Google: 'Your $1000 phone needs our permission to install apps now'". Android users are screwed - Louis Rossmann
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Can you still unlock the bootloader on Xiaomis? It was always a pain, but I've read they have completely locked them down now?
From what I hear you can either 1. Register with Xiaomi and try to unlock it once a month. 2. Slip a service center worker with special access like 100RMB or buy a pre-unlocked one on taobao. 3. Ask said worker to downgrade firmware, then, before they relock it, snatch phone and run out of the store.
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What if I am american, but travel to both countries? I am thinking xiaomi w/ custom ROM?
wrote last edited by [email protected]Get a Pixel to use in China and a Xiaomi to use in America.
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When it comes to the current final frontier, Linux phones, what brands/models would be the best option? Or are you all really recommending iPhones?
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I work in IT and pairing bluetooth is sometimes so finnicky i give up for a few days. I can accept that I'm not that great at IT but I don't think 99% of people don't have these problems.
And it's not a thing you do one time, most of these gadgets need re-pairing every sone time for whatever reason.
Oh I'll agree that sometimes Bluetooth pairing can be finicky.
But the person I replied to was talking about how Bluetooth is not good enough for audiophile quality headphones. But most people don't care and can't even notice the difference.
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not every android phone's hardware even allows installing custom ROMs, as far as i'm aware of. and even if the phone technically does allow it, that doesn't mean that any good custom ROMs are even available for it. so the issue is a bit more difficult than that.
Adb can uninstall Gservices and Magisk has a MicroG module
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Sideloading being so easy on iphones
Is it easy? Apple has only made that change in the EU AFAIK, it's still a closed system all around the world.
Look up sidestore and Live Container. I have many apps sideloaded without jailbreaking
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Yeah but don't you have to boot up your PC and connect your phone to iTunes once a week to re-enable developer mode to be able to sideload? Is there a more permanent method that I'm unaware of?
No i dont have to connect my phone to a pc. It refreshes from the phone and i sideload from my phone
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They are converging to become the same thing.
Its not any better on iOS, fyi, they too require Apple's final approval.
They don’t require apples approval at all not sure if youre talking about the EU. Im talking about sideloading with sidestore and live container
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Child slaves labored to make raw materials for the device you're holding. Your purchase kept the market rate for raw materials high, encouraging the continued use of slave labor. Don't you feel bad?
We do the best we can with the decisions we have available to us.
I agree, that’s why I have a Fairphone. It’s a way to minimize that impact.
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It actually looks decent, and their C2 phone looks reasonable though not premium (8GB RAM, 4G LTE, a 1600x720 screen and no fingerprint reader are not brilliant specs, though they'll do the job and it's a nice looking phone). The OS subscription might put some people off though: you get one year of updates and then have to pay about €5 per month.
I'm pretty curious about the C2, as well, but don't live in their market, and don't want to pay 100% of the phone cost in shipping fees, etc. And after all that, I have no guarantee of support. As for the €60 per year, my latest phone is an S22 Ultra, half of whose features I no longer use due to the updated Samsung TOS. I can absorb that cost for the sake of updates, if they'd let me.
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Look up sidestore and Live Container. I have many apps sideloaded without jailbreaking
I'm not sure I'd call those methods easy. They are all way more time consuming and annoying than Android is currently.
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When it comes to the current final frontier, Linux phones, what brands/models would be the best option? Or are you all really recommending iPhones?
Recommending iPhone because of freedom restrictions feels quite ironic
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So yeah we'll do a decentralized Linux phone of sorts, if Google is going full 3rd Reich with Android we'll move to a Linux based OS phone.
Simple as that.
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If you're in the EU there is now at least one alternative app store. iOS hasn't opened up anywhere else in the world AFAIK, so it's still a pain for everyone else. You used to be able to use the AltStore without jailbreaking iOS (maybe you still can), but the process was annoying and didn't feel particularly secure as you had to provide your Apple account details.
Apple just recently made it impossible to install one torrent client from the Alt-store. They're not any better than what Google is planning.
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When it comes to the current final frontier, Linux phones, what brands/models would be the best option? Or are you all really recommending iPhones?
Linux handheld with a 4g usb modem, doing calls over the internet.
Just an idea, im not doing this, nor do i know how practical it actually is. -
I don't have Google services, nor do I ever plan to install them. I'm perfectly happy with F-Droid, Aurora Store and NeoStore.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Soon aurora store may stop working.
They could add some crap to the apks in the play store that checks whether the phone has google services. So either the devs put their apks somewhere available (like on fdroid, which most wont do), or theyll just put their binaries on the play store, which will just be a useless blob for those that dont have play services. Then we get another shitty cat an mouse game about spoofing play services, them catching up, on repeat. -
Get a Pixel to use in China and a Xiaomi to use in America.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Lol. Which do I use in Vietnam? Serbia? If I'm in Canada and Trump threatens to invade, should I switch to the pixel for a week?
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If you are American, you should buy Chinese tech because the Chinese government is more interested in spying on and controlling its own people than you.
If you are Chinese, you should buy American tech because the American government is more interested in spying on and controlling its own people than you.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Im sure the us uses its tech dominance to sway political opinions one way or another in my country (brazil). And spying on people is a requirement for that. It seems like an attitude in line with the history of the relations between the us and brazil (and countless other countries). China probably tries that too, although i dont have a strong historical evidence for that disposition from china.
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I agree, that’s why I have a Fairphone. It’s a way to minimize that impact.
Unfortunately a Fairphone is not a secure device.
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Apple now allows sideloading of apps and Google is trying to get rid of sideloading.
What... the Fuck?
Yea but Apple got sued into allowing that
