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Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

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Re: Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

#651

Post by jdkrkekebeb »

AlotOfReading wrote: post #12

Google's long term strategy with Android is baffling to me. Apple has had better mobile hardware for years. Apple has higher consumer trust. Apple has better app selection (for most people). Apple has been increasingly implementing the core features that differentiate Android devices, like USB-C and RCS. Every Android user lost to the increasing iOS market share is another customer Google has to pay exorbitant fees t…

I think what is happening here is the moat is breaking. With llms getting good enough to make a program, how long until it is a whole OS...? And then how long until regulars figure out play store and play appa not needed???

Re: Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

#652

Post by bigyabai »

no_wizard wrote: post #641
bigstrat2003 wrote: post #571

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That isn't saying much. Even the best possible music editing (etc) app on a tablet is still crappy, by virtue of the form factor. Tablets simply are not suitable for getting actual work done.

This is changing with iPadOS, but the market needs to catch up with that. It supports a mouse and keyboard really really well now

> the market needs to catch up with that

By that token, touchscreen laptops will replace the iPad any day now.

I think the preeminent issue is that touch-native UIs are very imprecise and clunky by nature. The iPad makes a great MIDI controller; it's an awful mixer or plugin host compared to a regular laptop running regular PC plugins. Buying a mouse or keyboard won't port Omnisphere or the U-He plugins to iPad. I doubt the market will ever "catch up" in that regard.

Re: Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

#653

Post by ravenstine »

MrDresden wrote: post #24

When this whole thing got announced, I purchased a new Pixel 9 and flashed it with GrapheneOS. I am hoping that in about 6-8 years (when I realistically need to update) the landscape might be a bit better. Or who knows, maybe I'll just continue using GrapheneOS. So far I have not had a single issues with it. Apps the rely on attestation do not work, but honestly it's only two applications out of hundreds so I can liv…

Ironically, I've found that blocking the attestation API for some apps that supposedly require it (such as the latest versions of Waymo) might make them work anyway. lol

Re: Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

#654

Post by vee-kay »

McDyver wrote: post #41
vee-kay wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NewPipe (FOSS available on F-Droid) is nice alternative to ads-infested YouTube. I disabled YouTube and YouTube Music apps on my mobile, and I use NewPipe instead. You can even download YT videos or audio from YT videos using it.

I'm using Pipepipe. I believe it's a fork from NewPipe, and has more features, namely skipping sponsor block, and intros

Pipepipe stopped downloading audio or video when I was using it a couple of years back.

I switched over to NewPipe as it was better maintained and worked well.

Since past few months, NewPipe is not automatically showing latest YT videos, but it opens the video if I type in the video's source url. Downloads are working fine though, which is what I mainly use it for.

Will try Pipepipe again next weekend if it fares better.

Google is trying to suppress all these FOSS alternatives to its ads-overloaded apps.

Re: Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

#655

Post by vee-kay »

StopDisinfo910 wrote: post #111
Grazester wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So entitled. How do you expect Google to pay it's content creators that you watch if they didn't have ads?

The issue is obviously one of trade-off. Google pays content creators so little they have all started including ads in their videos. Si technically as long as you are counted they get paid. Meanwhile, Google is more and more aggressive with their own ads interrupting videos and pushing you to subscribe to their expensive offer. Some people, like me, have just stopped watching YouTube. Other are turning to blocking ad…

>Some people, like me, have just stopped watching YouTube. Other are turning to blocking ads.

Just use viable FOSS alternatives like NewPipe or PipePipe. They are good and clean. They allow to watch or download YT content, without ads.

Re: Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

#656

Post by hedora »

epolanski wrote: post #635
AlotOfReading wrote: post #12

Google's long term strategy with Android is baffling to me. Apple has had better mobile hardware for years. Apple has higher consumer trust. Apple has better app selection (for most people). Apple has been increasingly implementing the core features that differentiate Android devices, like USB-C and RCS. Every Android user lost to the increasing iOS market share is another customer Google has to pay exorbitant fees t…

Not everybody wants/cares for an iPhone. Realistically a 200 euros Xiaomi phone, to most users, is as good as they need it for seeing videos online and chatting. If you want to spend more, at each price tier you have plenty of choice including: better hardware, better cameras, more memory, etc. E.g. I do need dual (physical) sim phones. So I ain't buying iPhones ever for this very need. Consumer trust is very debatab…

Price hasn't been a particularly compelling difference between iOS and Android for a while. Here in the states, you can get a new iPhone 13 for $200 USD, which is 170 euros at today's exchange rate.

https://www.metrobyt-mobile.com/cell-phone/apple-iphone-13?i...

That's a prepaid cell phone company (no contracts); not sure how many months (if any) you have to pay for to unlock the phone. Renewed and unlocked ones are about $270 on amazon.

Re: Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

#657

Post by manuelabeledo »

StopDisinfo910 wrote: post #645
manuelabeledo wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Beats A19 Pro in Geekbench, at 65% higher power consumption. How is that a win?

One, you are entirely moving the goal post. Nothing was said of winning. The discussion was about catching up and catching up they did. As I said, the market is competitive. Two, because the actual power consumption is not 65% higher - that's peak - and high end Chinese phones have batteries significantly bigger than the iPhone so you still get better screen time between charges in the end.

I think it’s fair to say that a SoC should perform better at higher wattages, so my comment is definitely relevant.

Regardless, I don’t understand how you can say that I’m moving goalposts when I mention performance per watt, which is absolutely relevant when talking about smartphone SoC performance, and then you bring up battery capacity, which is not.

Re: Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

#658

Post by cesarb »

xandrius wrote: post #121

I take the opportunity to let people know that there are alternatives to Google/Apple duopoly on mobile. Link: https://www.ubuntu-touch.io/ Sure, GrapheneOS is often suggested but Ubuntu Touch is a really interesting alternative, their own store and ecosystem. The community is amazing and welcoming. If there are Android apps which you can't do without, they can be emulated and used anyway. Imagine switching to Linux…

> I take the opportunity to let people know that there are alternatives to Google/Apple duopoly on mobile.

In my country (which will AFAIK be one of the first ones to get the new app install restrictions), so far I haven't found any.

You're not allowed to import phones which are not certified by ANATEL, and AFAIK all currently sold certified phones are either Android (from several hardware brands), Apple, and feature phones.

> To me it's like being back when there was only Windows and Macs as viable home computer OS, and people were getting their feet wet with Linux and all its flavours. Now, it's the same but for mobile.

There's one VERY IMPORTANT distinction: back then, you could easily take a Windows or Mac computer and install Linux in it. For mobile, it's never been that easy; strong cryptographic signing of the operating system, combined with endless churn of the hardware design (there's no "PC compatible" equivalent for phones), and there being no way to keep the data partition intact when installing a custom ROM, make it much harder for people to "get their feet wet" with alternative operating systems.

Re: Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

#659

Post by hedora »

yndoendo wrote: post #461
xandrius wrote: post #121

I take the opportunity to let people know that there are alternatives to Google/Apple duopoly on mobile. Link: https://www.ubuntu-touch.io/ Sure, GrapheneOS is often suggested but Ubuntu Touch is a really interesting alternative, their own store and ecosystem. The community is amazing and welcoming. If there are Android apps which you can't do without, they can be emulated and used anyway. Imagine switching to Linux…

At the moment I would recommend FuriLabs solution. https://furilabs.com/ It already has a built in Android VM that allows seamless FDroid and Aurora Store usage. Since FuriOS is a based Debian distro, it should be reduced friction to use PostmarketOS or UbuntuTouch.

That looks surprisingly good (I see there's a 5G modem).

Does it make phone calls + send texts + manage battery reasonably?

Also, what does "non-rugged" design mean?

(I've had a few pieces of niche phone hardware before, and none of them had good answers to even one of those questions.)

Re: Google confirms 'high-friction' sideloading flow is coming to Android

#660

Post by hedora »

xandrius wrote: post #121

I take the opportunity to let people know that there are alternatives to Google/Apple duopoly on mobile. Link: https://www.ubuntu-touch.io/ Sure, GrapheneOS is often suggested but Ubuntu Touch is a really interesting alternative, their own store and ecosystem. The community is amazing and welcoming. If there are Android apps which you can't do without, they can be emulated and used anyway. Imagine switching to Linux…

I see an announcement from 2016 saying they're adding React Native support. Does it actually work? That'd allow low-effort ports onto their platform, and I'd much rather see them succeed than be stuck with the current duopoly.

(So, I'd probably put in the effort.)

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