Google: 'Your $1000 phone needs our permission to install apps now'". Android users are screwed - Louis Rossmann
Submitted 20 hours ago by rustyredox@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world
https://youtube.com/watch?v=QBEKlIV_70E
Comments
chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
Bennyboybumberchums@lemmy.world 17 hours ago
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.
Tja@programming.dev 16 hours ago
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.
rikudou@lemmings.world 14 hours ago
Well, I use Obtainium to install all my FOSS apps directly from the repository.
I also built a game for kids (available publicly) and then made a plugin just for my kid which includes some licensed characters, for obvious reasons I can’t put that onto the Play Store, so apk installation it is.
Mog_fanatic@lemmy.world 10 hours ago
I get what you’re saying and you’re definitely right. I don’t side load things all that much but the times I have was because there was no other viable way to get what I needed and it worked amazingly well (not to mention testing something before it’s available on the app store).
It’s one of those things like a fire extinguisher that you might not need but you are very grateful it’s there just in case you ever do.
DJDarren@sopuli.xyz 14 hours ago
And are these alternative phones in the room with you?
Seriously, the alternatives to Google’s Android are:
iOS: lol GrapheneOS: Currently at the mercy of Google Lineage: Same /e/OS: Same
Plus a bunch of half baked Linux distros that run on old or limited hardware.
We’re in a duopoly because it doesn’t suit the manufacturers to give a shit.
spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 16 hours ago
What are those alternatives? I can’t think of any that are ready for prime time.
rc__buggy@sh.itjust.works 17 hours ago
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)
thesystemisdown@lemmy.world 16 hours ago
What OS will that tablet be running?
ricdeh@lemmy.world 16 hours ago
Whatever you choose.
rc__buggy@sh.itjust.works 15 hours ago
hopefully some flavor of linux
the_q@lemmy.zip 18 hours ago
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.
cardfire@sh.itjust.works 18 hours ago
You need a certain critical mass to enter this market, since you need to be able to get an army of Foxconn slaves to produce the handsets.
No company is going to be and to swoop in and eat those two’s lunches.
Stovetop@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
Hell, even the juggernauts of Microsoft and Amazon tried, and they got crushed out of the market.
kayazere@feddit.nl 18 hours ago
You also need every company to develop for a third mobile platform, where two different ones are already a big ask.
Easy solution would be to run existing apps on Linux, probably would be Android.
Another solution would we move to PWAs to have apps in the browser.
Both these things already happened on desktop Linux with Windows games using Proton and most desktop apps switching to Electron.
mnhs1@lemmy.world 17 hours ago
At this point, I just need a community device. And I’ll gladly pay monthly for an OS that has the basics with a web browser and full privacy.
pdxfed@lemmy.world 17 hours ago
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.
thebestaquaman@lemmy.world 15 hours ago
“Not a marketing company” as in their business model is not centred around shoving ads in your face for money is how I read it.
olympicyes@lemmy.world 15 hours ago
The hardware is absolutely not mid. It is inflexible. Compare the entry level MacBook Air to any comparable Windows laptop and you’ll be spending much more to get close to the same performance/battery/build quality. The thing that makes them successful is creating a unified ecosystem that is hard to leave. People don’t pick Apple because they are a bunch of idiot clones who are enamored with TV ads.
the_q@lemmy.zip 12 hours ago
They aren’t a marketing company; they’re a tech company that knows how to market. Hate them all you want, and I do, but let’s be honest. Also, the M series SoCs are technological amazing. They are efficient and powerful whereas in the standard PC world Intel is just pushing more electricity through their chips to try and keep up with IPC and AMD isn’t far behind, plus ARM outside of Apple just isn’t nearly the same.
DJDarren@sopuli.xyz 14 hours ago
Until a few months ago I was all-in the Apple ecosystem. iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV. Seeing them launch things like Universal Control was amazing.
Then I jumped out, got a Pixel, put Graphene on it, and started messing with Linux.
… Only to discover that Universal Control is essentially just Input Leap, which can trace its history back to 2001 and the launch of Synergy.
Apple are absolutely a marketing company. Don’t get me wrong, they add some much-needed polish, but they essentially just rejig existing tech and lock it down so it only works on their devices sold in the last few years.
olympicyes@lemmy.world 15 hours ago
Android is all of the downsides of Apple now with none of the upsides. I prefer the company selling a walled garden over the one selling my internet activity.
upside431@lemmy.world 7 hours ago
This is redicolous
iAvicenna@lemmy.world 15 hours ago
if this happens my next phone either will be a linux phone (if I can find a dependable one with banking apps allowed) or iOS out spite
DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 13 hours ago
Lol, that’s like saying “my country became a dictatorship, so I’m gonna support another country’s dictator out of spite”
0x0@lemmy.zip 11 hours ago
I’ll drink water from the toilet 'cos the wine is bad!
iAvicenna@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
Not really, it is more like saying “I am going to move to another dictatorship”. In both cases, lose enough of your “members” and your organisation becomes significantly weaker.
Also iPhone has been quite constant bout its motivations and priorities quite from the start (even if did not announce it publicly lol). Android however was a product of a company who started its life with a motto “don’t be evil” and is now trying to monopolize the shit out of everything. I am not even sure this can even be classified as a lesser of two evils scenario anymore.
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 12 hours ago
Flip phone or free/very cheap phone. Certainly won’t spend any real amount of money on android. Like £15 or so second hand them yeah maybe
tal@lemmy.today 14 hours ago
iOS
IOS already does this.
Statick@programming.dev 14 hours ago
Yeah but he’s doing it out of spite since the whole point of Android is freedom to do what you want. Take that away… Might as well go apple.
rikudou@lemmings.world 14 hours ago
Take a look at SailfishOS, it’s good.
dovahking@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
I’ll just buy and use decade old phones with unlocked bootloader till I can. There’s barely any innovation in phones these days and I’m sure someone will come to fill the gap Android left (hopefully Linux). I’m still using my 5 year old phone degoogled with custom a16 and still going strong. I also have a backup pixel 6 in case the current one breaks. I can easily wait 10-15 years.
rasakaf679@lemmy.ml 5 hours ago
Banking Apps in my country doesn’t even install on Android version of previous 2 version, because “security” reasons…not because of their incompetence to make their app more secure. I had to buy new phone to use my own money.
TerraRoot@sh.itjust.works 4 hours ago
I just changed banks, fuck those app
gian@lemmy.grys.it 4 hours ago
This do not depends on bank incompetence, it depends from the regulations the banks need to follow.
And for the same reason you cannot install on a rooted phone (or at least, you should not be able to do it)
Revan343@lemmy.ca 13 hours ago
Does anyone know anything about Furi Labs phones? I saw a comment about them on another post about Android alternatives midwest.social/comment/19568664
0x0@lemmy.zip 11 hours ago
HongKong-based like Pine64, linux-based OS.
Nusm@peachpie.theatl.social 18 hours ago
iPhone user: “Well well well, how the turntables.”
mnhs1@lemmy.world 17 hours ago
Just you wait until EU representatives start licking American/Trump buttholes and reverse every sanction or law imposed on US tech.
ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 hours ago
Please Europeans, please stop buying American goods, using American social media, and ffs do not come here. If there is no profit to be made, they’ll stop bothering you.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 7 hours ago
i heard they were softlocking the OP soon in the newer models, but hopefully they dont compeltely lock it down.
commander@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
It’s time the community open source movement starting gaining a lot more traction on mobile. We need better hardware support and standards for a streamlined non-Google/Apple/MS platform. Something not beholden to any single company or country
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
so is this why my phone updated and then took seven hours to connect to the network the other day?
tomiant@programming.dev 7 hours ago
“No” is what I would prefer to say but for some reason “that is extremely unlikely” hits the point home harder.
humanspiral@lemmy.ca 9 hours ago
does this control happen with a specific android version release? what number? Can I get a new phone with that version and sideload an alternative OS/ROM?
tomiant@programming.dev 7 hours ago
You can research a phone you like and check if it has an unlockable bootloader, root it, and install something like LineageOS on it. It’s fairly straight-forward, not super technically demanding, but it does require some tinkering and time setting up.
xdaforums.com is where the rooting kids hang out, post guides for specific models, upload images et c, you can probably do it in an afternoon with GPT.
callouscomic@lemmy.zip 9 hours ago
If you’re buying a $1000 phone then you’re a fucking moron.
joel_feila@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
Can someone explain how this affects graphene os users?
Sightline@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
Someday you will have to buy a new phone.
eleitl@lemmy.zip 5 hours ago
I use GrapheneOS on a Pixel tablet without any Google Play so that doesn’t affect me. On my Pixel phone Google Play is sandboxed. I expect however that Google will disable bootloader unlocking on future Pixel hardware.
petrjanda@gonzo.markets 10 hours ago
As a user I don’t have a problem with this , as long it’s used ethically. The question is if Google can act ethically.
echolalia@lemmy.ml 10 hours ago
As a user, you should be upset that a private company is controlling how you are allowed to use your device that you paid for with your money.
This would be like if Microsoft decided you could only run Microsoft-approved code on a computer you purchased, in some cases with a locked bootloader so you can’t even change your OS.
Also, Google is (imho) already operating unethically when it comes to the app store (See Google v. Epic). I don’t care about Fortnite, but Google really shouldn’t be able to take a cut of random services just because it’s running on Android.
dubyakay@lemmy.ca 10 hours ago
Just think of it: you are the author of the ICE tracker app. You want to release the app as anonymously as possible, right? Well, not with this move in place. You will need to upload your govt. Id to their website. If the pigs come knocking, you bet your ass GOOG will gladly hand it over to them and off you go to Florida.
AndyMFK@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 hours ago
You don’t have a problem with Google dictating what you can and cannot do on your own phone? Seriously?
What’s the benefit of that?
SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org 7 hours ago
“I don’t mind living under a dictatorship as long as it’s just the people I don’t care about getting murdered.”
Vex_Detrause@lemmy.ca 15 hours ago
Is there other alternatives to Apple and Google phones? If you can pay for shipping a and 2 phones compared to a Google or Apple phone then why not use other manufacturers?
tal@lemmy.today 15 hours ago
Is there other alternatives to Apple and Google phones?
There are phones that run on other platforms, but the app library and hardware isn’t competitive.
en.wikipedia.org/…/List_of_open-source_mobile_pho…
You could also move most of what you do to a tablet or laptop if you’re willing to carry that, and just use the phone as an Internet access device and for phone calls.
BananaOnionJuice@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 hours ago
What about Android developers they will need to work with unsigned or self signed apps? Can’t I just sign up as a developer?
MalReynolds@piefed.social 12 hours ago
Annual rentseeking incoming, 3.2.1...
eelectricshock@lemmy.world 15 hours ago
My problem with this is when I now don’t have freedom from surveillance in my country because I mainly use F-Droid to install my privacy conscious apps.