Can someone please come out with a phone that’s an actual computer and help stop this nonsense?
Phones cost a lot of money at this point and I’m completely sick of them being some locked down, surveillance ridden pile of crap. A reasonably built one would be able to replace a laptop at this point if it weren’t for these artificial constraints imposed by the stupid fucking suits running things.
Valve should make a Linux phone. Smaller Steam Deck with a modem
I would LOVE a linux phone
There was an Ubuntu phone. It failed.
https://www.www3.planetcom.co.uk/astro-slide-5g
This sounds up your ally
Pretty sure they meant a smartphone with a desktop OS installed on it (eg Linux phones), not just “phone that looks kinda like a laptop but still uses Android”
https://www.www3.planetcom.co.uk/devices-specification
That’s why I recommended this, their devices dual boot Android or Linux. One of their older devices quad boots by default
This isn’t a fly by night operation, it’s got a loyal fanbase, and good hardware and software support. They’ve been manufacturing for a decade, before that this guys were doing PDAs.
Battery life is limited by cell modem drivers being closed source and having to be reverse engineered.
I have been looking into an alternate hybrid radio device using Reticulum. Though with that comes a new less convenient user experience for a lot of apps.
I like the idea of a continuum capable module desktop like canonical and Microsoft promised years ago.
furilabs flx1s. I’m using one
dude. you can just install a custom rom.
Intentionally non-standard hardware does not get a real custom rom. It’s just a mod of Android which Google can render intentionally incompatible any time they want
not like linux phones are super compatible
As long as your phone model is supported by any custom mod. I have checked compatibility for almost all smartphones I owned, some 7 or 8 through the years.
Not a single one of them was ever supported by a custom mod.
but you did not check custom rom aupport before you bought tgem, cause did not want freedom and moddability. its on you.
I consider price and technical specifications. I don’t have 200€ to spend on a phone. Most phones I bought were less than 100€ new. What I care about a phone is that it supports two SIM cards.
With such constraints, choice is quite limited unfortunately.
Is it worth having a free device? Indeed. Is it worth spending 4 times the price just for that? Not to me.
Making users wait 24 hours doesn’t improve security; it’s an anti-competitive change designed to make the Google Play store seem like less of a hassle in comparison.
I can actually see where it can improve security against scammers trying to scam elderly and non-tech savvy people.
- Scammer tries to get someone to install malware from their site
- Victim isn’t familiar with sideloading, but scammer instructs them
- Victim hits the first time 24 hour block and has to restart and wait
- The restart alone breaks contact with the scammer, scam thwarted
For the rest of us that know our way around Android, it’s just a one time annoyance, after completing all the steps to enable sideloading, you won’t have to wait 24 hours anymore.
This is only the first step, they will keep adding more bullshit like this in the name of security till you end up with a device that’s nothing more than a advertisement and user serveilence terminal for google
It’s going to be effective, but it’s a sad world where you have to create a total nanny state because there exist a subset of users who are INCREDIBLY stupid.
Is it still a subset when it’s the majority?
And to be honest, the level of effort scammers are willing to go through is shocking, and AI’s just making it easier for them.
And to be honest, the level of effort scammers are willing to go through is shocking
Is it? If you live in a country like India, then a single successful scam will be able to pay for years of living expenses
Anything less than the whole is a subset, yes.
Strictly mathematically even the whole world is a subset of the whole world.
Scammers almost always install remote desktop app from play store. This is just anti competitiveness…
Do not redeem
“”““sideloading””“”, oh look who cant say installing software
“Sideloading” is the “jaywalking” of the mobile space
I do not consider this a win, and I will continue applying pressure where I can.
Please share how
- The official developer verification feedback form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeN8qv6GRTztqsXy6P8P2_Q93BOIIkT2X7sOQKesQD_LCvnKw/viewform
- Android on X: https://x.com/Android
Microsoft appeared to walk back Recall until they suddenly brought it back unannounced and doubled down. So I’ll believe it when I see it
Yeah corpos don’t respect consumers or norms of human dignity, they’ll just do what they want more quietly if you complain. The only real solution is to break up monopolies (ideally for the last several decades).
We will win when nobody can tell you what you can or can’t put in your own fucking device.
Counterpoint: my software allows you to access your banking needs. I’m financially on the hook if fraud occurs. Fraud occurs because your favorite “slap the monkey” game also installs a keylogger and network monitor. So I don’t allow my software to work if you have that installed.
I think you’re right that companies should not be able to tell you what software you can run, but users also can’t be trusted to keep their devices safe.
A lot of network, banking, and telephony protocols historically rely on trusting that there are no bad actors in the chain. Technology has added more links to the chain increasing the opportunities for bad actors to tap into it.
It’s a situation that needs better fixes. Maybe we just need to hand the current internet over to the bots and start a new one with security and privacy built in from the ground up.
If your software runs on windows or MacOS, this point is such bull, sorry.
Do you monitor what software people have installed accessing their banking needs on those platforms?
Android runs apps sandboxed, so no app can access what you write in another like your banking app, or the unencrypted packages it sends.
Yea the argument stated works better for rooted environments than rootless environments or sideloading.
In a non-root scenario, you would need to specify a few permissions to give a keylogger that amount of access. I think that a big issue is people not understanding that there is a difference between a rooted device or root installed app, and a sideloaded application.
Just because you have a non-google device or a rooted device != you have a compromised device. Applications aren’t going to magically install running as root, every rom worth their salt keeps it a clear isolation between the layers, and some roms don’t even allow you to use the root environment after installing it.
In your standard google phone install? A keylogger wouldn’t be able to be installed without enabling an accessibility permission. It’s not like you can just “oops I just sideloaded a keylogger haha silly me” like described. Both google installed and side loaded applications would require prompting a warning page that very clearly states it allows logging of the screen for the logging part of it to work.
So, we will have to enable developer mode for that? How long before banking and government apps refuse to run if you have “sideloaded” apps installed? This will be the same as not allowing the majority of people to sideload. No win in here, just an advanced strategy from google to make us conform
This is already the case if the developer mode toggle is enabled for some. I have to turn it off any time I’m traveling for work because the app we have to use to file expense reports refuses to run with developer mode enabled.
At that point you should tell your work to get a work only device for you… I always refuse to use my phone for work shit. I used to explain to them why, now I just lie and say my device is too old to have anything installed on it.
It’s not side loading. It’s installing software on the device you probably paid multiple thousands for that you no longer own.
Multiple thousands!? My phone was like $250
not all people are americans
No we didn’t win. This is Google making it harder to install the programs you want, rather than the programs Google wants you to have.
Nah, American companies cannot be relied upon by definition. Even if the people running one are fine (and many are), they are still based in what is essentially a pro-crime, pro-corruption jurisdiction.
Its seems fine, other than the whole “coaching” thing. Like, nobody knows how to do this today, so someone will have to “coach” them through it, even if it’s Google themselves.
But I would wait and see exactly how it’s implemented before calling off the resistance. And I wouldn’t call it a “win”, that would be then backing down entirely back to what they were already doing.
I’m writing an app that I will distribute only through f-droid. The people I would like to share it with are typical, non-technical android users. Before those changes I could just send them a link to f-droid apk and explain it’s just another app store or send a link to the apk directly and probably most of them would be able to install it. Now I would have to tell them to do all those weird things first, things that look suspicious and that they would not understand the purpose of. I don’t think anyone will be wiling to do it. This is not a win. The effect will be exactly the same - serious limits on distributing apps though alternative channels.
This isn’t a win, this is Google making things shitty for the benefit of no one but themselves.
My galaxy will let me install but then I get this when I try to run the app:
Disable Google Play Protect. It’s a scam that doesn’t protect you at all, it just gives more control to Google.
Google Play Protect is designed to protect Google Play from competitors
Still worse than it was before. There’s no win in that
