Motorola announces a partnership with GrapheneOS • Hacker News Board

Re: Motorola announces a partnership with GrapheneOS

#381

Post by anonym29 » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 2:10 PM UTC

JohnLocke4 wrote: post #329

BatteryMountain wrote: post #108

If anyone from Motorola reads this thread; the market is beyond ripe for a good shake up. Going full open source and pushing updates & openness, user control and freedom, you will gobble up a good chunk of market share. Make MDM easy & first class (no third parties...), and a ton of corp will roll it out too. We need you more than you think.

The HN crowd is not representative of the entire market. Most people don't care about the operating system and only want something that 1) is simple to use 2) they already know 3) they happen to already have (most people keep their phones for many years) Also, the largest phone market in the world is the developing countries market. Cheap phones are supreme right now

"If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses."

- Commonly misattributed to Henry Ford

Re: Motorola announces a partnership with GrapheneOS

#382

Post by akrakesh » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 2:12 PM UTC

Finally, seems like a real possibility of ditching my Apple device (never used Android because of Google)

Re: Motorola announces a partnership with GrapheneOS

#383

Post by qmarchi » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 2:15 PM UTC

neya wrote: post #226

pbasista wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one suggests that open and developers-friendly phones should be expensive.

I agree, but they always will be expensive because they are a niche. Same reasoning as phones that focus on one niche (like photo/videographers) always end up being super expensive (eg. Xperia from Sony).

Disclaimer: Niche Xperia User.

Not necessarily, the Xperia line of devices is varied, with nice set of tiers:

1 - Flagship $$$$ 5 - Smaller Flagship $$$ 10 - Mainline $$ Ace - $

Sony's problem is that they have garbage marketing teams that don't understand that 99% of people don't look at a spec sheet, they ask the employee at the shop for the best phone, which is gunna be the one that gets the employee the most commission.

In Japan, they already have that with Docomo, AU, and Softbank. But they've failed to materialize that strategy outside of here.

Re: Motorola announces a partnership with GrapheneOS

#384

Post by stavros » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 2:15 PM UTC

mcdonje wrote: post #379

stavros wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Someone in the EU wants it" and "the EU wants it" are very different things.

Synecdoche. The EU governmental body is acting like it wants it.

And, again, that's not the EU.

Re: Motorola announces a partnership with GrapheneOS

#385

Post by nuodag » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 2:15 PM UTC

unfortunately every single Motorola phone is ridiculously large

Re: Motorola announces a partnership with GrapheneOS

#386

Post by coldpie » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 2:16 PM UTC

raffael_de wrote: post #212

BatteryMountain wrote: post #108

If anyone from Motorola reads this thread; the market is beyond ripe for a good shake up. Going full open source and pushing updates & openness, user control and freedom, you will gobble up a good chunk of market share. Make MDM easy & first class (no third parties...), and a ton of corp will roll it out too. We need you more than you think.

and a 4 to 5 inch display ...

They do make one with a 4" display! I'm a small phone liker. After spending years on an iPhone 13 Mini and wishing it was a little smaller, I got a Motorola Razr Ultra last year and I've been very happy with it. It has a fully functional 4" external display, and unfolds into a full-size smartphone/phablet display for when you need it. I use the little external display probably 80% of the time, but it's handy to unfold when you need it for Maps or something. I know it sounds wacky to have a foldable phone, I was nervous about it too, but give it a look. It's actually really cool.

Re: Motorola announces a partnership with GrapheneOS

#387

Post by TiredOfLife » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 2:16 PM UTC

Does this mean that Google has dropped the "if you release a phone running a fork of Android you lose access to Play Services" thing?

Re: Motorola announces a partnership with GrapheneOS

#388

Post by neya » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 2:18 PM UTC

cogman10 wrote: post #360

neya wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is just developer fantasy. The average consumer doesn't care even one bit. Is the phone smooth? Does it have a good camera? Does it have a good battery? Does it last more than 2 years? Go to some developing countries around Asia and you'll be surprised how people prioritise features when buying a phone vs developed ones. The developing countries account for most of the sales of most phone manufacturers. Phones t…

The original Google Nexus program showed that there is a market for more open phones and platforms. I don't disagree with you that in order to sell, these devices need to be somewhat appealing to more than just devs. However, I will say that the dev market isn't as small as it once was. A decent phone with an open platform would be something a lot of devs would likely prioritize buying. It won't be the next Iphone, b…

Agree with you on the foldables. God, no one wants that. That's why they have to pitch it as some luxury product the masses can't afford. I hate those creases too. No one can convince me those things are durable...no matter how many marketing videos they make.

Re: Motorola announces a partnership with GrapheneOS

#389

Post by pixxel » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 2:18 PM UTC

JohnLocke4 wrote: post #329

BatteryMountain wrote: post #108

If anyone from Motorola reads this thread; the market is beyond ripe for a good shake up. Going full open source and pushing updates & openness, user control and freedom, you will gobble up a good chunk of market share. Make MDM easy & first class (no third parties...), and a ton of corp will roll it out too. We need you more than you think.

The HN crowd is not representative of the entire market. Most people don't care about the operating system and only want something that 1) is simple to use 2) they already know 3) they happen to already have (most people keep their phones for many years) Also, the largest phone market in the world is the developing countries market. Cheap phones are supreme right now

[dead]

Re: Motorola announces a partnership with GrapheneOS

#390

Post by lo_zamoyski » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 2:20 PM UTC

Zak wrote: post #350

neya wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is just developer fantasy. The average consumer doesn't care even one bit. Is the phone smooth? Does it have a good camera? Does it have a good battery? Does it last more than 2 years? Go to some developing countries around Asia and you'll be surprised how people prioritise features when buying a phone vs developed ones. The developing countries account for most of the sales of most phone manufacturers. Phones t…

It's not just the average consumer. I continue to be surprised that so many developers and other tech nerds - the type who post on HN - chose and continue to choose the iPhone over Android when Apple dictates what apps they can install and locks third-party accessories out of certain features. Current times do present the opportunity to raise awareness of the issue though. App store bans for apps like ICEBlock, and v…

> I continue to be surprised that so many developers and other tech nerds - the type who post on HN - chose and continue to choose the iPhone over Android when Apple dictates what apps they can install and locks third-party accessories out of certain features.

Why do you assume every "developer and tech nerd" cares about the things you do, or should? This is like the stereotypical buffoonish sysadmin who scoffs at people who don't mod their machines or configure every last bit of their OS by hand.