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Android without the mothership

lwn.net

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Re: Android without the mothership

#51

Post by vetinari »

voltagex_ wrote: post #45
jlujan wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I have occasionally downloaded apps through one of the APK downloader services mentioned in the article comments -- I've had mixed luck. One of the biggest issue of running Apps (open source or not) is the inclusion of the Play Store API in the app itself. These apps when not logged into the play store usually crash with NullPointerExceptions. Please... if you are an Android developer... expect your third-party serv…

I wonder if it's possible to build an emulator image based on CyanogenMod with no Play Services. That'd help with testing the apps, but it's another "device" to target. Developers would be able to see from the crash reports how many NPEs from missing Play Services they're getting and prioritise accordingly.

Not only it's possible, it is supported out of the box. When you are configuring the emulator, you are choosing the OS version (API level). You have to choose, whether you want "Android" or "Google API".

Re: Android without the mothership

#52

Post by unabridged »

Android is a lost cause, all the man power being donated to the project is just going to line google's pockets and lock us further into closed hardware and barely opensource phones.

The only future is a real linux phone, debian or ubuntu mobile, where one day there will be effortless desktop/tablet/mobile unified development. Why push for developers to waste time porting between c++ and java?

Re: Android without the mothership

#53

Post by nly »

iamshs wrote: post #35
wutbrodo wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But I was even more peeved of Android when there was no way to store contacts locally. No option to store on the phone, but instead you had to save to Google account. Are you sure about this? This may be unique to Touchwiz or something, but you can save a contact to either the device or to Google contacts.

I am using Nexus 4, so no touchwiz. Only way (or the one in my knowledge) is to disable Google Contacts Sync. The problem with this one is if the switch somehow gets enabled one day, there goes your privacy.

When you disable the backup option on your phone, it warns and asks you to confirm that you want your data to be erased from Googles machines. So there's that. But yes, it's terrifying that millions of home WiFi passwords are stored on Google servers.

Re: Android without the mothership

#55

Post by euank »

unabridged wrote: post #52

Android is a lost cause, all the man power being donated to the project is just going to line google's pockets and lock us further into closed hardware and barely opensource phones. The only future is a real linux phone, debian or ubuntu mobile, where one day there will be effortless desktop/tablet/mobile unified development. Why push for developers to waste time porting between c++ and java?

Why no mention of FirefoxOS?

The Mozilla foundation has our best interests at heart much more than Google and while it's not C++, html5/javascript is certainly an open enough platform which basically everything has started to target anyways.

Sure, a pure linux phone would be cool in some ways, but FirefoxOS seems much closer, realer, and every bit as awesome.

Re: Android without the mothership

#56

Post by dotnick »

> ... CyanogenMod is free; it is mostly a build of the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) release with a bunch of added goodies. Google's proprietary user-space apps and utilities are available, but they must be downloaded and installed separately.

Interesting. Isn't this against any Google terms?

Re: Android without the mothership

#57

Post by dochtman »

tombrossman wrote: post #43
XorNot wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I keep looking for a lighterweight alternative to OwnCloud for Calendar/Contacts. I really want to switchover to a proper CardDav/CalDav setup that actually supports "Tasks" in my calendar, exactly how Google doesn't and continually fails to.

I'm also eager to drop ownCloud ('pwnCloud', I keep hearing), but I think I'll replace it with Seafile + Fastmail's CardDav/CalDav. CardDav is not yet available but promised soon. I wish there were a trustworthy source of prebuilt pure AOSP ROMS, like the source images Google release. Compiling them is no small feat and I'm worried I'll brick my device. With a stock AOSP ROM + Fastmail contacts & calendaring, I think…

I tried to setup a Seafile server a while ago, and it looked kind of slick at first, but it was pretty hard to get up. Lots of dependencies, and then the first thing after I got it running was that my server got 100% load and could only be accessed after power cycling.

Re: Android without the mothership

#58

Post by mbq »

privong wrote: post #2

I have been running this setup (Cyanogenmod + f-droid, no google apps) for the past 9 months and have been quite happy. I use owncloud for keeping my calendar, contacts, and files sync'ed. K9mail + APG for (signed/encrypted) email. As the article notes OsmAnd is workable, but the what is available through f-droid is 2 versions behind (apparently with low chance of future updates due to difficulties building it). Many…

Isn't TextSecure already built into Cyanogen SMS app? And anyway dependent on the Google Play Services?

Re: Android without the mothership

#59

Post by jlujan »

nly wrote: post #50
jlujan wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I have occasionally downloaded apps through one of the APK downloader services mentioned in the article comments -- I've had mixed luck. One of the biggest issue of running Apps (open source or not) is the inclusion of the Play Store API in the app itself. These apps when not logged into the play store usually crash with NullPointerExceptions. Please... if you are an Android developer... expect your third-party serv…

Presumably if developers only distribute their app via the Play Store, they aren't too worried about whether their app users are using the Play Store.

presumably, as a programmer, you check return values. Especially if they could be a null reference

Re: Android without the mothership

#60

Post by daveid »

voltagex_ wrote: post #46
tombrossman wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm also eager to drop ownCloud ('pwnCloud', I keep hearing), but I think I'll replace it with Seafile + Fastmail's CardDav/CalDav. CardDav is not yet available but promised soon. I wish there were a trustworthy source of prebuilt pure AOSP ROMS, like the source images Google release. Compiling them is no small feat and I'm worried I'll brick my device. With a stock AOSP ROM + Fastmail contacts & calendaring, I think…

Did you use GMail before Fastmail? I'm not sure I want to give up push email yet. Do you find that you're missing emails or that IMAP IDLE uses too much battery?

I've used GMail before I switched to Fastmail. Not missing any e-mails, don't notice any excessive battery drain (using K-9 Mail here)
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