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Your phone is about to stop being yours

keepandroidopen.org

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Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#361

Post by wiseowise »

kuhsaft wrote: post #262
NDlurker wrote: post #30

>Android's openness was never just a feature. It was the promise that distinguished it from iPhone. Millions chose Android for exactly that reason. Google is now revoking that promise unilaterally, on devices already in people's pockets, because they've decided they have enough market dominance and regulatory capture to get away with it. This is why I've stuck with Android for the past 15 years.

This is a very HN view of Android. The "openness" of Android was for mobile device manufacturers, not app developers and end-users. Android's prominence was driven by the myriad of low-cost Android devices by multiple device manufacturers, whereas iOS is only available via iPhones. The vast majority of users don't care about "openness" of the OS. They care about the utility of their phone in everyday life. Can I acce…

> This is a very HN view of Android.

Just because you're HN dweller doesn't make it HN view. The openness, freedom, customizability and accessibility (money wise) were the tenets that differentiated Android from Apple devices.

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#362

Post by kuhsaft »

cogman10 wrote: post #104
ge96 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm doubtful, I for a bit bought a lot of the Pine64 devices thinking about this eg. not just Android/iOS... but the lack of feature parity eg. missing drivers, lack of apps, old hardware. Unless people are paid to do it vs. volunteer

That's the depressing part. I keep looking for something I could potential run the likes of kde mobile and maybe waydroid on, but there's really just nobody doing this. You are basically locked into a vendor kernel if it's even available.

People forget how much the mobile hardware industry relies on non-free infrastructure. Infrastructure developed by companies that make the standards. You really can't make a good open-source phone because you, pretty much, have to play by the rules of the companies in these consortiums.

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#363

Post by MYEUHD »

seviu wrote: post #360
plombe wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not. You don’t need to pay $100 to upload your app to an iPhone, even with XCode for iOS 26

Technically not but the devil is in the details. Having to reinstall the app every 7 days and a limit of one app doesn’t even pass the bare minimum. Jolla has a prelaunch campaign, decent phones for 200€. I might just as well grab one. Sick of having a phone which is more expensive than my laptop but I can barely use.

The limit is 3 apps AFAIK

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#364

Post by akomtu »

shafoshaf wrote: post #206
akomtu wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it's their creation.

I don't know if that is sarcasm, but a chair I buy is mine to do whatever I want with it. Same goes for clothes, a mattress, paint, or any other non-software enabled physical item. Why does having software/hardware make a difference?

[dead]

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#366

Post by Itoldmyselfso »

mvdtnz wrote: post #211
gslepak wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or choose freedom. I've been enjoying GrapheneOS for a couple of years now and recommend it.

Graphene sounds great in theory. Until you read the device compatibility page and see you're still at the mercy of Google. In order to support graphene you must first pay Google for one of the most expensive android devices on the market. Oh and Google never sold this device in my country so I guess I'm out of luck even if I wanted to do that.

Motorola devices that match the GrapheneOS requirements are coming next year. It's good thing they're not compromising on hardware requirements that would undermine the goals of the project. If there's anyone to blame it's the dismal state of affairs on the hardware security side of my most Android phone manufacturers.

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#367

Post by gmueckl »

bayindirh wrote: post #331
fainpul wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even after Google puts this crap in place, you can still uplodad your own apps to your own Android devices, using ADB. Doing the same for iOS, using Xcode, costs you USD 100 or more (depending on country) per year . I'm in no way defending Google here, just pointing out you're going from bad to worse and think it's a good thing.

Sorry, even as a developer, "but, you can use ADB" is a big big copout. What's the next step when ADB requires some hoops to enable? Will we say that but the eMMC has an unencrypted EXT4 partition, we can just desolder and write into it?

There are ways to wrap adb in a friendly interface. I can totally see a desktop based manager and marketplace for phone apps as a workaround.

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#368

Post by Zak »

lunar_rover wrote: post #201
criddell wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get the feeling that clamping down on useful functionality is often an unfortunate side-effect of closing down paths that are being exploited by criminals to harm users. What should Google do when a change they are making to protect regular less-technical users breaks functionality needed by more advanced users?

> What should Google do when a change they are making to protect regular less-technical users breaks functionality needed by more advanced users? Put it behind an USB ADB only toggle and be more transparent to avoid slippery slope?

That requires having a PC to unlock basic functionality on your Android device, assuming the change we're talking about is still app installs.

I don't think OS vendors should be expected to keep people from doing dangerous things. A warning label saying "hey that's dangerous because..." is reasonable, but anything more and they're trying to be my sysadmin against my will.

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#369

Post by kuhsaft »

wiseowise wrote: post #361
kuhsaft wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a very HN view of Android. The "openness" of Android was for mobile device manufacturers, not app developers and end-users. Android's prominence was driven by the myriad of low-cost Android devices by multiple device manufacturers, whereas iOS is only available via iPhones. The vast majority of users don't care about "openness" of the OS. They care about the utility of their phone in everyday life. Can I acce…

> This is a very HN view of Android. Just because you're HN dweller doesn't make it HN view. The openness, freedom, customizability and accessibility (money wise) were the tenets that differentiated Android from Apple devices.

Android is developed by the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of mobile industry giants.

https://web.archive.org/web/20260420021444/https://www.openh...

Openness for end-users was never a tenet. It is a very HN view to think that open-source equals freedom for users, and to state that it was a promise when it never was.

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#370

Post by NamlchakKhandro »

pngwen wrote: post #68

This change has served me well! I have been a Mac OS X users for years who used an android phone. As soon as google announced their impending walled garden status, I went out and bought into the ios eco system. I have really been enjoying my iphone, ipad, and apple watch. You see, the only value that Android really offered me was the ability to run my own code on my own device. Since they are taking that away that ju…

You have bought a walled garden lock, it can be picked with a walled garden lock.
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