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Google will develop Android OS behind closed doors starting next week

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Re: Google will develop Android OS behind closed doors starting next week

#161

Post by buildbot »

rchaud wrote: post #16
johnnyanmac wrote: post #8

>This does not mean that Google is making Android a closed-source platform, but rather that the open-source aspect will only be released when a new branch is released to AOSP with those changes, including when new full versions or maintenance releases are finished. I'll believe it when I see it. These days, words are basically meaningless from these large tech companies. Actions are what matter. at the very least, I'…

No OEM is interested in AOSP builds, because no one is going to buy an Android phone without Google Play Services, which is required for many popular apps to work (banking, games). There were some Chinese OEMs that ran an Android build and have unofficial ways to get Play Store working (Boox eReaders for example), but those are increasingly rare now, as years of sanctions has led to Huawei de-Googling itself fast, wi…

DJI/Hasselblad use it for their X1D/X2D line of cameras, based on the (accidentally) non-encrypted firmware for the X1D Mk II which has android stuff in it.

Re: Google will develop Android OS behind closed doors starting next week

#162

Post by delite »

Krssst wrote: post #157
cbdumas wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I'm just a tech philistine but I find my Pixel 8a and my wife's iPhone to be basically indistinguishable in any meaningful way.

In my understanding, animations cannot be fully disabled on iOS (please tell me if I am wrong) while they can on Android. This leads to much better usability since you don't have to wait after every interaction.

You can enable reduce motion[1] which effectively replaces all transitions with a brief fade.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/guide/iphone/iph0b691d3ed/io...

Re: Google will develop Android OS behind closed doors starting next week

#163

Post by prossercj »

distalx wrote: post #159

They might be cooking up their own silicon, like Apple did when transitioning from the A-series chips to the M1. If that's the case, they'd definitely want to keep any low-level system tweaks or new APIs under wraps. This whole situation also reminds me of the Manifest V3 drama with Chromium. They might be planning something similar and want to avoid the early headaches of public criticism. Or maybe they're doing a b…

Don't they already have their own silicon (Tensor)?

Re: Google will develop Android OS behind closed doors starting next week

#164

Post by mattmaroon »

nvllsvm wrote: post #60
mainecoder wrote: post #14

I hope they make it closed source and make us much money out of it as possible for shareholders that is their job and their duty, why are they giving this away for free they have already captured market share by claiming opensource and building a community now all they have to do is make it proprietary and the old opensource version slowly wither and become unstable, then they can charge money for the operating syste…

As much as I - a Pixel 7 (GrapheneOS) user - would hate that, doing so would essentially put Android on equal footing as iOS and would give me a serious reason to consider switching to an iPhone. Apple's hardware is just so much sleeker, faster, and better than Google's mediocre Pixel line.

The Pixel line has never, IMO, been the best hardware in the Android ecosystem. It might be the best hardware/software combo, but Samsung's hardware has always seemed better.

Re: Google will develop Android OS behind closed doors starting next week

#165

Post by fmajid »

jazzyjackson wrote: post #158
fmajid wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes: https://illumos.org/

This doesn’t appear mobile oriented, or is this an open Solaris fork? I suppose lineageOS is the closest thing for Android tho from what I understand it is built upon AOSP

Yes, an OpenSolaris fork. I thought that was the "it" you were referring to, as that was what the parent was talking about.

There are quite a few AOSP forks, like LineageOS and GrapheneOS to cite the most famous ones, but with this change in process by Google, they will have to wait a year of no changes, then scramble when the next release of Android drops.

Re: Google will develop Android OS behind closed doors starting next week

#166

Post by Macha »

needlesslygrim wrote: post #131
oska wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Unless you live outside of the US [...] and they all use WhatsApp This is such a ridiculously incorrect over-generalisation. China, Japan & Russia are obvious counter-examples, plus many others.

In China WeChat is the dominant messaging platform, SMS is only used for delivery notifications, spam, etc.

My understanding is Line is on top in Japan.

Re: Google will develop Android OS behind closed doors starting next week

#167

Post by TexanFeller »

I’m glad they’re dropping the pretense of being an open platform. Maybe this will create space for a truly open mobile platform that respects our privacy even better than Apple. I never liked Android anyway, felt half baked and unpolished even on several flagship phones I used it on some years ago before giving up on it.

Re: Google will develop Android OS behind closed doors starting next week

#168

Post by borntoolate »

desdenova wrote: post #148
AnthonyMouse wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The weird thing is, why is that the case? I'm trying to think of a mobile OS feature addition that has made me say "I need to upgrade my phone" and it just hasn't happened recently. It's more like, damn it, the dastardly thing stopped receiving security updates and now I have to replace it for no good reason. Isn't Android done yet? What further development is required that couldn't be done by the community?

The point is it doesn't have a developer community that could maintain the project without Google.

Porting lineage to new hardware mostly includes development teams that have nothing to do with Google.. Convincing no one to leave the thin veneer of mediocre code and "free" storage is a game that is harder to play than Apple makes it look with OsX.

Re: Google will develop Android OS behind closed doors starting next week

#169

Post by footlose_3815 »

Android was really cool for the first couple years, but now it's optimized for brand presence and ad delivery. Every Android device I've purchased for the last 10 years there's been a common expectation of the manufacturer trying to totally capture, record, sell, and leverage my digital experience in ways you never wanted. The only escape was LineageOS, and the technical barrier was plenty hard to make it work just right.

I'm currently on iOS and as many other commenters said, I'm still waiting for a truly open and privacy-respecting OS that we can install on open hardware. It worked for Unix in the computer world.

Re: Google will develop Android OS behind closed doors starting next week

#170

Post by TexanFeller »

Yeul wrote: post #95
cbdumas wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I'm just a tech philistine but I find my Pixel 8a and my wife's iPhone to be basically indistinguishable in any meaningful way.

I play videogames and I can tell the difference between 60 and 120herz screen. Always amused me that a so called premium device had worse hardware than a flagship killer. Apple apparently finally caught up with their latest phone?

Apple phones have had ~120hz screens for many years now. Only on the Pro models though, not the cut down economy models, that’s how they force people with disposable income to buy the Pro.
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