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Freeing My Phone from Google

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Re: Freeing My Phone from Google

#131

Post by commoner »

mindslight wrote: post #119
commoner wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally recommend the first-generation Google Pixel XL (marlin), which costs under $100 used on eBay. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel_(smartphone) With MicroG, Google Camera works as it does on stock Android. Most phones on LineageOS aren't able to use their stock camera app, which results in reduced camera quality compared to stock Android. The Pixel/Nexus line, ironically, is the main exception. Google Cam…

Can you elaborate on this? Is it the app itself needing to do some type of processing for peak performance, or some firmware blob that the app bundles and loads? Pictures on my S7 herolte (microG+LOS obviously) are grainy, and investigating why is quite far down on my todo list. This wasn't a problem on i9500, klte, or shamu. I had thought the issue must be some missing firmware, either from the OS image or it got wi…

Camera quality depends on both the camera firmware blob and the camera app. On high-end Android phones, the camera app usually makes use of proprietary features on the firmware blob and performs post-processing (such as HDR and bokeh).

Other Galaxy S7 (herolte) users seem to have the same problems as you on LineageOS, but it's hard to tell exactly what causes them:

https://www.reddit.com/r/LineageOS/comments/8awrcz/herolte_g...

Also, the Galaxy S7 is no longer officially supported by LineageOS, since there are currently no active device maintainers:

https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/herolte/

It's difficult to diagnose issues with unofficial builds of LineageOS, because they most likely don't meet the LineageOS device support requirements:

https://github.com/LineageOS/charter/blob/master/device-supp...

Google Camera's post-processing has been well-received, and the app has been ported to many non-Google devices, including the Galaxy S7. I'm not sure how well the S7 ports work (especially if your S7 has an Exynos SoC) but XDA Developers has a couple of active threads here:

https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s7/themes

Using one of the ports might improve your camera situation. No guarantees, but it doesn't hurt to try.

I recommended the first-generation Pixel and Pixel XL because they are the only phones that are currently supported by both LineageOS and the latest version of the official (non-ported) Google Camera app. For people who aren't particular about camera features and quality, the Camera app that comes with LineageOS or any third-party camera app would be adequate, and you can use these with any supported device.

Re: Freeing My Phone from Google

#132

Post by commoner »

commoner wrote: post #60
commoner wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally recommend the first-generation Google Pixel XL (marlin), which costs under $100 used on eBay. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel_(smartphone) With MicroG, Google Camera works as it does on stock Android. Most phones on LineageOS aren't able to use their stock camera app, which results in reduced camera quality compared to stock Android. The Pixel/Nexus line, ironically, is the main exception. Google Cam…

A correction: instead of "stock Android", I meant the factory operating system that comes with the phone.

Oops, I missed the "at most 5 inches" part. The first-generation Google Pixel (not XL) has a screen that measures exactly 5 inches, and is even cheaper than the XL.

Re: Freeing My Phone from Google

#133

Post by Jowsey »

The only thing preventing me fully leaving Google is YouTube, but a massive amount of my News, Entertainment, Music, basically everything, comes from YouTube.. Does anyone know a way I can watch YouTube videos without sending my stuff to Google? Some sort of custom client with telemetry disabled or something? Honestly I'm not even entirely sure what Google does with my video watching data but it'd be foolish to think they're doing nothing.

Re: Freeing My Phone from Google

#134

Post by kbit »

Jowsey wrote: post #133

The only thing preventing me fully leaving Google is YouTube, but a massive amount of my News, Entertainment, Music, basically everything, comes from YouTube.. Does anyone know a way I can watch YouTube videos without sending my stuff to Google? Some sort of custom client with telemetry disabled or something? Honestly I'm not even entirely sure what Google does with my video watching data but it'd be foolish to think…

The app NewPipe and its web version https://invidio.us/ were recommended in the comments here. They allow you to use YouTube quite well without an account and without the official website/app. However, I imagine through loading videos, YouTube can still collect some data. (I might be wrong though, I don't know exactly how much they pipe through their servers.)

If you want to be completely private, you'll probably have to use TOR together with those alternative clients.

Re: Freeing My Phone from Google

#135

Post by omarroth »

VvR-Ox wrote: post #130
olah_1 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just sharing Invidious (website version of NewPipe). It's amazing. https://invidio.us/ https://github.com/omarroth/invidious

Thank you very much for sharing! I'm afraid atm it doesn't work for me (iPhone SE - iOS 12.3.1 - Firefox & Safari). Nevertheless their work is awesome and the idea to aggregate all the things and let user's enjoy them without having to promise their first-born to providers is just amazing ^_^

Would you mind providing some more details on what issues you're encountering?

Re: Freeing My Phone from Google

#136

Post by 3xblah »

commoner wrote: post #129
3xblah wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With the phones I have tested, Google Maps does not require a working Google Play Store. It makes sense that replacing Play Store would have no effect.

Google Maps doesn't require the Google Play Store, but it does require Google Play Services (like most Google apps). https://developer.android.com/distribute/play-services/ https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.and... MicroG can replace the Google Play Services requirement for Google Maps. To download Google Maps without the official Google Play Store client, you can use the free and open source Au…

"Google Maps doesn't require Google Play Store, but it does require Google Play Services..."

On the phones I have tested Google Maps works with Google Play Services turned off.

Re: Freeing My Phone from Google

#137

Post by kbit »

fithisux wrote: post #125

Any phones that can be used for FOSS experience?

The Fairphone seems to offer the option to buy it with an open Android OS and no Google apps preinstalled. It also has the added benefit of trying not to kill people in its production process.

Re: Freeing My Phone from Google

#138

Post by commoner »

3xblah wrote: post #136
commoner wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google Maps doesn't require the Google Play Store, but it does require Google Play Services (like most Google apps). https://developer.android.com/distribute/play-services/ https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.and... MicroG can replace the Google Play Services requirement for Google Maps. To download Google Maps without the official Google Play Store client, you can use the free and open source Au…

"Google Maps doesn't require Google Play Store, but it does require Google Play Services..." On the phones I have tested Google Maps works with Google Play Services turned off.

Google Maps is marked as dependent on the Google Services Framework, but it clearly doesn't use the same map tile rendering system that MicroG uses. I guess Google Play Services is only used for the logged-in features, which privacy-conscious users would avoid.

Re: Freeing My Phone from Google

#139

Post by 3xblah »

commoner wrote: post #138
3xblah wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Google Maps doesn't require Google Play Store, but it does require Google Play Services..." On the phones I have tested Google Maps works with Google Play Services turned off.

Google Maps is marked as dependent on the Google Services Framework, but it clearly doesn't use the same map tile rendering system that MicroG uses. I guess Google Play Services is only used for the logged-in features, which privacy-conscious users would avoid.

This could be the explanation. I never log in. :)

Irrespective of privacy, I am just not interested in the personalisation or, e.g., reading email on a phone.

Re: Freeing My Phone from Google

#140

Post by commoner »

3xblah wrote: post #139
commoner wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google Maps is marked as dependent on the Google Services Framework, but it clearly doesn't use the same map tile rendering system that MicroG uses. I guess Google Play Services is only used for the logged-in features, which privacy-conscious users would avoid.

This could be the explanation. I never log in. :) Irrespective of privacy, I am just not interested in the personalisation or, e.g., reading email on a phone.

I don't log in either, but Google Maps has an offline navigation feature that's restricted to logged in users:

https://support.google.com/maps/answer/6291838

Instead of using this, I have Here WeGo installed as a backup app for offline navigation:

https://wego.here.com/

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