Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google activated battery saving mode on multiple phones, then rolled it back

reddit.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 202 posts

Re: Google activated battery saving mode on multiple phones, then rolled it back

#171

Post by krn »

bubblethink wrote: post #166
krn wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Xiaomi is primarily a software company, not hardware. It sells hardware almost at its costs, because it treats it as a user acquisition. If a re-seller replaces the official MIUI version with a modified one, Xiaomi loses a customer. Xiaomi doesn't care about Android One phones, and allows them to be unlocked instantly.

I think you are conflating a few different things. That they want you to use their OS is obvious. The 30 day period may even be a wear-you-down period, so that you grow to like their OS. That is quite unrelated to the evil reseller backstory, mainly because the reseller could do that after 30 days too, and if they only wanted to thwart resellers, they could do captcha + ip checks, which they presumably anyway do.

The percentage of people who unlock the bootloader themselves is so small, that Xiaomi couldn't be less worried about them. On the contrary, unlike many other manufacturers, Xiaomi releases the source code and welcomes enthusiasts. The problem is with re-sellers, who unlock the devices in bulk and sell a modified version of MIUI to non-technical people. The longer the unlock period is, the longer the re-sellers have to keep the inventory purchased before they are able to make any modifications. This increases their costs and risks, because they now have to make large investments up-front.

Re: Google activated battery saving mode on multiple phones, then rolled it back

#172

Post by maccard »

hardwaresofton wrote: post #146
amelius wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only problem would be my banking app, which is pretty crucial.

But your bank probably has a web portal right? You could have used that, probably. I actually did that alot from my phone actually.

I've got two "high street" bank accounts, and one with a fintech startup (starling). My starling bank account is app-only. My high street banks both (basically) require their mobile apps for login to their web portals.

Re: Google activated battery saving mode on multiple phones, then rolled it back

#173

Post by fauigerzigerk »

hardwaresofton wrote: post #150
fauigerzigerk wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Also I want to point out that rendering and performance of web UIs could be good on phone hardware, the native implementations just have to want that to be the case. So that raises the question why Google, the king of the web, wouldn't want it.

I noted this in my other response but since when is Google the king of the web and in what way do you mean that? Mozilla seems to do the most work trying to move the web as a platform forward. Flutter is a system that would be impossible to create or fund unless you were at google scale, because it's massively wasteful as an idea -- it's literally a complete rendering engine and widget system built from relative scra…

I think both Google and Mozilla are moving the web forward. But I'm using "king" as a metaphor for power+money.

No one derives more power and money from the web than Google, and therefore they have a vested interest in keeping the web at competitive levels of performance compared to native platforms.

So if neither Google nor Mozilla can make web rendering as fast as Flutter, then I suspect that there is an inherent technical reason for that and not just lack of want.

Re: Google activated battery saving mode on multiple phones, then rolled it back

#174

Post by coaxial »

hellosputnik wrote: post #118
lalos wrote: post #65

We need more transparency from companies, this time it was a 'bug' that was visible to the end user (hey! who turned on power saving?). Would Google go public if they also develop a 'bug' that is not visible easily by the user or if it was not discovered by anybody but them? Like a 'bug' that changes certs temporarily to intercept your encrypted traffic or uploads random data elsewhere, etc?

You can avoid all of this by using an iPhone. Apple's business model does not involve ad revenue or data collection. Your data is collected but is used purely to improve the iPhone. Your data is intentionally obfuscated for privacy. For an example of Apple's strict policy, check out this article on Apple Maps: https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/29/apple-is-rebuilding-maps-f...

Apple's business model heavily relies on planned obsolescence to bully you into throwing away YOUR working iPhone when they've decided its time for you to drop another 700-1000$ by making their latest OS so slow that your phone is essentially unusable. Of course you'll also have to throw away all the expensive accessories you might own because the connection port has changed format too, yet again.

At least on Android I can install a custom ROM, root it, and install a system wide adblocker like adaway. Oh and also my phones cost under 300$ and I can keep them working until I decide it's time to replace it.

Because android works better for me doesn't mean it has to be the same for everyone, but in any case Apple is out to milk money out of you and not to save you from google. Neither companies have your best interest in mind, you're just there to make them money.

Re: Google activated battery saving mode on multiple phones, then rolled it back

#175

Post by amaccuish »

muks wrote: post #16

After my Samsung Galaxy S7 phone started having hardware issues, I looked to see if a phone running open source software was available, one that also could run the Android apps I currently use. I've had sucess with LineageOS 15.1 on a Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro (codename "whyred"). Unfortunately the phone's LTE bands don't support every country, but it works fine here in India. The phone hardware costs USD 210 and buys…

LineageOS 15.1 is great, except it STILL doesn't have exchange support, and yes a bug/regression has been logged. That's a pretty big thing to be missing, since all the competitors (Outlook, GMail, Nine) are closed source.

Re: Google activated battery saving mode on multiple phones, then rolled it back

#176

Post by mbrumlow »

de_watcher wrote: post #76
Tharkun wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We've had several FOSS based phones. The problem is that no one buys them, their finances dry up and the whole thing goes down the drain.

Phone developers need to have a lot of money in order to get the permission from major services to write an app to connect to those services. That was the story of the Ubuntu Phone.

That is the real problem I see. The networks and tech required to connect to cell towers are too closed. Even when you do get a open phone going the bits and parts that connect to the network are often small computers themselves that allow very little control.

At least in the US the people sort of own the airwaves, maybe we can push for our government to enforce open protocols for connecting to cell networks?

Re: Google activated battery saving mode on multiple phones, then rolled it back

#177

Post by liftbigweights »

hellosputnik wrote: post #118
lalos wrote: post #65

We need more transparency from companies, this time it was a 'bug' that was visible to the end user (hey! who turned on power saving?). Would Google go public if they also develop a 'bug' that is not visible easily by the user or if it was not discovered by anybody but them? Like a 'bug' that changes certs temporarily to intercept your encrypted traffic or uploads random data elsewhere, etc?

You can avoid all of this by using an iPhone. Apple's business model does not involve ad revenue or data collection. Your data is collected but is used purely to improve the iPhone. Your data is intentionally obfuscated for privacy. For an example of Apple's strict policy, check out this article on Apple Maps: https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/29/apple-is-rebuilding-maps-f...

Apple is just as involved in data collection. Just mostly for internal consumption and they are moving heavily into ad space.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-looks-to-expand-advertisi...

There aren't any saints in the corporate world.

Re: Google activated battery saving mode on multiple phones, then rolled it back

#178

Post by dole »

hellosputnik wrote: post #118
lalos wrote: post #65

We need more transparency from companies, this time it was a 'bug' that was visible to the end user (hey! who turned on power saving?). Would Google go public if they also develop a 'bug' that is not visible easily by the user or if it was not discovered by anybody but them? Like a 'bug' that changes certs temporarily to intercept your encrypted traffic or uploads random data elsewhere, etc?

You can avoid all of this by using an iPhone. Apple's business model does not involve ad revenue or data collection. Your data is collected but is used purely to improve the iPhone. Your data is intentionally obfuscated for privacy. For an example of Apple's strict policy, check out this article on Apple Maps: https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/29/apple-is-rebuilding-maps-f...

I wish I could've avoided that terrible U2 album.

Re: Google activated battery saving mode on multiple phones, then rolled it back

#179

Post by j45 »

j45 wrote: post #26

Oddly I turned on battery saving a few days ago and missed this. As much as I like my Pixel, simpler times of loading apps onto a Palm trek with a wire like syncing music onto an iPod comes to mind.

To help those who may not be able to read between the lines, or know a time before the app store:

Externally initiated and unattended changes to my phone only impact the ability to trust and rely on my phone. This is a battery setting today, but might it be the last thing?

Windows forced updates and reboots come to mind of where we could end up.

Re: Google activated battery saving mode on multiple phones, then rolled it back

#180

Post by lalos »

bitL wrote: post #130
lalos wrote: post #65

We need more transparency from companies, this time it was a 'bug' that was visible to the end user (hey! who turned on power saving?). Would Google go public if they also develop a 'bug' that is not visible easily by the user or if it was not discovered by anybody but them? Like a 'bug' that changes certs temporarily to intercept your encrypted traffic or uploads random data elsewhere, etc?

"Location collecting bug" was a favorite twice, last time not that long ago.

That or the 'bug' where they collected all SSID and MAC of all wireless networks when taking photos on their Google Maps cars.
Post reply on HN