E: apparently it needs to be said that I am not suggesting you switch to Linux on your phone today; just that development needs to accelerate. Please don't be one of the 34 people that replied to tell me Linux is not ready.
Android has always been a fairly open platform, especially if you were deliberate about getting it that way, but we've seen in recent months an extremely rapid devolution of the Android ecosystem:
- The closing of development of an increasing number of components in AOSP.
- Samsung, Xiaomi and OnePlus have removed the option of bootloader unlocking on all of their devices. I suspect Google is not far behind.
- Google implementing Play Integrity API and encouraging developers to implement it. Notably the EU's own identity verification wallet requires this, in stark contrast to their own laws and policies, despite the protest of hundreds on Github.
- And finally, the mandatory implementation of developer verification across Android systems. Yes, if you're running a 3rd-party OS like GOS you won't be directly affected by this, but it will impact 99.9% of devices, and I foresee many open source developers just opting out of developing apps for Android entirely as a result. We've already seen SyncThing simply discontinue development for this reason, citing issues with Google Play Store. They've also repeatedly denied updates for NextCloud with no explanation, only restoring it after mass outcry. And we've already seen Google targeting any software intended to circumvent ads, labeling them in the system as "dangerous" and "untrusted". This will most certainly carry into their new "verification" system.
Google once competed with Apple for customers. But in a world where Google walks away from the biggest antitrust trial since 1998 with yet another slap on the wrist, competition is dead, and Google is taking notes from Apple about what they can legally get away with.
Android as we know it is dead. And/or will be dead very soon. We need an open replacement.
My solution? Giving up the smartphone. They are too fragile and are high maintenance. I've simply had enough. So, I went with a Sonim XP3Plus flip phone. Mainly because the screen on the Pixel 3, the phone I went through the trouble of putting a custom ROM on and setting up just right, broke somehow inside.
Yeah, the flip phone runs Android, but it comes as a scaled down version of Android (no Google crap, or extra apps, like any app store; just the basics), so I don't have to do any modding. And I just keep my plan cheap for unlimited calling with very little data (I keep the data off anyways, so I don't care).
Basically, I've gone old school to solve a modern problem (for music, I went with an old school MP3 player). And if people can't be bothered to pick up the phone, I move on. This is where I stand now. I've had enough.
I feel like I finally have peace again after 10 years of using the smart phone. Being disconnected while outside is great.
Best part? The flip phone can last about 2 weeks on a full charge.
PS: Being completely off Google; even YouTube? Feels amazing. I've turned to Odysee, Peertube and B-chute and use those with RSS feeds. No algorithms.
This is how I solved the modern tech problem.
2 weeks? That's awesome. SM6115 and 2300mAh. My Lenovo P11 with LineageOS(GSI) also has a SM6115 with much bigger battery and only gives about 4 days idle.. Are you using some technique for longer battery time?
A technique? Yeah. It's called keeping your WIFI off and mobile data off. As in disconnect completely. You'll regain your time and sense of autonomy, and your phone will last a lot longer on a single charge.
Same thing applied when I still had my Pixel 3 phone; it also lasted 2 weeks. I used it literally for nothing but calling. Other than that, it was left on the table untouched, and completely disconnected. Until the screen somehow broke inside and wouldn't turn on, making me decide to just stop using smartphones altogether as they are just too fragile. Not to mention, high maintenance; which I didn't want to deal with anymore.
Cool, not sure why it doesn't work for me :/ I only turn on wifi about once a week to sync new books from my server since I use it as an offline ebook reader.
Haven't had a pixel 3, but do have a pixel 2. Running stock rom because verizon and degoogled with adb and wifi off, only used for occasional quick photo shoots. The battery also only goes for about 3 days.
I'm glad I can use unlocked phones in Canada. And I was able to use a custom ROM on the Pixel 3 to remove every trace of Google. But honestly, the XP3Plus just spares me such a headache from modern tech. If I am being blunt, I don't want to deal with anything big tech at all now. So, I am also glad I never got a career in IT. Tech of today is just so full of shit. It's all locked down, boring and manipulative.
You didn't solve any problems, you just opted out of a whole bunch of features.
Features that I really didn't give a crap about in the end. Also, my point still stands; smartphones are way too fragile and high maintenance.
So, I did solve the problem; by choosing not to bother with it. For the sake of my sanity. It was the only sane choice to make, given how stupid (and exploitative) modern smartphones have become. All this has done is set people back, wasting more time for absolutely nothing. Rather than being present, people are walking down the street with a phone in their face. It's a sad future for society. Thankfully, I was born long before smartphones were a thing. So, I know how to live without one.
At least I can say this; I am not crying about why Google or Microsoft is doing "this" or "that" to me all the time in a constant cycle. That's no solution at all. Cutting out the problem was the solution.
Walking away does not solve the problem. It just makes it no longer your problem. Everyone else still has to deal with it. Not everyone has that privilege.
If we all stopped the world would adapt. The council let the street signs rot because everyone is on gmaps, restaurants stopped having menus just qr codes, places in England were you get kicked out if you insist to pay by cash.
All of it would be reversed if.. we reversed A pipe dream but weirder things happened
Kicked out for using cash? You are serious? That is so backwards... What about old people who don't use smartphones and use the old school landline? And if a restaurant didn't have a paper menu, and wouldn't offer me one, I would just walk right out. Clearly, they don't want people's business. It should be accessible to anyone who is willing to pay. Not just smartphone users. What kind of dystopian fate is this? That's like discrimination for not owning... an algorithmic pushing slot machine. lol
Plus, people use their smartphones everywhere. Even in the bathroom. Then they bring it to the dinner table? That's so gross. Horribly unsanitary.
They did reverse the cash ting at the pub, every day a different customer would have a proper argument about it. Don't ask why I was there everyday tho
It's a pub. I think there should be no questions 🤣
For observing the chaos over that poor decision? 😂
Okay well let me know when you get everyone to stop. Until then...
You keep on supporting it, then it will never change. Just like supporting the smartphone ecosystem still. It has way too much power over people's lives. Sorry, it's not healthy.
People can change things if they really want to. The real issue is that most don’t want to because they are tied to a bunch of mainstream junk on their phones; thanks to those manipulative algorithms. And that is what you need to realize. Until then, you'll never be free.
Yes and no. Some of us actually need our phones to accomplish things. Work, primarily. As people mentioned elsewhere, simple things like accessing their banking accounts. I wish we didn't, but we do.
I’d never do banking on a smartphone; not in a million years. One theft or hack in public, and all your money and data are at risk. Beyond that, people put far too much of their lives into their phones, and that’s the bigger problem. And that's the aspect you want to keep avoiding.
They're not doing it by choice. The phone is used as mandatory authentication to access the account.
...and how do you suppose your laptop is immune from this? Or your desktop, even?
I'm not avoiding anything. What you fail to understand is that not everyone's situation is the same as yours. For some of us, these things are outside of our control.
I have a separate flip phone with a number to get a verification code to access my bank account at home. It's only used for getting codes (and nothing else). So, no chance of a SIM swapping.
I just said I do my online banking at home (with a local only encrypted password manager; KeePassXC). Why would I do online banking in public in general when I do my online banking at home? In public, that's taking a huge risk; regardless of the device you use. I just couldn’t dream of doing anything confidential in public; cafes, trains, anywhere. It’s a huge unnecessary risk, and I choose to avoid it entirely.
And you are avoiding everything I am telling you, choosing to continue to make excuses for yourself. That's why you will forever be where you are.
I don't think you understand how SIM swapping works but that's an irrelevant tangent, so I digress.
You are still not understanding what I'm saying: Many banks require an app to be installed on a mobile device (that is, iOS or Android) for account verification in order to access your account. Nothing at all to do with your SIM. You cannot access your account without this app being installed on a mobile device.
Who said anything about doing banking in public?
No. You are.
We're done here.
Keep on avoiding the issue then, and keep up the good fight with the smartphone ecosystem. It will never end for you. For as long as you defend the smartphone ecosystem, and that you want to avoid the fact that the smartphone controls your life. This is what I mean; tech, like the smartphone isn't serving the user anymore. Instead, the smartphone has become your master. And you, its slave.
Just look around; people walking down the street with their heads buried in their phones. It tells you all you need to know about who is the master and who is the slave.
PS: Use a different bank if they force you to only use an app. Just a thought? Just like restaurants forcing QR codes; walk away. You can make the choice any time you like. 🙂
Over here, banks aren’t allowed to do SMS codes anymore period. So tell me how I should solve the second factor required by law when all „dumb tech“ alternatives aren’t available anymore due to laws and regulations?
What a shitty law. Is this in the UK? If so, figures.
Well, if the bank apps only support Android and iPhone, you're pretty much hooped. Aren't you? A Linux phone won't help you.
So, the only option is to use the smartphone for nothing but the silly app. Or, do things the old way. Go to the bank and do your banking there.
Then just use the flip phone for the everything else.
He did solve a problem, his problem. What's the deal with thinking everything that applies to you applies to others?
No problems were solved.
That's your best answer? "No problems we're solved because I said so"? 🤣🤣🤣
No wonder you sound so angry here, lol.
No problems were solved because they weren't solved. I know that may be hard for you to wrap your head around.
It is, very.
Eh... Leave him. He was just looking for attention; pretty sure he has every social media app under the sun on his smartphone. And he wants to make excuses that it's for things like banking. Or work, apparently. Seems like a huge cop-out to avoid the real issue at hand; being held hostage on social media because of those addictive algorithms at play. 🙄
Simply put, he doesn't want to take the initiative to make any changes for himself. So, he'll defend that you can't go through life without a smartphone anywhere. That's how much smartphone users of today are held hostage by big tech. Again, the user is the slave, and the smartphone is their master.
Like, why don't I have this problem with banking? Where I 'MUST' use a smartphone? Sure, my bank has an app, but I am not 'forced' to use it. I can get along quite fine with just using a web browser at home.
Seems like many people who use smartphones at every waking hour, forget the whole concept of what freewill is about. 🤣
Yeah, there ya go again. If it's not a problem for you, it must not be a problem for anyone else. Everyone faces the same obligations and challenges. Right?
You act like a typical social media addict (policing comments that weren't even directed to you; along with being unable to resist commenting). Guess it's clear why you can't bear to live without a smartphone, huh? Keep going. You'll only prove my (and youmaynotknow's) point more. But really, I thought you said you were done with me earlier. Isn't that what you said? Well, I said my piece as far as things one can do. Time for a block. You got enough attention from me.
Enjoy keeping up with the smartphone rat race! 😂
You act just like a typical social media addict. Now it's clear why you can't bear to live without your smartphone. 😂
Reminds me of my drugs days. "I can control it, I use them because I want to, not because I need them. I can quit any time". 20 years later, no house, no family, no money, and half my recommended weight. And it's the same for every addiction. The only way to get rid of a problem is by first accepting there is a problem. Changing pushers never made it better, just saying.
Given my time observing druggies, you are so on the mark on that one. What was I thinking bothering to tell that guy anything?
😬 I'm writing this on my pixel 3... What happened??
My wife's pixel 3 just busted without any warning a few years ago. PLEASE be sure to have backups of your things and passwords. At the time they didn't remember their password and was only logged in on their phone. We were able to recover through my email but it wasn't a recovery address so it was really scary.
The worst part is we already had a family password manager they weren't using, so it was very difficult to not make it seem like an "I told you so" moment, but they're on it now and have backups and stuff.
But yeah. We took it to some phone repair guy and he tried a bunch of different stuff. The motherboard just failed or something. No way to extract anything. He said it happened a lot with that model (well, he's only seeing the bad ones but still).
Screen broke inside somehow. So, screen wouldn't turn on. Touch worked I didn't know where I was tapping and accidentally called 911. So, since I wasn't using the phone for anything else than calling, I said to heck with it and went back to the flip phone.