Google’s Android, the world’s most widely used mobile operating system, started life as open-source software. In its quest for ever-greater profits, the tech giant has been gradually eroding Android’s open-source capacity over the last decade.

Google’s Android, the world’s most widely used mobile operating system, started life as open-source software. In its quest for ever-greater profits, the tech giant has been gradually eroding Android’s open-source nature over the last decade.

Originally published on The Lever, but that one asks you to sign up.

  • Erik L. Midtsveen 🏴🌈@lemmy.wtfEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    Android has always taken the approach of it being developed in private and then having the full sources and commit history published for each stable release.

    We’re going to be moving forward under the expectation that future Pixel devices may not meet the requirements to run GrapheneOS.

    Many companies and individuals are trying to mislead people about the future of GrapheneOS to promote their insecure products and services.

    European authoritarians and their enablers in the media are misrepresenting GrapheneOS and even Pixel phones as if they’re something for criminals.

  • majster@lemmy.zipEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    MS keeps making Windows worse but that is not a problem because Linux is great on PCs. The reason is that PC is made out of standardized plug&play components that you can make generic OS image for.

    There is no such thing in smartphone world. Each chipset is it’s own Linux fork that gets only most crucial bug fixes while in warranty. Same is true for ARM SBCs where I believe the only board that supports generic image are new RPis.

    • flop_leash_973@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      3 months ago

      The reason is that PC is made out of standardized plug&play components that you can make generic OS image for.

      Yep, given the history of consumer technology as a whole it is really more amazing that the standard PC became a thing more than it is that people put up with what phones are today.

      We all really owe a lot of gratitude to Phoenix for reverse engineering the IBM BIOS back in the day, and going to court to fight the IBM copyright lawsuit that resulted, as well as Compaq and all of the other IBM compatible clones.

    • Patches@ttrpg.networkEnglish
      0·
      3 months ago

      I can’t tell what this is a dig about. Less Apps available? Less required maintenance time? Less Notification spam? Or?

      But I’m all for it.

      • Da Cap’n@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        0·
        3 months ago

        I can offer an answer as a former lover of android (12 years)…

        I used to do all of the phone modding/flashing roms etc. it was like I could never be just satisfied with my phone. After years of this, I got tired of the nagging in my head to improve it. So, I switched to Apple, and it just works and I don’t feel as though I’m missing out on anything.

        So, yes I don’t have to be on my phone all of them time other than when I actually need it.

        • dutchkimble@lemy.lolEnglish
          0·
          3 months ago

          Yep, mostly this. No more tinkering, whether it’s all the way to flashing roms etc or just trying out which alternatives I want to use for a dialer or sms app etc. definitely less notification spam too.

  • AbidanYre@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    Up until about two weeks ago I could use wallet on my rooted pixel with lineage and play integrity fix.

    Some recent change on their end and it doesn’t work at all anymore. I guess they don’t want to know what I’m buying.

      • Khrux@ttrpg.networkEnglish
        0·
        3 months ago

        I’m trying to make my own smart watch as a hobby experiment at the moment, and one of my most important features is NFC payments. It’s a nightmare, although I understand why. Currently my plan is to buy another smart watch or smart ring and take the NFC chip from it, which is maddening, but more or less my only option due to contactless payment security.

        To do contactless payments, your bank must effectively permit the specific device, otherwise go through GPay or Apple Pay, who in turn just do the permitting themselves. Anything outside of the standard ecosystem just gets overlooked.

        The best workaround while avoiding these companies is to find a smart watch or ring that has compatibility with a proxy card, such as Curve. But beyond halving the price of the accessory, this is pretty much an arbitrary decision.

        • edgemaster72@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          3 months ago

          I think what they were trying to say is “I heard people use an Apple watch to get NFC payments working”. I’m not confident that answer=Apple (also I have no idea if that would actually help), but it’s the best I can come up with.

              • Darren@sopuli.xyzEnglish
                0·
                3 months ago

                I bought a Garmin to accompany my Graphene Pixel, only to discover that my bank doesn’t support Garmin Pay.

                So, MagSafe wallet attached my phone it is then.

                • Apytele@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
                  0·
                  3 months ago

                  I just hope the new pebble supports a Sim card soon but I’m not holding my breath. I just want talk, text, and a calendar. Music or a matrix app could be cool too so I can run beeper or similar through it. Other than that I have a tablet or laptop and tbh I’m thinking my next tablet when this one finally dies or I maybe give it away would be a remarkable or other epaper device. My coworkers are starting to think I’m a Luddite but whatever.

    • rozodru@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      3 months ago

      one of the best products Microsoft ever produced. I absolutely LOVED my old Lumia. great phone, the OS was perfect, just an awesome all around phone. wish I still had it.

    • Domi@lemmy.secnd.meEnglish
      0·
      3 months ago

      I loved my Lumia 1520, but it just doesn’t hold a candle to a modern Android phone with LineageOS installed. Both in functionality and in privacy.

  • Valmond@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    I’m on hyperos and every time I have to touch anything pure Google I feel like I’m on a windows PC.

    Don’t get me wrong, hyperos isn’t a pinnacle of freedom, but all I do with my phone is basically using Firefox and take photos (+ signal, & SMS) and use the lichess app.

    It’s so infuriating, they steal our data, but just needs more. I’ll try a Linux FOSS system next phone.

    • Bongles@lemmy.zipEnglish
      0·
      3 months ago

      It’s telling how incompetent they’ve become when their LLM AI is the absolute worst one, including mechahitler before that update.

  • whotookkarl@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    It’s almost like the organization itself is designed to make things worse if it means short term profits, useful and appreciated apps sacrificed at the altar of line must go up

    My pixel 5 recently broke and the only reason I went with a pixel 9a was to install grapheneOS on it as soon as I got it. The process has become way easier than it used to be. After setting up/skipping all the first run screens I plugged it into another Android device and used the grapheneOS site to run the install, took like 15 min.

    • mazzilius_marsti@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      3 months ago

      hows your experience with graphene? Better than stock? I heard they have a sandboxed Google Play store now, so getting apps is even easier.

      • whotookkarl@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        0·
        3 months ago

        So far it’s been good for about a week. Highlights have been the easy install, secure by default but lets me override when I want (block app network access on install is awesome), and getting access to the other app repos than Google’s I haven’t seen since I installed dirty unicorns years ago. I setup multiple users so I can keep my primary like a root which was also simple to do.

        Only complaints I have are when I get messages on another user than primary I can see the messages in the app but not the message content in the notification, its just a generic alert message like new messages received. Nice to have but not going to make me switch back. And the keyboard doesn’t have swipe typing so I use gboard with network access turned off.

        Also I did install the Google app store to get a couple paid apps and calendar/contacts I need to move out of Google. It does sandbox by default which is really cool and i think should be required for phone manufacturers. I just disabled services/store/calendar access to the network after I let it download everything.

        Edit: also not a OS thing but I tried switching VPN to orbot/tor at the same time and it is still really unreliable for that use with the way so many sites try to sniff out your location

        • witten@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          3 months ago

          Only complaints I have are when I get messages on another user than primary I can see the messages in the app but not the message content in the notification, its just a generic alert message like new messages received. Nice to have but not going to make me switch back.

          I haven’t confirmed it, but enabling “Sensitive notifications” or a similar setting might fix this. Although it is more secure in theory not to have your message content visible on a locked screen.

          Also I did install the Google app store to get a couple paid apps and calendar/contacts I need to move out of Google. It does sandbox by default which is really cool and i think should be required for phone manufacturers. I just disabled services/store/calendar access to the network after I let it download everything.

          FYI you can use Aurora Store instead to download from Google Play, and even use it anonymously. It’s sometimes buggy, but IMO the tradeoff is maybe worth it.

        • mazzilius_marsti@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          3 months ago

          do you have the ability to remove whichever apps you dont like?

          The user notitication makes sense, i guess its more secure. Btw, so everytime you switch user, you have to restart?

          • whotookkarl@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
            0·
            3 months ago

            Yes, and it comes with very few by default as well

            No restart needed, pull down twice and the switcher is on the bottom right. Usually takes just a couple seconds to switch.

            • mazzilius_marsti@lemmy.worldEnglish
              0·
              3 months ago

              thats nice to hear. I thought you need to restart to change profiles.

              You’re on the 9a right? How is the battery under Graphene? I used to have the OG Pixel (codename sailfish) and try different roms on there, but the battery is just terrible.

  • No1@aussie.zoneEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    The stupid attempt to have everyone leave bluetooth always on pisses me off. They’ve made the BT quick tile 2 more presses to toggle on or off is ridiculous. It’s not a quick tile.

    I’ve just put a BT on/off widget on my home screen.

    • yopyop@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      0·
      3 months ago

      Could you develop on “attempt to have everyone leave bluetooth” ? What do they want us to use instead ?

    • Eagle0110@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      3 months ago

      There is an Xposed module to replace the tiles back to a simple on/off toggle, for both BT tile and WiFi tile.

      You need to grab your control back lol

      Also if you don’t have root on your personal Android devices these days… lol may Google have mercy on you lmao (hint: they won’t lol)

    • chaosCruiser@futurology.todayEnglish
      0·
      3 months ago

      But is it even slightly better? It’s debatable. Both are completely awful, but I guess iOS is just terrible in different ways.

      • brucethemoose@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        3 months ago

        My last iPhone was a iPhone 5. Or 6, maybe?

        Fast forward, and I’ve been on Android until right now, when I got an iPhone 16 in a loss-leader sale.

        …And I am astounded by how much worse it is. My old jailbroken iPhone’s UI was both simpler and 100x times more customizable and useful than all these bizzare required gestures; I spent days trying to teach my Mom and grandpa how to use it, to no avail. At the same time, its as uncustomizable as ever.

        I had basically every feature the 16 has now, like the action button, and more. And it somehow feels slower in browsing than my SD845 Android 9 phone.

        It wasn’t perfect back then, but the App Store is flooded with garbage now.

        I literally want my iPhone 5 back. WTF has Apple been doing?

        • chaosCruiser@futurology.todayEnglish
          0·
          3 months ago

          They’ve been busy reading the history books to find out what Android did 4 years ago so that they can start developing those same features today. Any remaining time and effort went into creating vacuous marketing hype.

          • brucethemoose@lemmy.worldEnglish
            0·
            3 months ago

            Irony is Android felt way more intuitive, including to my non techy family, even in the worst case (EG Samsung devices with their spammy UI).

  • jjjalljs@ttrpg.networkEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    Google should be broken up and its leadership fined into oblivion for anti competitive behavior

  • SeeFerns@programming.devEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    I really want to try a pinephone or something with Ubuntu touch. It’s likely not daily driver ready but I’m still curious at how far along it is.

    • utopiah@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      3 months ago

      Can’t speak for Ubuntu Touch but tried PostMarketOS on PinePhone and PinePhone Pro.

      The PP works well, good support for most things included SIM, camera, BT, etc but it’s big and bulky, also IMHO not powerful enough for Waydroid so no Android apps, “just” Linux. Relying on the browser to avoid using app is rarely practical as it’s too slow.

      The PPPro being more powerful should cover the gap… but some lack of support, specifically the camera, makes it tricky as daily driver.

      Both PP and PPPro don’t have great battery and/or power management so you can go through a day of usage, barely, and you might get stuck in a cycling loop if you depleted it entirely. That means also as daily driver, if you are not very cautious, it’s tricky.

      So… we are nearly there but unless you have a very VERY minimum usage of your phone, basically a dumb phone with a bit of CLI to remote connect to your own server from time to time, it’s probably not practical for now.

      Maybe the Liberux NEXX thanks to its power would have closed the gap but the failed crowd funding campaign shows that price point does not have a market fit right now.

      • SeeFerns@programming.devEnglish
        0·
        3 months ago

        Thanks for the write up! It honestly sounds like it’s be fine for me. My iPhone is already extremely bare and stripped down. I barely use the camera too, so like, idk I don’t feel like I’d be missing much?

        If I could buy a super cheap used one for testing, I’d do it. I’m waiting for my iPhone SE to die on me anyways before making the switch.

      • Vanilla_PuddinFudge@infosec.pubEnglish
        0·
        3 months ago

        So… we are nearly there but unless you have a very VERY minimum usage of your phone, basically a dumb phone with a bit of CLI to remote connect to your own server from time to time, it’s probably not practical for now.

        …and, that’s me.

        I gave up on my phones. There’s no way to remain connected to the modern world and my own without just keeping everything off of my phone and using it entirely in stock NPC mode. Trackers? Adware? Malware? Doesn’t matter, I only use it for calls, banking apps and cash apps. How do I access my personal, more 1337 haxxor shit?

        Laptop, although I can do a lot of work over ssh on phones and use things like syncthing and nextcloud to get around the ecosystem, still, but for the most part, I’m back in 2007, baby! We’re carrying messenger bags! We don’t care!

        • utopiah@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          3 months ago

          banking apps and cash apps

          Unfortunately that’s prevents from switching to Linux proper over (hopefully deGoogled) Android.

  • ohwhatfollyisman@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    android peaked with the pixel 2. then everyone went overboard on bezel-less displays and fast refresh rates and smart assistant services and brought the whole damn thing crashing down.

        • brucethemoose@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          3 months ago

          TBH getting a nice dongle like a Fiio KA5 is not so bad. It’s small enough to just hang off the cord, and sounds better anyway, and you don’t have to throw it away every phone switch.

            • brucethemoose@lemmy.worldEnglish
              0·
              3 months ago

              Sorry, I meant the KA1 or KA3, got them mixed up. My KA3 was like $50 used.

              I use it on my PC, too.

              Considering the cost in reference to the hardware, and that I can use it basically forever, and that it’s a lower distortion DAC than any phone? It’s not bad. And it’s a barely-noticable addon for my headphones that just lives on the cord.

    • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      3 months ago

      I don’t think the issue with phones is the smaller bezels or better displays.

      That’s not what’s ruining them.