Oddbean new post about login | logout It's a sad state of the mobile industry that we cannot have a modern mobile experience without utilizing Google and Apple services. You can run a de-Googled Android phone and use all FOSS applications, but the fact of the matter is this mobile experience will never be as seamless or as smooth as fully playing inside these centralized ecosystems. If you want a less than optimal experience and don't want to feel like you're using a modern mobile OS, then you absolutely can abandon them. There will be trade-offs though. It's up to you to decide if they're worth it or not.
Not never. The only reason those experiences are not smooth is because the world governments have created economic conditions that favor large corporations and stamp out competition.
More choices will become available and improved in quality over time, even with the shit regulations, and much moreso without them. Regulation-resistant tech like open source computer architectures will make the little guy's products easier to produce, and that means open source developers and small companies can actually focus on quality and ease of use, in the future.
I use calyxOS and tried to resist installing anything using Google but over time it just seems to weasle its way in!
This. It always happens. This is why after a while I just went back to Google. I'm sure I'm not the only one. 😭
so true
I see no difference. My switch from stock android to graphene was no different than merely getting a new phone. But other than the OS, I've long been de-googled before making the switch so perhaps that helped.
Do you foresee this changing? Or, are we stuck?
I just want like 3 or 4 apps, and the task manager is fine, if somewhat aggressive at stopping them. I wish they had better suspend functionality, I was under the impression they were able to dump their working memory to disk nowadays but clearly not on android 12. Google Maps used to be a staple for me, but actually now very often Osmand is doing a better job. I only use gmail because i have gmail, and because I had to ditch proton due to budgetary constraints. I don't know what other things that you refer to that are better with google play enabled, but google play services, certainly. These need to be replaced. There's a whole swag of things that tie to an account with them that need an account and a third party cache (or at least your own cache, separate from the device) to function.
Google Maps is top tier. I wouldn't travel without it.
don't trust it if you visit Madeira. It doesn't have all the funny little side streets that are actually addresses like the airbnb i'm in right now, and it doesn't have most of the street numbers in the rural areas. It knows nothing of the veredas and caminhos and all the other ways that you get around on foot. Took me 3 months to get the vibe of how to see the foot travel routes here consistently, and it's essential if you want to travel here without paying a mint.
I'll be using it in Madeira in March 😜 I'll report back then!
oh, pay no attention to my 3 months of experience then. Be my guest. I suppose you have endless money. Have fun losing money.
I do not have endless money.
I appreciate the tip. I'll look into it. Thanks man.
low time preference on moving yourself about is highly advised when you spend time here, if budget is constrained. I nearly killed myself on it and still am suffering physically from using my legs to get me around. It is no joke how ripply this land is, or how vertical the settlements are. Put it this way, I'm only about 20km as the crow flies from Funchal right now and the taxi fare is 40 euros. I'm poying typically 36 euros a night for airbnb's in this location. Typical rent for a one person dwelling here on the bottom end is around 750eur/month, even out on the margins here. The transport costs are just baked into the geography, but the banks have screwed the people here with incredible real estate price inflation, and it's one of the biggest gripes that madeirenses have about their lives, second biggest gripe is all the rude tourists. The subjects both feature regularly on the front of local newspapers. Albaquerqe clearly sees bitcoin as a way out for this place. I think he sees it right, but it's gonna take time to happen. My new landlady told me she has had a lot of dealings with bitcoiners in the last year or so. We are definitely part of a growing demographic of migrants.
Honestly this just kind of hits how it has always hit, amirite? This has "been" the status quo since, shit the 80s. We've always had to learn how to install additional ram, add expansion cards to our computers, integrate peripherals, understand coding and function, and it seems to me that the "smooth" experiences are often controlled by the conglomerates. This is somewhat of a filter, wherein those who choose to put the additional effort reap the rewards, and those who dont are properly rewarded with their proof of work proportionally. I do hope that we are able to smooth out our ramps, our workflows, and the experience in general, however I fear the smoother the ability, the higher the adoption, the more broad the base. Even though we all want freedom technology for the world, i'm not crying about the fact that there is a certain degree of mental power you have to put into these things, it serves in a way as a barrier preventing completely mindless and lazy persons from mucking up my experience.
Why I still use the Google 🤷
There is a great conversation to be had about whether this is an emergent property of market forces, or whether this is designed intentionally, and how much so. Centralization is a very straight line way to solve a ton of problems and provide seamless integration. And, it is quite possibly the only way at all to be able to control the experience in the sense of making the experience of using something the same every time. Most integrations in the mobile market make absolute sense to me. And usually I have a difficult time seeing a way such things could be done in a decentralized fashion without some pretty major tradeoffs.
I'm seeing more & more Bitcoiners in meatspace getting Graphene phones. It's not an easy path to choose & there are tradeoffs to make, but it's well worth it. Just knowing that it's much harder for big tech to track & collect your behaviour is nice. After a couple of years, your previously harvested meta data becomes pretty obsolete.
I run GrapheneOS on my Pixel 4a (5G). Love it. But then I just saw this: https://archive.ph/xguV6#selection-3787.0-3787.160 So I guess that means I'll need to buy a new Pixel soon to keep using GrapheneOS.
Similar situation to using Linux for consumer computers.
No. Not any more. Linux is arguably a better experience.
I think the different programming languages for each device hinders app development. This is something that AI might change as the code can be translated for multiple platforms much more easily.
Tibor Kaputa is creating an ecosystem by himself with his Simple series of FOSS apps.
This is not true. The fact of the matter is I have a great DeGoogled experiencee, as do thousands and thousands of other people. Me thinks you haven't really jump into the DeGoogled universe. Hint: It involves Nextcloud as your online ecosystem. If you want to try Nextcloud out for free, create a free account with Murena.io (formerly known as eCloud) You can install apps and and configure things yourself on your DeGoogled phone, or you can buy DeGoogled phones pre configured with apps and ecosystems from places like BraxMe or Murena. This Telegram post provides a list of FOSS apps the do an excellent job of replacing Googled apps 👇 https://t.me/LinuxTechIndex/731
Your post is getting a lot of traction. Added to the https://nostraco.in/hot feed
Sacrificing privacy for convenience is not a "trade-off," it's a capitulation; it is sending the message that our acquiescense and subjugation has a price.