101–110 of 162 posts
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You don't need to pay them for a phone. You can install it on the device yourself for free.
Builds are only available for free for Nexus devices, though -- if you want to install it on a Pixel, you have to either build from source or pay up.
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Lots of third party apps rely upon Google APIs which are not a part of ASOP
And those APIs actually rely on things hosted on Google servers (Push notification system, fused location system, Google login and other come to mind) which can't exist without Googles involvement. Making people implement their own services proved to be problematic, because most developers didn't care enough to optimize their services for low memory and battery usage, resulting in terrible battery life on Android dev…
That's kind of a cop-out though. It certainly could exist without Google's involvement if the location provider were a pluggable module within AOSP. microG does this - my phone supports the fused location API using Mozilla's location database instead of Google's. (There are other modules too, like a local database of cell towers if you're willing to dedicate some storage to it.)
Push notifications and Google login sure, but some of what's in the Play Services APIs should really be in AOSP, IMO.
EDIT: For that matter, you could even have the push provider available as a module too, even though Google's push service is the only one currently available.
Sometimes I am wondering what Google employees think when they read headlines like this one. I mean they probably have no problem giving the personal data to Google, but at the same time many of them are probably open source proponents and would support a world where the Google services would be entirely optional to Android. A few days ago I was thinking about a new smartphone and because my main problem with my curr…
> Sometimes I am wondering what Google employees think when they read headlines like this one. Hello Google employee here! I suspect we don't all have the same opinion but I can share my own since you asked. Note that I work in Cloud so I work in an area far far away from this stuff and opinions are obviously my own. Frankly the headline makes me a little bit sad because of course I would like to make things which pe…
People like Google services, but they're less enthusiastic about Google's data collection practices. My father, who is now retired from a career in semiconductor manufacturing and programming, was unaware of Google's practice of monitor users' credit cards [0] and was visibly uncomfortable when he was made aware of it. Google's terms of service were effectively changed in a manner that harmed him, but he has no recourse.
Google services are frequently useful, but let's not pretend that there are other good choices. Google offers their apps for free, and has immediate access to approximately one billion Android devices by mandating an app's inclusion. That's an impossibly high barrier for all but the largest companies.
[0]: http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-google-a...
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And those APIs actually rely on things hosted on Google servers (Push notification system, fused location system, Google login and other come to mind) which can't exist without Googles involvement. Making people implement their own services proved to be problematic, because most developers didn't care enough to optimize their services for low memory and battery usage, resulting in terrible battery life on Android dev…
>fused location system ... which can't exist without Googles involvement That's kind of a cop-out though. It certainly could exist without Google's involvement if the location provider were a pluggable module within AOSP. microG does this - my phone supports the fused location API using Mozilla's location database instead of Google's. (There are other modules too, like a local database of cell towers if you're willin…
But in general, I don't get what your expectation is, that Google will spend millions developing an OS and then give it to competition or deliberately provide worse user experience than their main competitor?
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Lots of third party apps rely upon Google APIs which are not a part of ASOP
There are over a half billion Android users in China who are prevented from using any of Google Play Services, and they're still fine. AOSP may not be as fully featured as it could be, but it's clearly quite possible to use Android without Google.
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Google services are entirely optional to Android. See AOSP. This criticism appears often on HN, despite how little sense it makes. If you don't like the data that Google Maps collects, simply use another map application. I delete all the useless Google apps off my phone as soon as I get it and keep only the ones that are actually useful.
I've done this with all Google apps minus maps. Haven't found anything close to Google maps. Also how do I turn off location tracking by Google, constantly asking me to upload pictures, write a review, answer questions ect
Sometimes I am wondering what Google employees think when they read headlines like this one. I mean they probably have no problem giving the personal data to Google, but at the same time many of them are probably open source proponents and would support a world where the Google services would be entirely optional to Android. A few days ago I was thinking about a new smartphone and because my main problem with my curr…
> Sometimes I am wondering what Google employees think when they read headlines like this one. Hello Google employee here! I suspect we don't all have the same opinion but I can share my own since you asked. Note that I work in Cloud so I work in an area far far away from this stuff and opinions are obviously my own. Frankly the headline makes me a little bit sad because of course I would like to make things which pe…
That's exactly why it should be independent of Google services–it makes it too easy to make changes to benefit those who use Google services and harm those who don't in the name of "but it's great for most people…"
The article mentions launchers; all the launchers in the app store seem sketchy. Does anyone know of a good Open Source launcher, maybe a version of the AOSP launcher compiled for current Android? I'd love to have something that reclaims the pile of space (thumb-reachable space even) devoted to the Google search bar that now stays on the bottom of the main screen all the time.
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And those APIs actually rely on things hosted on Google servers (Push notification system, fused location system, Google login and other come to mind) which can't exist without Googles involvement. Making people implement their own services proved to be problematic, because most developers didn't care enough to optimize their services for low memory and battery usage, resulting in terrible battery life on Android dev…
>fused location system ... which can't exist without Googles involvement That's kind of a cop-out though. It certainly could exist without Google's involvement if the location provider were a pluggable module within AOSP. microG does this - my phone supports the fused location API using Mozilla's location database instead of Google's. (There are other modules too, like a local database of cell towers if you're willin…