• FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2 hours

    At the end of the day, all you can really do is to start treating your phone more like a phone and stop carrying it everywhere and using it for everything.

    The convenience of it has made it way too easy for people to spy on you.

    • Zink@programming.devEnglish
      18 minutes

      Yep. My disdain for the combination of fascist government where everything is surveillance, and sociopathic corporations and billionaires where everything is a cynical cash grab, overcame me excitement for tech “products” a long time ago. I’m in the US so it’s especially bad.

      I still have a smart phone that’s 4-5 years old, and I do of course use it every day, but I consciously avoid using it every hour. I love when I misplace it in my own house, to then not look for it for hours. The only person who is going to message me anything urgent is my wife and she knows where to find me.

      Constant phone addiction is one of those situations where when you remove yourself from it you can more easily see it in others. It’s like there’s a new form of body language where when you see that slight forward tilt of the head you know they are in the Phone Zone without even seeing the rest of their body.

      • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.worldEnglish
        14 minutes

        I still have a smart phone that’s 4-5 years old,

        Mine is an older model too, thankfully. I never needed the bells and whistles other people are into, which probably helps me stay more secure.

        But I also just love that I’m not reaching for my pocket every 30 seconds for another dopamine hit too.

    • innermachine@lemmy.worldEnglish
      58 minutes

      I have thought about trying to get away from shit but it’s hard. If I want to stop using my phone regularly I need to purchase a GPS unit, wire up a charger for it on both my bikes (go deep in woods some times so I use gaia on my phone to figure out where I am), I’d need to get an mp3 player for music, and no more scheduling everything on my phone calendar. It’s an effort, but the more this convenience starts to cost (both in $ and privacy) the more willing I am to make the effort. Another major gripe I have with phones is their all so goddamn big now too, last comfortable to hold phone I had was a damned s3 now everything is a mini tablet and I have big hands. My SO hates phone shopping cuz her hands are tiny! Can’t hold the damn things with one hand anymore lol

      • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.worldEnglish
        48 minutes

        I understand.

        It’s a bummer what we have to consider to avoid people snooping, but it’s (at least in my humble opinion), necessary.

        A good way to start breaking the habit and only using it when you need it is to just keep it in another area of your home. I keep mine in a bathroom drawer.

      • Aufschieber@lemmy.worldEnglish
        46 minutes

        If you are going through this much effort you could consider getting an /e/OS or GrapheneOS Phone?

        • innermachine@lemmy.worldEnglish
          35 minutes

          My buddy has a pixel with graphene and loves it. I am not familiar with /e/os how does it compare? I have a not terribly old Moto G (2025) right now as it was the cheapest phone I could get locally after loosing my last one deep in the green mountians so I hate to have to get a new phone again already as this one seems to be unsupprted by either G or E os’s

  • DFX4509B@lemmy.wtfEnglish
    40 minutes

    If AluminumOS takes off and overtakes Windows and Mac marketshare, desktops are headed in the same direction as mobiles.

    • ginza@lemmy.mlEnglish
      3 minutes

      As long as you can build a computer from off the shelf parts we are fine in that regard. They can’t stop FOSS OSs from working.

    • unitedwithme@lemmy.todayEnglish
      6 minutes

      Gross, combining Chrome OS with Android? NO thanks! Another OS to harvest data to the max! “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” does not apply to Google at this point.

      • DFX4509B@lemmy.wtfEnglish
        3 minutes

        On top of desktops getting turned from the last remotely open platform into existence into locked-down black boxes fully controlled by Google if this AluminumOS actually succeeds, and Google’s positioning it in a way that it might just succeed, positioning it in between Win10 getting deprecated and Win11’s continuing enshittification, Google could just severely undercut the cheapest Win11 PCs and the Macbook Neo and gain marketshare by selling AluminumOS devices as a significantly cheaper option than Win11 PCs or Macs. If that happens, game over for desktops as an open platform.

  • tomiant@piefed.socialEnglish
    2 hours

    A major hardware and software change is happening in my life too, Google, to excise you from every facet of my life.

  • Vogi@piefed.socialEnglish
    4 hours

    I was just getting home picking up my new second hand Pixel 3a to install PostmarketOS on. Wish me luck :)

    • fizzle@quokk.auEnglish
      26 minutes

      I thought graphene was the best daily driver for the moment ?

      • buddascrayon@lemmy.worldEnglish
        30 minutes

        Wow, that guy is an absolute putz. Like, postmarketOS literally tells you that their shit is not ready for prime time and to be ready for it to be a little bit wonky right now. And this guy is acting like they’re advertising it as it is ready for Freddy and it’s just garbage or something. Not to mention the way he installed it was just stupid. My 8-year-old niece could do this better than he did.

        I think I’ll find a video made by somebody more competent.

        • Zak@lemmy.worldEnglish
          5 minutes

          He’s a comedian. His videos aren’t meant to be taken seriously.

      • noodlejetski (he/him)@piefed.socialEnglish
        56 minutes

        no they don’t. they do have a partnership with Murena, which sells them preinstalled with /e/, which is a degoogled Android ROM. there is a Ubuntu Touch port available for some Fairphone models though.

      • GlenRambo@jlai.luEnglish
        2 hours

        Hijacking as I’ve done on other posts. In my country all 3 major tellcos needed to verify phones can call emergency on VoLTE.

        FP5 does this. For whatever reason the telcos cant “conform” that (its not sold here but important and DOES work) so the device is blocked at a network level.

        Not blocked just for calls but even data.

        Phone is now a brick. Double brick once the Android changes roll through.

  • yeehaw@lemmy.caEnglish
    7 hours

    Ok, so I might as well buy an iPhone then because this is the only thing android did better lmao. Fuck you google.

    • BlackLaZoR@lemmy.worldEnglish
      6 hours

      Use GrapheneOS. It’s degoogled android. Currently you have to install it yourself on a Pixel phone but AFAIK Motorola is working on releasing device with Graphene pre installed

      • mrgoosmoos@lemmy.caEnglish
        2 hours

        looks like I know what my next phone purchase will. and new, even.

    • lauha@lemmy.worldEnglish
      6 hours

      Do they actually make it better or does their marketing say so?

      • osanna@lemmy.vgEnglish
        6 hours

        considering, EU aside, that you can’t load software on an iphone outside of the App Store, I’d say yes.

  • printf("%s", name);@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    6 hours

    Are there people who are angry out of principle/ideologically but who don’t do sideloading etc? Because, I’d like to think that if you are angry enough at this, then you have the incentive and the will to root you phone (making it an unsupported device and making it NOT locked for sideloading) and go on with your life. I wish Google died like… Yesterday. Don’t get me wrong. Am I missing something?

    • thax@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      51 minutes

      I make sure to only buy phones that can be rooted. This change still irks me, because it’s just another notch on the slide toward control and surveillance under the guise of security theater. If AI winds up being as effective as prognosticated, perhaps it’s less theater and more valid. Script kitties could then do a lot of damage.

      My concern with sliding toward surveillance is rooted in principle, FOSS ideals that seek to empower users rather than plug them into a matrix. I admit that my idealism is likely naive, depending upon the realities of burgeoning technologies. In any case, I will continue to choose software that allows me to carefully curate what information reaches my brain. I’m in a weird place where I long for transparency, but I have little trust in existing systems. I want the world to be more open and less insular, yet I oppose recent pushes to force identification by limiting user choice. It feels rapacious; I need to trust the system sufficiently in order to consent. A society built upon trust would be far more resilient than one built upon coercion. Coercion is where I draw the line in most areas of life.

    • hummingbird@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5 hours

      You make it sound like rooting is a simple opt-in. It is not. It is not possible on every phone, requires technical expertise, risks bricking your device, you will likely loose firmware update support, various apps (like banking apps) will stop working. It is a tough choice.

      • printf("%s", name);@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        5 hours

        You’re right. At the very least, users shouldn’t be forced to make this choice. It’s absurd how little authority we have over devices we have paid for with our hard earned money. :(

    • WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      5 hours

      not all phones can be rooted nowadays, and when ot can it has other disadvantages too that the current method of avoiding play store does not have

      • printf("%s", name);@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        5 hours

        I agree. People that lack the technical expertise or rooting compatible devices shouldn’t be forced to even consider this. Once you have paid for a device, you should be allowed to do with it whatever the hell you want, without Google or other big tech shoving unsolicited policies down your throat.

  • archchan@lemmy.mlEnglish
    11 hours

    Love that some megacorp can just make decisions like this that affects billions of people.

    Really just feeling the fucking freedom. I hate everything.

    • datendefekt@feddit.orgEnglish
      8 hours

      The megacorps can do anything they want with their product. The chef can change the menu anytime and he can refuse you service - it’s his restaurant. Our problem is that it’s a duopoly and there’s nowhere else to go.

      The only way out is open standards and platforms, enabling true competition.

      • Whostosay@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        6 hours

        Real quick.

        Just imagine you order a plate of pasta. You’re only two bites in, and it’s DELICIOUS.

        Then here comes chef. While making full eye contact, he tips your plate and dumps all of that pasta in the trash.

        Chef proceeds to take a giant wet shit onto the plate. He brings a new set of silverware and a fresh napkin right before your server comes back with the check.

        You insist that you didn’t order a giant wet shit, but they won’t take it off the bill.

        Let’s stop pretending this is an inevitable oopsie. This shit is egregious.

        • osanna@lemmy.vgEnglish
          6 hours

          Daddy Googs won’t be happy until it’s a walled garden just like iOS

          • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1 hour

            “Fascist oligarchy of capitalist dictators continue to implement totalitarian surveillance apparatus. Majority of talking chimps sleepwalking into dystopia.”

        • datendefekt@feddit.orgEnglish
          4 hours

          Don’t overstretch my analogy like that. How about this:

          Google has standardized The Restaurant. The kitchens all have the same tools and ingredients and are open to anyone. Seating and billing is standardized, and you can easily order and pay at your table, and the food is delivered straight to you via pneumatic tubes and nicely packaged. The food might be expensive or cheap, tasty or revolting, but the experience is always the same.

          There are a lot of hobby cooks that like to cook in the Google restaurants. If you want to eat their food, you might have to pick it up straight at the kitchen, or nicely ask the hobby waiters. The cooks have been there for years and whipping up nice creations - mostly for free, beacause the ingredients and tools were free, and they really like to cook. Because the food is so good, some people tip the cooks or waiters directly.

          Now Google introduced a new rule: everyone has to use their billing and pneumatic delivery system, citing improved food safety. The hobby cooks and waiters are infuriated, and even some of their customers, and they demand that everyone can still come to the kitchen or the waiters. But Google just says: look, my restaurant, my rules. If you don’t like it go make your own.

        • datendefekt@feddit.orgEnglish
          5 hours

          No, it wasn’t ever. It always belonged to Google who benevolently open sourced parts of it and retains control.

          Safetynet and PlayIntegrity are under Google’s control. The PlayStore is Google’s. All of the APIs are Google’s! Hardware blobs are closed and belong to the manufacturer.

          Just because some of the stuff shows up on GitHub doesn’t make it an open platform.

    • jimmy90@lemmy.worldEnglish
      7 hours

      this is a reply from further down that is actually correct:

      This is being presented as more doom laden than is warranted. Ostensibly it is an effort to stop less technically able users from installing malware, certainly there will be unspoken ulterior motivations but such is the world we have allowed to grow around us. As far as overarching evil plans go this is quite a benign example.

      • Traister101@lemmy.todayEnglish
        6 hours

        Which is bullshit. You already had to enable external installs this is just them even farther encroaching on our ownership of our devices.

  • elucubra@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    5 hours

    There is Huawei Harmony OS.

    Chinese, etc, and I don’t know about licenses, but it’s mostly compatible with Android apps. I have a Huawei tablet, with awesome hardware, but de googled from the get go. I mainly use it as a media consumption device, though. No mail, banks, etc.

  • BigTrout75@lemmy.worldEnglish
    8 hours

    I would prefer that Alphabet keep Android open, but honestly, how can anybody be surprised? Eventually Google is going to tighten the screws on Android. I haven’t looked into it, but hopefully there are some truly free options out there. Graphene?

    • illi@piefed.socialEnglish
      5 hours

      Graphene is Android based. Not sure what it’d mean for them in case Android fully locks down.

      • FG_3479@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3 hours

        The sideloading block will likely be enforced by Play Services, so GrapheneOS won’t be affected. Android is also open source, so even if Google implements the block within Android itself, GrapheneOS can just remove it.

        • illi@piefed.socialEnglish
          1 hour

          So far, yes. But what if they will close stuff down more? My understanding is majority of work on Android is done by Google - so they can decide it will no longer be open source, or just partially.

      • Fair Fairy@thelemmy.clubEnglish
        4 hours

        Google already squeezing grafene. Grafene can no longer use pixel deves, Google won’t open new pixels.

        Only new device they gonna get is some Motorola device not yet relesed

          • illi@piefed.socialEnglish
            1 hour

            Not sure if there is a definite confirmation on this, but I do remember there were hints that at some point they might not support new Pixels. No source on hand though, I only have vague recollection on this

    • Tollana1234567@lemmy.todayEnglish
      7 hours

      if apple can profit and survive from a walled garden, google is only now seeing that as a PLUS.