Google: 'Your $1000 phone needs our permission to install apps now'". Android users are screwed - Louis Rossmann
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With this shift and other control based decisions Google has been making, does Apple devices start to make more sense? Neither platform offers true control over there device you "own", but Apple at the very least isn't a marketing company.
I can't believe a company hasn't swooped in and eaten Apple and Google's lunch.
Apple isn't a marketing company? Wow, if anything I would say that singularly defines what has made them successful. They put out solidly mid hardware, but are the best marketers in tech and always were.
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TFW more than half of my phone's applications is getting thanos snapped and it's also carrier-locked
real question, you can't install another os if you have a carrier phone? how come? just asking bc i have one and want to switch to another os
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I've quickily looked up Sailfish and am shocked that we haven't been hearing more about it. Why is so? Where's the catch?
wrote last edited by [email protected]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.
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Their arguments are kind of lame. To install APKs from outside the store is already an involved process that generally makes it harder for the uninformed to sideload. Make sideloading a bit harder, but possible. My xiaomi makes me wait and read warnings before installing APKs, for example.
Side loading will still be possible but the apps themselves will need to be signed by the developer through Google, so Google ultimately still controls what can be installed. Maybe someone will crack it.
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C2 works on sailfish linux
What's C2?
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Same, though I think this will be the push the community needs to really launch a good Linux phone. It'll suck for awhile, but I'm looking forward to debating phone distros with all of you.
I use Debian as my daily driver and am disappointed to see that the best-supported devices under Mobian within my budget are the Pinephone (which has shockingly low specs) or the Pinephone Pro (recently discontinued, no longer sold. Also had poor specs).
I was toying with was getting an SBC with an LTE/5G hat & 7in touch screen, plugging it into a portable battery, and 3d printing a case for it.
Fairphone with PostMarketOS seems more practical.
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What's C2?
From the link I pasted https://commerce.jolla.com/products/jolla-community-phone
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Something kind of concerning I just found - there's an option for "limited distribution" which is "Intended for 'students, hobbyists, and other personal use.'" One of the differences is the following:
Has "capped number of apps and installs"(specific limits not disclosed)
Doesn't this imply there's going to be global tracking of what apps people are installing even through sideloading or APKs? I can't think of any other way to enforce this. They would have to know how many times people installed an app even when its not through any kind of app store or even from the internet at all.
I'm pretty sure that was implemented a while ago. My install of VLC from F-Droid started showing up in Play Store's update list.
It couldn't update since the signature didn't match, but Google knew about it and included it anyway.
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This should read that google is screwed, as android users flock to alternative phones. But no, so many would rather just keep on bending the knee to daddy data scrap.
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I'm pretty sure that was implemented a while ago. My install of VLC from F-Droid started showing up in Play Store's update list.
It couldn't update since the signature didn't match, but Google knew about it and included it anyway.
I think that's how it works when you have apps with the same name from different app stores, I noticed it with a different app like two years ago.
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Same, though I think this will be the push the community needs to really launch a good Linux phone. It'll suck for awhile, but I'm looking forward to debating phone distros with all of you.
Sorry it took so long to reply, I was waiting for Gentoo to finish compiling on my phone.
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Side loading will still be possible but the apps themselves will need to be signed by the developer through Google, so Google ultimately still controls what can be installed. Maybe someone will crack it.
It's a great way to workaround them being forced to open the ecosystem a little and allowing alternative stores and that stuff. It only took more than a decade, they obviously not happy about it, so gotta screw people in another way.
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This should read that google is screwed, as android users flock to alternative phones. But no, so many would rather just keep on bending the knee to daddy data scrap.
Android users will have no idea it's happening because only a tiny minority even knows what sideloading is. I don't think I have done it in my last 3 phones, so maybe a decade or so. It's definitely not enough of a reason even for someone like me to switch, let alone an average user.
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I know it's not really ready for it yet, but I guess I'm gonna be looking into a Linux phone before I thought I would.
My main problem with linux phones is that many apps only exist only for android or ios.
Sure some apps are basically a website that you can acess by web browser but many apps cant be replaced able (banking, tickets, public transport, games)
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I'm pretty sure that was implemented a while ago. My install of VLC from F-Droid started showing up in Play Store's update list.
It couldn't update since the signature didn't match, but Google knew about it and included it anyway.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Could be, but that could also just be done locally. Like your phone checking the apps you have installed and seeing if the same ones are on the play store. Having an install limit for an app - assuming that means that the app can only be installed some total number of times globally (a local install limit wouldn't make any sense I think) - necessarily implies that when you install an app through an APK, it has to tell Google that you installed that app so it can track how many people have installed it and not approve installation of the app if it's over whatever the limit is.
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I readily await the visibility and interest this will give mobile linux development.
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Soon privacy minded folks will have a burner phone for calls and sms (I need those for work) and carry some sort of phablet for smartphone functionality (gotta have my navigation app, for sure)
What OS will that tablet be running?
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This defeats the entire purpose of me having android
Like I'm just going to switch to an iPhone now. Not because Apple is any better, but because I have more family with them.
They took away our SD cards, they took away our removable batteries, they took away our headphone jacks. Now they're taking away side loading apps, and that's it. I'm done. The death of android.
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What OS will that tablet be running?
Whatever you choose.
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This should read that google is screwed, as android users flock to alternative phones. But no, so many would rather just keep on bending the knee to daddy data scrap.
What are those alternatives? I can't think of any that are ready for prime time.
