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submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by throws_lemy@lemmy.nz to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[-] archchan@lemmy.ml 367 points 2 weeks ago

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.org 81 points 2 weeks ago

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.works 118 points 2 weeks ago

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.vg 23 points 2 weeks ago

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

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[-] SmackemWittadic@lemmy.world 55 points 2 weeks ago

Android was an open standard and platform, a LONG time ago. Then Google did a rug pull with all new features of android requiring 100% of their services to function.

[-] datendefekt@feddit.org 24 points 2 weeks ago

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.

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[-] ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net 205 points 2 weeks ago

Please consider donating to PostmarketOS to build up a pure mobile Linux alternative that is completely free of Google's influence. It's the best option we have.

[-] Smoogs@lemmy.world 19 points 2 weeks ago

What about fairphone? Don’t they run a Ubuntu option?

[-] GlenRambo@jlai.lu 33 points 2 weeks ago

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.

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[-] ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net 18 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

The issue with Ubuntu Touch is that unfortunately it uses an outdated Android kernel (which is also usually not receiving security updates) and a Halium abstraction layer to access the closed source binary blob Android drivers for the phone’s hardware. It also requires that it be installed on top of an existing Android install, so in all it’s more of Linuxified layer on top of Android, which means it’s not truly escaping the control of the Android/Google ecosystem.

UBPorts also appears to inherit the use of CLA's from Canonical:

I'm very much not a fan of CLA's., which SailfishOS also employs.

The advantage of PostmarketOS (even though it is not ready as a daily driver for the average person), is that it uses the upstream Linux kernel with open-source GPU/hardware drivers, not an Android kernel to access the outdated proprietary GPU/Hardware blobs.

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[-] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 128 points 2 weeks ago

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.

[-] fodor@lemmy.zip 42 points 1 week ago

No. You can do a lot more. You can develop alternatives and enforce anti monopoly legislation.

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[-] Sisyphe@lemmy.world 32 points 2 weeks ago

This. Degoogling and using FOSS alternatives can only take you so far. We should drastically reduce smartphone usage. I got a dumbphone so I can be reachable. Outside of work, my smartphone is mostly powered off. I can't realistically get rid of it, as I need a bunch of banking apps, authenticators, Google Maps at times (and no, there's no real alternative to this, everything else sucks). But I only use it when I absolutely need it. It's gathering a lot less data than it used to. I'm striving to be as low value to big tech as possible. Reducing smartphone use has also done wonders for my wellbeing. I read more, I've regained my attention span, I have more time to do stuff I like. Stop scrolling, there's nothing but bullshit on the next screen, you're not missing out on anything. Stop trying to replace one app or site with another. Just let it go, it was never worth it.

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[-] Zink@programming.dev 22 points 2 weeks ago

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.

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[-] benjirenji@slrpnk.net 20 points 2 weeks ago

My wife would hate it, if I were no longer reachable.

No. I haven't used Google apps on my phone for years already. That includes Google Play Services and the Play Store. Most apps are open source and I'm self hosting my media.

We gotta claw this shit back.

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[-] Canuck@sh.itjust.works 106 points 2 weeks ago

We need go start talking about the year of the GNU/Linux phone

[-] ApertureUA@lemmy.today 29 points 2 weeks ago

Or the year of free (as in freedom) pocket computers, since the global telephony system goes against the freedoms.

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[-] voidsignal@lemmy.world 59 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

it's never been your phone, bruh

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[-] sudo_shinespark@lemmy.world 52 points 2 weeks ago

Concerning that this thread is overrun with bots telling me to download some super duper safe LLM

[-] axum 22 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah this whole comment section is weird as fuck.

[-] cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca 48 points 2 weeks ago

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

[-] FatVegan@leminal.space 49 points 2 weeks ago

I hate Mussolini, i'll side with that Hitler guy

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[-] vext01@feddit.uk 48 points 2 weeks ago
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[-] mlg@lemmy.world 46 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

People thinking this isn't a monopoly enforcement action in disguise are the same people who think banning Huawei was justified.

Google's one mistake was that they sold Motorolla to Lenovo, who ran it as low cost shovelware to make the mobile phone market in the US not look like a complete oligopoly. They kept their cost low by using complete stock Google ROMs while every other OEM exited the market.

Until recently when Lenovo properly built up their hardware lineup and started jumping ship to GrapheneOS the moment Google started clamping down.

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[-] Njos2SQEZtPVRhH@piefed.social 40 points 2 weeks ago
[-] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 54 points 2 weeks ago

Android Hostages lol, what am I supposed to do use an Iphone?

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[-] vogi@piefed.social 34 points 2 weeks ago

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

[-] zewm@lemmy.world 30 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Love how every comment in this thread is just the same guy spamming some AI bullshit website. They are all 1 day old accounts from Lemmy.cafe instance. Blocked all of them.

[-] ArmchairAce1944@discuss.online 29 points 1 week ago

I got grapheneOS on my phone right now. Go fuck yourself, google.

I will also do my damn best to make sure my older Samsung S23 doesn't fall into that version. I have uses for that phone.

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[-] ferrule@sh.itjust.works 27 points 1 week ago

I currently run GraphineOS. I will probably buy one more refurb phone that can run it until Android is dead. Then I am switching to a dumb phone for calls and SMS, and a mobile hotspot connected to a pocket sized cyberdeck. I can still run the apps I want and no longer need Android. With a 3d printer, 25 years of being an electrical and software engineer I can easily make a device that does what I actually want.

Is this practical for the average person? Of course not. But this whole problem is something the average person can fix. STOP BUYING SHIT FROM COMPANIES WHO SCREW YOU!!! Use your power as a consumer and stop giving them money. Make them feel the pain of doing anti-consumer actions. None of this stuff is a requirement for life. If they see a hit in sales, if everyone who makes apps pulls them from the app store, they will change. But it requires everyone to act, and we damn well know most of yall will do nothing but complain.

This problem is a foot gun where we are all buying the gun, loading it, handing it to someone while sticking our foot out and we want to blame them for the bloody hole. Stop it!

[-] TransNeko@lemmy.world 26 points 1 week ago

-- sincerely Apple users.

[-] ThunderQueen@lemmy.world 23 points 2 weeks ago

About to...?

[-] CanIFishHere@lemmy.ca 22 points 2 weeks ago

As a person who uses a few sideloaded apps, this is sad news.

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[-] dreadbeef@lemmy.dbzer0.com 21 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

This was just inevitable for Google. Google is no longer an open source company. Hasn't been for maybe a decade or more. They abused the good spirit of open source for their corporate benefit and are ending that relationship on their terms. Get used to it Android users.

[-] viov@lemmy.world 18 points 1 week ago

We must all keep pushing people to go against this and to build up Linux mobile alternatives: PostmarketOS, Ubuntu Touch, JollaOS, and semi by extension, GrapheneOS

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[-] BigTrout75@lemmy.world 18 points 2 weeks ago

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?

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this post was submitted on 02 May 2026
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