and active I've seen is a Hong Kong startup https://furilabs.com/. I've got one on my desk to try, hoping it will be something usable as a daily driver.

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

#378

Post by gruez »

hypercube33 wrote: post #359
1970-01-01 wrote: post #311

I'm with Google on this one. Idiots and old people (the public) use these devices daily. These are the very same people that send money to Nigerian royalty and expect to hear back about a great reward. This is mostly a CYA move with hard data behind it. If they completely removed side load, that would be a different story.

The old saying goes a fool and their money is soon departed. Why should the rest of us be punished?

>Why should the rest of us be punished?

Exactly. I'm sick and tired of all the apps/websites that mandate 2fa. All of that adds friction when I'm a big boy who knows how to choose secure passwords. For that matter, why even invest resources into fraud detection or law enforcement? All of that money is coming out of somewhere, and why should my tax dollars go toward catching fake nigerian princes when it's just helping idiots anyways?

/s

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

#379

Post by nerdponx »

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…

Cost? Apple stuff is expensive and unaffordable or inaccessible to a lot of the world. Google'd Android is the only option if you can't shell out for an iPhone (assuming you don't want to buy an unsupported 5+ year old device second/third-hand).

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

#380

Post by dismalaf »

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…

> core features that differentiate Android devices, like USB-C and RCS

It's obvious you've never used Android if you think these are core features LMAO. No one cares that much about connector type, more the fact it's using an industry standard versus proprietary. No one cares about RCS, everyone uses WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, Messenger, Line, etc...

Core features are stuff like being able to search for a business through the phone app, Maps telling you where you parked your car, unprompted, compatibility with the casting protocol, the ability to make ANY app the default for a particular task, the ability to sideload, the fact you can switch phone brands and get whatever hardware you want but your core OS with all your accounts stays the same. Basically the ability to do what you want win your OS and no one restricting your phone's features.

As for Google's strategy, it's the same as Valve's. Having a platform they can't be locked out of since both MS and Apple have shown they'll abuse their market power.

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