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Keep Android Open

f-droid.org

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Re: Keep Android Open

#11

Post by tadfisher »

StopDisinfo910 wrote: post #5
stackghost wrote: post #2

From a marketing standpoint it seems like a baffling decision on Google's part. I own a Pixel and while the hardware seems decent, I've had a buggy and annoying experience with Android, and it's been getting worse lately. Are Google so high on their own supply that they think people use their phones out of preference for the OS? Because frankly it's not very good. That's like Microsoft thinking people use Teams becau…

> Are Google so high on their own supply that they think people use their phones out of preference for the OS? Because frankly it's not very good Honestly having gone back and forth between iOS and Android every three years or so, both OS are the same. It's not like the grass is really greener on the Apple side. The UX is virtually identical for anything that matters. Personally I put material Android above liquid gl…

The rumors that I have heard (and one government document I read that was poorly translated from Thai) is that there are some countries who are pressuring Google on this to combat info-stealing malware. Apparently, account-takeover/theft is very prevalent in SE Asia where most banking is done via Android phones.

Re: Keep Android Open

#12

Post by hparadiz »

0x1ch wrote: post #6
hparadiz wrote: post #3

I would caution the decision makers on this. The line between a secure device and a useless toy is perforated and hard to see.

If I can't use banking or my NFC wallets on my phone, it has become 90% useless. The other 10% of usefulness is texting and calls, which every other phone can do. Unfortunately, this mostly means using the closed android ecosystem.

No idea why you are even bringing this up. It works just fine right now.

Re: Keep Android Open

#13

Post by stackghost »

gf000 wrote: post #10
stackghost wrote: post #2

From a marketing standpoint it seems like a baffling decision on Google's part. I own a Pixel and while the hardware seems decent, I've had a buggy and annoying experience with Android, and it's been getting worse lately. Are Google so high on their own supply that they think people use their phones out of preference for the OS? Because frankly it's not very good. That's like Microsoft thinking people use Teams becau…

> "Temu iOS" Come on, that's absolutely laughable. There are several topics where Android is significantly ahead to the point that iOS is just a toy, and there are areas where the reverse is true. And I say that as a recent convert, so it's not like I have a decade out of date view of any of the OSs. In my experience I had more visual bugs in case of iOS than android (volume slider not displaying correctly in certain…

>Come on, that's absolutely laughable.

It's not, though. Google phones are not going to suddenly become luxury devices.

It's going to remain at the same level of polish (i.e. mediocre), except now without the major selling point of being able to run your own apps and have alternative app stores, etc. Back around Ice Cream Sandwich or thereabouts they got rid of "phone calls only mode" and forced us to rely on their half-baked "priority mode" that's an opaque shitshow.

When my wife is on call she gets random whatsapp notifications dinging all night, whereas when I had an iphone I could set Focus mode and achieve proper "phone calls only".

Android is not good. I use it despite its flaws, because of the trade-offs, not because it's better.

Re: Keep Android Open

#14

Post by gf000 »

zb3 wrote: post #4

Android was never open. User apps are limited, only system apps can do X which means third party apps can't compete with Google and this is not a coincidence. Let's focus on making it possible to use really open Linux systems on smartphones.

There are some functionality limited to google play services, but it really is not too much in my opinion.

Re: Keep Android Open

#15

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

tadfisher wrote: post #7

Just to put out what Google actually said in their blog post [0]: > We appreciate the community's engagement and have heard the early feedback – specifically from students and hobbyists who need an accessible path to learn, and from power users who are more comfortable with security risks. We are making changes to address the needs of both groups. > We heard from developers who were concerned about the barrier to ent…

> We heard from developers who were concerned about the barrier to entry when building apps intended only for a small group, like family or friends. We are using your input to shape a dedicated account type for students and hobbyists. This will allow you to distribute your creations to a limited number of devices without going through the full verification requirements.

In classic Google fashion, they hear the complaint, pretend that it's about something else, and give a half baked solution to that different problem that was not the actual issue. Any solution that disadvantages F-Droid compared to the less trustworthy Google Play is a problem.

Re: Keep Android Open

#16

Post by gf000 »

stackghost wrote: post #13
gf000 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "Temu iOS" Come on, that's absolutely laughable. There are several topics where Android is significantly ahead to the point that iOS is just a toy, and there are areas where the reverse is true. And I say that as a recent convert, so it's not like I have a decade out of date view of any of the OSs. In my experience I had more visual bugs in case of iOS than android (volume slider not displaying correctly in certain…

>Come on, that's absolutely laughable. It's not, though. Google phones are not going to suddenly become luxury devices. It's going to remain at the same level of polish (i.e. mediocre), except now without the major selling point of being able to run your own apps and have alternative app stores, etc. Back around Ice Cream Sandwich or thereabouts they got rid of "phone calls only mode" and forced us to rely on their h…

I'm talking about the OS though.

Re: Keep Android Open

#17

Post by stackghost »

gf000 wrote: post #16
stackghost wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Come on, that's absolutely laughable. It's not, though. Google phones are not going to suddenly become luxury devices. It's going to remain at the same level of polish (i.e. mediocre), except now without the major selling point of being able to run your own apps and have alternative app stores, etc. Back around Ice Cream Sandwich or thereabouts they got rid of "phone calls only mode" and forced us to rely on their h…

I'm talking about the OS though.

Me too. The OS sucks.

Re: Keep Android Open

#18

Post by colordrops »

notorandit wrote: post #9

We ("you") have no power to keep android open. Unfortunately it is in the hands of a company that is building it for profit, in a way or the other. It's been our choice to drink this glass of wishful thinking while giving that company a solid dominant position in the market. We ("you") can only make choices that will overturn that trend. Fully opensource hardware with fully opensource software? Maybe, but also this i…

If they close things up with no alternative, the free open source software will likely start to catch up. it will take a few years though. This could be a blessing in disguise.

Re: Keep Android Open

#19

Post by vsviridov »

gf000 wrote: post #14
zb3 wrote: post #4

Android was never open. User apps are limited, only system apps can do X which means third party apps can't compete with Google and this is not a coincidence. Let's focus on making it possible to use really open Linux systems on smartphones.

There are some functionality limited to google play services, but it really is not too much in my opinion.

The amount of open stuff that was migrated into the Play Services closed source blob over the years just keeps growing.

Re: Keep Android Open

#20

Post by jrm4 »

0x1ch wrote: post #6
hparadiz wrote: post #3

I would caution the decision makers on this. The line between a secure device and a useless toy is perforated and hard to see.

If I can't use banking or my NFC wallets on my phone, it has become 90% useless. The other 10% of usefulness is texting and calls, which every other phone can do. Unfortunately, this mostly means using the closed android ecosystem.

To you.

Laptops exist.

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