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I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux

runarcn.no

391–400 of 539 posts

Re: I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux

#391

I still dream about that dockable Ubuntu phone.

Why? The phone I've been using for the last 6 years, Librem 5, can just be docked to a screen, keyboard and mouse and used this way, running a Debian system. It's not even the only one available with such capability. Your dream has been there for a while now.

Re: I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux

#392

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think the real problem is Google Play Services. It's far, far too tightly integrated in a way that it just seems like Android was designed to be unusable without. This is somehow by intention. In the ramp-up of Android adoption, Vendors and carriers started to fork Android and deviate too much from the core. Google needed a leverage to tie them to stay compatible to the ecosystem, Google Mobile Services (GMS) was…

> Google needed a leverage to tie them to stay compatible to the ecosystem, Google Mobile Services (GMS) was the tool to do so. "Pass the compatibility test suite and you qualify to preload GMS". Yeah, it wasn't even totally the wrong thing when it happened. It was something I liked because you had both the manufacturers and the carriers getting in the way of OS updates. For example, I bought a new Samsung Galaxy 4 y…

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Re: I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux

#393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's what felt like what really killed Windows Phone. Too many things became "only available" through an iOS or Android app. Windows Phone was free as in beer towards the end and there's a possibility there would have still been a small but devoted techie audience on it, if so many things weren't already so broken from disappearing/vanished app support.

It always seemed insane to me that people accepted so easily to have everything locked behind "app stores", crazy garbage, even worse having SO MUCH PREINSTALLED BLOATWARE OUT OF THE BOX.

The push against technical literacy helped a lot in having the masses accept all this crap.

A great deal of people don't even understand the concept of installing software if it's not via the App Store, nor do they understand what's involved in the process. Explaining the issues of having a central authority is one degree further.

Re: I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux

#394
post #80

I really want to love mobile Linux, and have given it multiple shots before. But I just don't see how it will catch up with iOS/Android in the same way it caught up with Windows/Mac: - OEMs have poured an enormous amount of resources into the camera software, Linux cameras are years behind from what I understand. - Android/iOS have thoroughly optimized the UX in all sorts of subtle ways, the big one being their keybo…

I think Linux need another "Wine" moment, but for android/ios.

In theory, Waydroid exist.

In practice, I've failed to ever get it running on several attempts so far.

Re: I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux

#395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We chose that when we stopped using cash.

> stopped using cash You stopped using cash? It is one of the most insane things I ever heard. You transactions are tracked, I assume? The rule in the eu (PSD2) is that a dozen private/public/hybrid/other databases, of unclear substantial identity, will record your transactions. And what if you had a an infrastructural shortage? No transactions then? How can people think of "cashless society" as something outside a d…

A great deal of shops in the Netherlands don't take cash.

Some didn't before 2020, but during 2020 the trend accelerated, and many shops stopped taking cash. Aside from hygiene, it's also easier to deal with safety for the store (i.e.: nobody can steal the cash register).

The supermarket in my neighbourhood has ~30 self-checkout machines. Only one of them takes cash. The human-checkout also takes cash, but is usually closed.

Re: I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux

#396

I'd love to do this, but sadly I don't see it happening unless my lifestyle significantly changed to the point where I wasn't frequently traveling to new countries. There are just too many very useful services that only work with Android/iOS. Take taxi apps for example. I've used over a dozen in the past few years, many of them local to a specific country or region that made getting around much much easier.

I‘m lucky that my part of the world doesn’t yet require apps for taxis & they accept cash. App users often end up paying more if they don’t know even basic negotiations.

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Re: I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux

#397
post #80

I really want to love mobile Linux, and have given it multiple shots before. But I just don't see how it will catch up with iOS/Android in the same way it caught up with Windows/Mac: - OEMs have poured an enormous amount of resources into the camera software, Linux cameras are years behind from what I understand. - Android/iOS have thoroughly optimized the UX in all sorts of subtle ways, the big one being their keybo…

I installed PostmarketOS with Plasma-Mobile on my ancient Pixel 3a a month ago as something to play with and I was actually astonished at how polished it seemed. The keyboard was perfectly usable, apps were quick to load, I could do silly things like open full-fat Blender or OrcaSlicer on a tiny phone screen if I desired. Sadly old Pixels don't support video out over USB-C for whatever reason so I can't do what I really wanted to do and dock my phone into a USB dock for a desktop experience, but it's good enough to have me considering buying a more modern supported phone so I can try out daily-driving the experience.

Re: I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux

#398
post #80

I really want to love mobile Linux, and have given it multiple shots before. But I just don't see how it will catch up with iOS/Android in the same way it caught up with Windows/Mac: - OEMs have poured an enormous amount of resources into the camera software, Linux cameras are years behind from what I understand. - Android/iOS have thoroughly optimized the UX in all sorts of subtle ways, the big one being their keybo…

Honestly, I just want a hardware keyboard. I still miss the slider htc touch pro 2

If the Clicks Communicator had an adequate camera (definition may vary by person, I take a lot of photos) and ran Linux it would be an absolute winner of a device.

Re: I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux

#399
post #379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I developed for android for a long time When was that?

I stopped in 2018. I realize that a lot has been done since then, but the base code wasn‘t changed, otherwise old apps wouldn‘t run anymore. My gripe with android is that I think it wastes a lot of resources by being very inefficient in software. Just enable the debug mode to see what portion of your screen refreshes and repaints and stand back in awe while nothing changes and you still get hundreds of repaints.

> Just enable the debug mode to see what portion of your screen refreshes and repaints and stand back in awe while nothing changes and you still get hundreds of repaints.

And you are positive that this hasn't change in almost a decade?

> My gripe with android is that I think it wastes a lot of resources by being very inefficient in software.

As opposed to what? This thread is about Linux on Mobile. Are you saying that Linux on Mobile is a lot more efficient than Android? Like do you get more battery life with Linux on Mobile for the same usage?

Re: I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux

#400
post #8

Google Play Services ruins dream of this. I've noticed that automotive digital keys don't work with Graphine OS due to how Google Wallet works.

FWIW I think tesla app works fine on Graphine/Lineage OS as a digital key where the BMW system (and maybe other MFGs) use something with Google Wallet which requires something with Google Play Services to work.
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