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Where to buy a non-Apple, non-Google smartphone

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Re: Where to buy a non-Apple, non-Google smartphone

#141

Post by Youden »

ecesena wrote: post #137

I’m surprised that the Seeker is not even mentioned. I understand it’s Solana, it’s blockchain, whatever people think about it... to me it’s the only serious attempt at creating an app store that can compete with apple or google. What’s the point of independent hardware if the whole sw stack is them?

You mean https://solanamobile.com/seeker ?

All of the copy seems to be built around Solana, "Web3" and crypto. It doesn't seem to have any appeal outside of that. It's not clear what the software even is. The docs [0] seem to indicate it's just Android, with some SDKs for interacting with the "Web3" stuff.

This isn't a "serious attempt at creating an app store that can compete with apple or google", it's just another "Web3" project. It's exciting to people within that ecosystem and utterly uninteresting to anybody who isn't.

0: https://docs.solanamobile.com/get-started/development-setup

Re: Where to buy a non-Apple, non-Google smartphone

#142

Post by epolanski »

ssttoo wrote: post #119
epolanski wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. 1. My bank doesn't allow to go in person without an in-app taken appointment. 2. My nephew can't play football in his team, because the team has an app to book/signal your availability. No other way. 3. Half of restaurants in my area do not have non-QR code menus, they just don't. 4. McDonald's will make me pay the scam pricing you get without the app. 5. My doctor gives documentation only and exclusively in di…

I recently skipped a concert at the YouTube theater in LA because my phone is too old for Ticketmaster or Hollywood Park apps. Even though you can go and buy a ticket at the box office they have to send you the ticket to the app. No option to print it or any non-app way.

Oh that true!

I've been in multiple clubs/events that you can enter exclusively after having downloaded the app.

Re: Where to buy a non-Apple, non-Google smartphone

#143

Post by gib444 »

epolanski wrote: post #108
amunozo wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. You cannot even book appointments in a lot of banks today, a thing you could do in the 90s. Like that, a lot of services are unavailable without a smartphone and its non-smartphone equivalent is not available anymore.

This. 1. My bank doesn't allow to go in person without an in-app taken appointment. 2. My nephew can't play football in his team, because the team has an app to book/signal your availability. No other way. 3. Half of restaurants in my area do not have non-QR code menus, they just don't. 4. McDonald's will make me pay the scam pricing you get without the app. 5. My doctor gives documentation only and exclusively in di…

> 1. My bank doesn't allow to go in person without an in-app taken appointment.

What about other banks?

> 3. Half of restaurants in my area do not have non-QR code menus, they just don't.

That's crazy. I don't think I even saw 50% during COVID. Must be barely 5% of places that are QR only in the UK.

> 4. McDonald's will make me pay the scam pricing you get without the app.

Isn't it a scam even with the app pricing? The quality is so so bad these days I feel scammed even paying £1.50 for a burger.

> 5. My doctor gives documentation only and exclusively in digital form, on a special application that doesn't even have a desktop equivalent.

> 6. My fiance's office badges are smartphone-based. You cannot enter otherwise.

Are those compatible with disability laws?

> 8. Increasingly more European airlines exclusively accept in-app check in and documentation. You cannot print it. Ryanair's one of them.

That is not true for Ryanair.

https://help.ryanair.com/hc/en-gb/articles/12889016882065-Ca... :

"You can check in on the Ryanair.com website or on the mobile App"

"If you checked in but cannot present your boarding pass on the app when you arrive at the airport, you will receive a free of charge boarding pass."

(This it is more difficult as their appears to be even fewer staff around than before)

Also:

"You can check in for your flight at the airport, but you will have to pay an airport check-in fee per passenger to cover the extra cost of the airport check-in service. Please see our Table of Fees."

(Admittedly very very expensive)

Re: Where to buy a non-Apple, non-Google smartphone

#144

Post by zephen »

chias wrote: post #131
troyvit wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 3. Half of restaurants in my area do not have non-QR code menus, they just don't. Not knocking this list, the shit is real. But I just had a lovely imaginary conversation with a server asking them what they would recommend and then trying something brand new.

I've had this conversation for real. The server's recommendation was that I scan the QR code. That was my last time going to that restaurant.

Joke's on the server. The robot that will replace their job soon will be more than happy to regale you with any hallucinated information you would like about the subtleties of the menu.

Re: Where to buy a non-Apple, non-Google smartphone

#145

Post by jodrellblank »

epolanski wrote: post #108
amunozo wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. You cannot even book appointments in a lot of banks today, a thing you could do in the 90s. Like that, a lot of services are unavailable without a smartphone and its non-smartphone equivalent is not available anymore.

This. 1. My bank doesn't allow to go in person without an in-app taken appointment. 2. My nephew can't play football in his team, because the team has an app to book/signal your availability. No other way. 3. Half of restaurants in my area do not have non-QR code menus, they just don't. 4. McDonald's will make me pay the scam pricing you get without the app. 5. My doctor gives documentation only and exclusively in di…

(Depending on whether you mean "can't exist without a phone" or "can't exist without an Apple/Google monopoly ecosystem")

3. you don't need an Apple or Google account to scan a QR code and open a web page.

4. Why is it "scam" pricing? You're getting a discount from giving them your information with an app. Like Kindle charging more to remove adverts. Dislikable, scummy not scammy. (i.e. they aren't taking your money and providing nothing and then disappearing).

6. I think in the UK / Europe the employer would have to provide your fiancee with a company phone so she could access her workplace, and could not legally require her to have a personal phone with an employer managed/controlled app on it.

7. Does Google/Apple authentication require a Google/Apple app? I see "sign in with Google" on web pages on my Windows desktop. Google Authenticator app is a fairly standard OTP passcode app which can be done in many other programs, password vaults and browser plugins.

8. Ryanair says you can check-in on their website: https://help.ryanair.com/hc/en-us/articles/12888891271953-Ho...

Re: Where to buy a non-Apple, non-Google smartphone

#146

Post by zephen »

dheera wrote: post #127
bdangubic wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Nowadays, you can no longer exist in society without a phone. millions of people would like a word… > Most things will work but it takes one critical service that doesn't have a viable workaround, and you're forced to buy (and possibly carry) a "mainstream" phone just for that. Absolutely not, if there is “critical service” that requires an iPhone or Android you call an attorney. > Banking, government, authenticati…

Browser is great until it tells you that you need to use a mobile device. This happens all the time on multiple KYC platforms in the US. My laptop is an equally mobile device, they just don't recognize that.

So far, I have only found this with T-Mobile's app.

The good news is that I can go into the nearby T-Mobile store and have them deal with it.

Re: Where to buy a non-Apple, non-Google smartphone

#147

Post by [deleted] »

tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #134
gib444 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Nowadays, you can no longer exist in society without a phone If my phone breaks, I will die? :) Perhaps it's this spreading of this lie that it's impossible to live without a phone that is contributing to the problem

No, but you will likely be inconvenienced to a similar level as losing your house keys, and lose access to important services. You won't immediately die, because most people can survive for quite some time on nothing but questionable river water and a piece of cardboard under a bridge, but there is a difference between survival and existing in society.

[deleted]

Re: Where to buy a non-Apple, non-Google smartphone

#148

Post by SoftTalker »

tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #132
SoftTalker wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can exist, but life will be as inconvenient as it was in the 1990s (though importantly, it didn't seem inconvenient at the time, it was just the way things were).

> as inconvenient as it was in the 1990s That's not true, because in the 1990s there was no presumption that everyone has a major-vendor smartphone. Now, the ways to do things without a smartphone are often disappearing, so things are more inconvenient. For example, ticket machines and printed schedules for public transit are going away in many places.

I don't have any usable public transit where I live but the place where I'm familiar with it is Chicago and all the train stations have ticket machines. Bus stops no, but you can pay on the bus with a payment card, transit card, or an app. Cash fares are no longer accepted for some time.

I miss the old tokens they used to use. So simple, anonymous, easy to share with traveling companions, though could be annoying when you ran out.

Re: Where to buy a non-Apple, non-Google smartphone

#149

Post by thewebguyd »

tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #138
O1111OOO wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Nowadays, you can no longer exist in society without a phone. Is it the phone or just the mobile operating system? I do most of my phone stuff on a tablet that I keep at home - where it's safer. I am currently using an Android phone (without an account) for GPS, phone calls (contacts), internet, games, email (alternatives to google), etc... But for those critical and sensitive apps (banking, etc)... I consider thos…

That doesn't solve for services that by definition need to be accessed on the go, e.g. public transit, parcel pickup, luggage lockers, rental bikes, restaurant menus, paying for parking, etc. (some of these may not mandate phones in your area yet or may allow mobile web alternatives, these are just examples where I've seen strong pushes towards apps or at leas in many places).

We'd need regulation for that. Either a mandate that the digital option is optional, and services must have an alternative means, or a mandate that any app based service also has an equally viable mobile web option, making the app optional.

Tbh I see no reason why all of that couldn't just be a website instead of a native app. Menus should just be a website, transit should still be offering physical metro cards, the lockers & bikes could just as easily be a website.

Folks on HN won't like this ida but quite frankly I'd go a step further and have a mandate that services like these must offer an API for the public to use in order to bring their own app/solution. It'd be nice to not be limited to exclusively first party options. How ridiculous is it that there are so many different pay for parking apps, when if all of them just offered an API I could roll my one all in one parking web app, etc.

I'd even pay a subscription, like many of these services offer already, for API access instead.

Re: Where to buy a non-Apple, non-Google smartphone

#150

Post by Insimwytim »

tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #138
O1111OOO wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Nowadays, you can no longer exist in society without a phone. Is it the phone or just the mobile operating system? I do most of my phone stuff on a tablet that I keep at home - where it's safer. I am currently using an Android phone (without an account) for GPS, phone calls (contacts), internet, games, email (alternatives to google), etc... But for those critical and sensitive apps (banking, etc)... I consider thos…

That doesn't solve for services that by definition need to be accessed on the go, e.g. public transit, parcel pickup, luggage lockers, rental bikes, restaurant menus, paying for parking, etc. (some of these may not mandate phones in your area yet or may allow mobile web alternatives, these are just examples where I've seen strong pushes towards apps or at leas in many places).

  > restaurant menus
Well, that's easy to deal with - don't go the restaurants that openly disrespect you.

Out of all the examples you have presented everything had worked somehow without phones not so long ago.

Maybe, with the exception of online public transit status streaming. And public transit still works without it.

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