I'm using a Fairphone 4 and there is 0 bloatware, with a range of other benefits you might like - user replaceable parts and serviceability
Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?
231–240 of 324 posts
Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?
#232Earlier quoted context omitted.
To do anything else would be snakeoil at best: no open source project can support the radio firmware
Is it technically possible to write an open source firmware for the existing wireless chips?
Not really, modem firmware even for wifi and BT is pretty much tied down "thanks" to regulations, you won't get far without an exploit bypassing the signature verification. Governments are apparently very afraid of people modifying their chipsets to be more powerful in range than allowed.
Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?
#233The short answer is no. There is the Google Pixel. But it has limited updates and proprietary software for things like the camera. That camera is really nice though and it's as close as the Android experience Google intended to ship because this basically is Google's version of Android. I have the Pixel 6 and it's fine. Nokia stays close to that but ships their own camera app. It too has limited updates that run out…
> But it has limited updates and proprietary software for things like the camera It gets as many updates as other Android phones, and there is no blotware whatsoever. Not sure what your comments here are about the camera app. It's just an improved version to use the features of the pixel camera.
Google play services is arguably bloatware.
Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?
#234Earlier quoted context omitted.
The reason you don't see long term support on Android is the same reason Linux failed in the desktop: the Linux kernel developers want everything mainlined and are not interested in keeping a stable kernel API for drivers, but in the real world, drivers are closed source.
Oh right, it's those open source kernel guys. Has nothing to do with incentives to sell phones being aligned with business/profit (i.e. avoiding a phone to be usable well across the 5+ years mark).
This is the reason I want Arch Linux on my phone. I have my option of mobile interfaces (Plasma Mobile is still a thing, right?) or I could literally roll my own (there are i3 mods that allow using touch screens).
I'd love to be able to run a mainline Linux kernel on a standard handset. It would enable a bunch of goofy things, like using old phones as IP wifi security cameras.
Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?
#235I'm using a Fairphone 4 and there is 0 bloatware, with a range of other benefits you might like - user replaceable parts and serviceability
I can second this. My carrier (Orange France) did put some crap in there, but otherwise nothing.
Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?
#236The 'Android One' line/programme. Phone has to be pretty stock, and commit to some number of years of updates and more of security updates in order to qualify.
Or of course a Pixel, though if you don't use all of Google's stuff you might consider they come with more 'pre-installed bloatware'. They'll also probably always be supported by Lineage, so you could install that when official updates dry up, or just from day one to avoid 'bloat'.
Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?
#237The Pixel is the closest. The reason you don't see long term support on Android is because of Qualcomm. Qualcomm wants manufacturers to build on new chips, so they deprecate older chips and stop support. Most manufacturers don't want to hire kernel and hardware devs. Samsung can pull off longer support because of Exynos and they have a lot of inhouse expertise to extend support on old Qualcomm chips. It's all money.…
It seems that Google finally came to their senses and extended the support period to 5 years from 3 for anything Pixel 6+, so that's good I guess.
Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?
#238The Pixel is the closest. The reason you don't see long term support on Android is because of Qualcomm. Qualcomm wants manufacturers to build on new chips, so they deprecate older chips and stop support. Most manufacturers don't want to hire kernel and hardware devs. Samsung can pull off longer support because of Exynos and they have a lot of inhouse expertise to extend support on old Qualcomm chips. It's all money.…
It's all money. They don't want you keeping a phone for 5 years. Yes. Hardware vendors love Open Source. It essentially cedes all control of the market to them. They spend minimal time/money/effort on software development and updates because surprise, surprise --- it doesn't produce profits, it consumes them. Hardware is where they make all their money. The only realistic way to get long term software support on Andr…
> The only realistic way to get long term software support on Android is from Open Source. This means installing a replacement, 3rd party Open Source ROM.
What ROM do you use and what level of support does it provide? I was interested in third-party ROMs until I read this part of the GrapheneOS FAQ[1]:
> GrapheneOS can only fully provide security updates to a device provided that the OEM is releasing them. When an OEM is no longer providing security updates, GrapheneOS aims to provide harm reduction releases for devices which only have a minimum of 3 years support. [...] Harm reduction releases do not have complete security patches because it's not possible to provide full security updates for the device without OEM support and they are intended to buy users some limited time to migrate to a supported device.
So, what exactly do people mean when they claim that third-party ROMs provide "long-term" support? Do they just allow older phones to run newer versions of Android, albeit without full security updates?
Re: Ask HN: Stock Android phone free of bloatware?
#239The short answer is no. There is the Google Pixel. But it has limited updates and proprietary software for things like the camera. That camera is really nice though and it's as close as the Android experience Google intended to ship because this basically is Google's version of Android. I have the Pixel 6 and it's fine. Nokia stays close to that but ships their own camera app. It too has limited updates that run out…
The panorama function of Open Camera is terrible, and I only keep using that app because I'm too lazy to find a suitable replacement. Any suggestions?
Samsung's default Camera app is quite good for panoramas. I think you could probably grab the latest from one of the APK downloading websites and sideload it.