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Motorola announces a partnership with GrapheneOS

motorolanews.com

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Re: Motorola announces a partnership with GrapheneOS

#571

Post by drnick1 »

smlavine wrote: post #532
upmind wrote: post #521

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be honest, I don't think I've ever met someone with a Motorola.

I like mine. the moto g line of phones are like $200, unlocked. They're fast enough for anything I do with a phone. It runs android. It's fine. I've thought about GrapheneOS before but I a) don't want to give Google money to rely less on Google and b) Pixels are expensive. If Motorola can change those points then I'd definitely be interested.

I doubt that the model with Graphene will be $200. If it's a $1000 phone it's dead on arrival however. The best we can hope for I think is something priced close to a Pixel a-series, a comfortable mid-range.

Re: Motorola announces a partnership with GrapheneOS

#572

Post by daneel_w »

SockThief wrote: post #84
silisili wrote: post #27

This was figured out a while ago based on the hints given. That said, I'm pretty excited. Motorola of the last decade or so has made really good hardware with basically stock firmware and a terrible update policy, which is why many avoid them. Seriously, they just offer quarterly updates on flagships, which is incredibly unsecure. Punting software to Graphene solves the biggest gripe many have.

That is not what I experience on ThinkPhone. I get monthly security updates for about two years now. Maybe it is an exception? I'm in EU if that matters. And Motorola is almost free of bloatware. It is practically a stock Android.

> And Motorola is almost free of bloatware. It is practically a stock Android.

My girlfriend had one of the Moto Play models from 2020 and it was horrific. Is their Android setup really any better these days?

Re: Motorola announces a partnership with GrapheneOS

#573

Post by jama211 »

evolve2k wrote: post #511
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…

Counter-point; we are in times of mass upheaval and protest. Purchasing a secure phone is desirable to almost anyone who is increasingly worried about state and corporate actors, especially those that would seek to surveil and coerce. I suspect some will buy these phones as a daily driver, some as a second phone. Institutional trust is at an all time low, this is a smart move selling into the growing demand for secur…

There’s a huge amount of wishful thinking in this that people will care, and the Lenovo thing is just false.

Re: Motorola announces a partnership with GrapheneOS

#574

Post by EvanAnderson »

nhubbard wrote: post #477
EvanAnderson wrote: post #423

A Moto phone with GrapheneOS and the "chop / chop" gesture[0] to turn on the flashlight would be a dream. I'm, shamefully, an adherent to Moto hardware now because of that silly gesture. I use it multiple times a day. I had a friend with a late model Pixel try to replicate the functionality and he couldn't come up with a way to do it. It's silly, but it's too handy. [0] https://en-us.support.motorola.com/app/answers/…

One of the important reasons that it works so well is because it uses the Hexagon DSP in the Snapdragon processors to catch the events. That's why it's so hard to replicate. It's possible to do it entirely in software, but it chews through battery if you do it that way. I can't find it now, but there was an article a few years ago that explained how the feature worked. And there's no way to program the DSP without be…

Wild. Thanks for the keywords to search-engine this with. I found "Reverse engineering the Motorola Sensorhub: Part 1"[0]. To this point I hadn't thought about how they might have implemented the feature. That article sheds some light on it.

[0] https://ristovski.github.io/posts/moto-sensorhub/

Re: Motorola announces a partnership with GrapheneOS

#575

Post by jama211 »

godelski wrote: post #561
array_key_first wrote: post #534

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Android phones do phone things. They work perfectly fine - in many ways better than iPhones, and in others not as well.

I switched to an iPhone more in an act to protest Google and I regret my decision. Things didn't get easier, they got harder. I mean for christ's sake, there's no universal gesture for "back". Do I swipe from the side? Press the x button at the top left? The top right? Is there no option I can find so I just force close the app? When I swipe to text with autocorrect turned off why does it change the word I swiped AND…

[flagged]

Re: Motorola announces a partnership with GrapheneOS

#576

Post by thankyoufriend »

idiotsecant wrote: post #556
mckenzba wrote: post #480

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. I was heavily involved with the Maemo community back in the day and even made an Ubuntu 9.04 port to the Nokia N800/N810. These days I'm juggling multiple responsibilities and I need to conserve my mental energy for work. I certainly credit my career on that tinkering, but these days I just want something that works so I can put my energy elsewhere.

>I need to conserve my mental energy for work. Is perhaps the saddest sentence. Whats the point of working when you don't have enough energy left to do the fun stuff?

You might be reading into that too much. It's more likely that this person's definition of what is "fun" has changed since they were younger. Spending time with family/friends or engaging with new hobbies might be how they have fun now, and that's perfectly fine.

Re: Motorola announces a partnership with GrapheneOS

#578

Post by g947o »

eldaisfish wrote: post #503
g947o wrote: post #351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That may be a good argument 5 years ago but not today. An iPhone does not necessarily last longer than an (flagship) Android phone these days, including security updates.

can you walk into a Samsung shop and have your battery replaced with an OEM part, warranties and all, in about two hours?

I don't think that's the topic being discussed here.

Re: Motorola announces a partnership with GrapheneOS

#579

Post by EvanAnderson »

rkagerer wrote: post #525
EvanAnderson wrote: post #423

A Moto phone with GrapheneOS and the "chop / chop" gesture[0] to turn on the flashlight would be a dream. I'm, shamefully, an adherent to Moto hardware now because of that silly gesture. I use it multiple times a day. I had a friend with a late model Pixel try to replicate the functionality and he couldn't come up with a way to do it. It's silly, but it's too handy. [0] https://en-us.support.motorola.com/app/answers/…

Neat. I wired the flashlight to a long press of the Bixby button on my S10+.

I probably would have settled for a button, but the gesture is so nice. (There's also a "twist" gesture to activate the camera. It's also nice. I haven't ever gotten false positives with the gestures and they have become second nature. I never used any gestures before having a Moto phone and always thought accelerometer-based input was gimmicky and unreliable based on my experience with prior phones.)

Re: Motorola announces a partnership with GrapheneOS

#580

Post by OneDeuxTriSeiGo »

neya wrote: post #216
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.

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 average consumer may not care but there's multiple overlapping segments that Motorola can capitalise on here:

- tech consumers (i.e. the current GOS pixel market)

- family members of tech consumers. i.e. tech consumers can hopefully now recommend stock grapheneOS on motorola to family members since it's not a custom ROM but just a stock device with official manufacturer support.

- privacy/security conscious non-techy types.

- non-techy users who want a device without AI or a bunch of unnecessary addon apps like google or samsung tend to preload on devices.

- business IT optimising for security and minimal attack surface while sticking to COTS B2B and B2C options for corporate handhelds.

Like this isn't the largest market ever but it's a sizeable and fairly loyal market because each one of these groups is fairly opposed to unnecessary change. It's safe, reliable, and sustainable growth in a broader market that is extremely hostile.

And they are in particular targeting the business IT market since this announcement was made as part of their showcase on their new B2B cellular options.

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