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. 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.
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The discussions here are quite passionate so a bit of a reality check :
“PineStore has also discontinued the PinePhone Pro which was talked about in the last recent blog post. TLDR, sales were low”. https://pine64.org/2025/08/16/august_2025/#pinephone-pro-discontinuation
So… people here say they do want one, but clearly not like that one.
Also recently the crowd funding of https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/liberux-nexx--3 barely reached 10% of €1,434,375 Fixed Goal with just 135 backers.
So… also clearly not that one either.
So what accelerated development do people not just want to claim they do want, but actually pay for?
Google’s ongoing Android lockdown feels like the end of an era, with the understanding that eras don’t end overnight. They fade away slowly.
tl;dr: buy a second hand pixel 8 and install GrapheneOS. It’s Android, but it will get you through a few years while you wait for postmarketOS to become viable as a daily driver.
Buy Nothing Phones… Un-lockable bootloader without need to even ask for it, very lite and clean AOSP derivate android flavour.
Got a link? Buy Nothing is a national upcycling program in the US, haha.
There you go:
That doesn’t solve any of the problems I listed.
It does. Unlock bootliader, flash lineage or just uninstall all Google apps and services.
Sure doesn’t.
I imagine building on existing AOSP project like GrapheneOS or LineageOS would be the easiest path forward. There is already a decent ecosystem of open source apps available. You’d still need to figure out what to do with proprietary apps like Slack that regular people might need for day to day use.
Ultimately, the problem lies in lack of a hardware vendor willing to take make open phones that are geared towards running a custom OS on without having to jailbreak them. I really think the only way this can happen is if there was a vendor that focuses on providing a full stack open source system for mobile. Maybe a company like Liberux or even Framework will succeed at doing something like that at some point.
Liberux is using waydroid to add compatibility from what I’ve seen, so that may be the way forward where you have a base Linux system, and then a layer for running Android apps on top of it.
I agree. As it stands, there is no immediate problem with buying a vendor unlockable phone for LineageOS or GrapheneOS. It does seem like Google is slowly closing the doors to FOSS, so the future could require an AOSP fork. But it also might not. We don’t really know for sure. As long as LineageOS and GrapheneOS exist and have developers, we have nothing to sorry about.
If, in the future, all hardware manufacturers fail us, I have used Waydroid on an old Thinkpad, and it is fantastic. And, more in the Linux ecosystem is Android Translation Layer which translates Android syscalls into Linux syscalls. It is buggy, but I could see it getting better in the future.
Anyway, I’m not really worried. There are still a lot of paths forward, and FOSS advocates are persistent.
Yeah, the foundation exists and it’s just going to be a question of building out on top of it. It’s also worth noting that the app ecosystem outside google is starting to become fairly complete as well. I find that in practice I only use a handful of apps such as email client, messenger, music player, weather app, a browser, a maps app, and a calendar. That accounts for most of what I do on my phone day to day, and there are mature open source options for all of these apps.
My thinking too. I don’t think we need a Linux phone from stracht but fork android and make it work without the play service. It’s the hardware manufacturers that are the problem.
My next phone is definitely going to be a Linux phone. I don’t care if it’s ready. I’m ready.
Same here.
the vast majority of commenters here either have no direct experience with a Linux phone or have seen some shallow youtube “review” of a dude swiping the same two screens left/right and extrapolate a buncha shit that has no contact with reality.
presently, and in the foreseeable future, linux phones aren’t an android alternative, they are just linux on the phone, i.e. they allow you to do linux shit on a handheld device.
like, the bleeding edge version of any variant (plasma mobile, gnome, phosh) isn’t even close to an Android phone from like 2015, let alone a modern one.
and that’s before we touch on the pillars of mobile tech like fluidity, battery efficiency, reliability, etc., none of those things are even in a remotely passable state, not to mention - using the thing to make calls. you are better off forgetting about the camera, as well.
and the reason is simple, not only is there a gargantuan discrepancy between evil corp’s resources and the predominantly unpaid enthusiasts, each dev team’s reimplementing shit that’s already solved on another platform. apple doesn’t have to do that. google as well.
then there’s the idea that the javascript-backed Gnome - that has issues running fluidly on super-capable hardware - is the basis on a low-power device on which the linux mobile phone experience is built. reinventing solved shit, but in a stupid way - THREE FINGER swipe on a phone, really?
although there’s a solid app base, the apps that are supposedly mobile friendly are few and far between, most are just downright unusable on a vertical screen and dog help you if launch an electron app. firefox, even with pmOS patches (useless without) is tiresome to use. you can forget about dating, ubering, banking, or even just using a messenger everybody else does.
if you’re squeamish about flashing custom recoveries and ROMs, the e.g. pmOS install process is way, way, way more involved and failure prone. if you go with ubuntu touch or mobian, even more so.
finally, if you’re talking about a device that you’ve grown accustomed to to the extent that you’re using it subconsciously, swiping and multitasking and such whilst walking and dodging other pedestrians - no such thing exists over here.
I’m just tying this up because I keep reading about “switching”, people are either delusional or misinformed, there’s nothing (yet) to switch to.
get a couple of $50 ex-flaghips to play with, flash lineageOS on one and pmOS on the other and that should hold you over for a coupla years.
I don’t agree!
A linux phone, or any other open source alternative, has ALWAYS been more important than the ones we’ve got. Being locked into an eco-system, has always been bad for the regular user. It’s about companies controlling people and the market, and it should never have to be a choice between a rock and a hard place.
I really wish that the Firefox phone had gained more support. And I wish that there will soon be a linux-phone for the regular person, all over the world.
But I guess people in general keep choosing to lock themselves in, by using Google and Apple…
Android has been fairly “open” to the extent that I could do all the things I felt were important. But it’s heading in a concerning direction.
I really wish that the Firefox phone had gained more support
KaiOS 4.x just dropped with Fx 128 I think. You will be on an underpowered flip phone, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing…
How is it bad for the user? Most people don’t care and enjoy using their phones. Is it hurting them using iPhone or Android?
I already wrote why it is bad. I could mention even more areas. Don’t you know, it that why you ask? Or are you just trying to pick a fight?
It’s not a simple matter of choice. Most people aren’t invested into open source, they just want to get by and do their mundane things. Most people aren’t even aware of all the privacy stuff or abusive practices of big business, it’s usually some more outspoken tech savvy person that decides to expose what the big corps are doing. So using open source is not a choice, like you would be just choosing your preferred cereal brand, but both a technical and political act. And most people are just into the system, they aren’t aware of all malicious things around them.
Not only that, but also when companies feel threatened, they start imposing new technical and legal restrictions to make using OSS harder. Since they have more control over the whole production supply chain of devices, they have more cost effective options and even partnership with hardware vendors to make using OSS very hard or impossible.
I have been wanting a Linux phone for ages but I can’t afford a librem and pine seems to have stalled out. Just found out about Furi and now I’m wondering if it really is that good. It’s still expensive but it at least doesn’t look like it’d choke on running a calculator app.
wow I didn’t knew about FuriPhone
Android is Linux. It uses a Linux kernel paired with a BSD based user land. Also there is an AOSP version of Android which is Android without all the Google bits. LineageOS and some other security oriented firmwares derive from it. That isn’t to say Google are necessarily happy about this entirely but at the same time, they open sourced most of Android and probably see it as a useful antitrust defence and the impact of flashed devices barely more than background noise.
The issue of bootloaders is an orthogonal matter since Linux or not does not mean bootloader or not - many black box devices use Linux but you won’t be flashing them any time soon - TVs, set top boxes etc. I would argue that regardless of OS, there should be a right to repair law (e.g. in Europe) that allows people to maintain devices beyond their warranty. And if Samsung et al don’t want to do it, then they should have an obligation to unlock devices upon request.
they open sourced most of Android
It’s the exact opposite.
ASOP is open-source, it’s in the name.
Google’s Android has been less and less open-source every year, they’ve been replacing AOSP apps with their own and vendor-locking them to their GooglePlayAppsWhatever system (hence microG), shunning away the open-source variants they replace.I mean open source is that. The only reason open source exist is to be able to close some parts of its source (i.e. compatibility with privative software). Google promoted open source because it allowed them to close it whenever they want it. The Trojan Horse was always there, at plain sight.
That’s why it’s important to distinguish free software from open software. In most cases open source is just a label that companies can use to look friendlier.
Wait… they opened it so they can close it?
Yeah, it depends on the specific licence clauses. AOSP uses Apache Licence 2.0 which is normally regarded as a free software licence but it also could be regarded as Open software as by the OSS definition.
The problem with this licence is that it allows distribution of binaries based on the original source code without having to share the source or even changing the licence.
This means that Google could effectively take the entire (some part of Google Android is already close sources) AOSP in the current state (with the contributions of thousand of individual developers) and use it to start developing a close source Android OS project. Since Google are the main developers of Android and they could shift OG Android into a closed environment that could be no longer compatible with the old one. Google also is the main provider of security fixes. Since phone manufacturera want to able to run Google Android (stock Android) this could make old Android versions (before privatization) incompatible with phones.
For example let’s say that Google Android changes the main OS ABI or API. Then programs made for Google Android wouldn’t be compatible with other Android versions.
This would basically make users decide or you stay with Google Android (close sourced) and you trust use because “do no evil ;)”. Or you stay with your free software versions of Android that are no longer compatible with current Android programs basically forcing you to have an OS that’s not able to run “common” programs, basically isolating you from the mainstream smart phone use cases like having banking apps, mainstream chat apps, etc.
Jesus not this again 🤦
I forsee a requirement that only “approved” OS are allowed to connect to mobile networks, citing security issues.
My next phone will be a Linux phone.
I was on board the Fairphone hype, and while I think they have a good message, I actually think Pine64 does exactly what they do - just without the flashy marketing. Fairphone still uses AOSP as the basis for their OSes, so there is still a risk of hardware lockout by Google. This is leaving alone other issues like no headphone jack and USB 2.0 for the latest generation’s USB-C.
This is actually the same reason I think Ecosia won’t succeed in the long term unless they build their own search engine. Luckily it looks like they’ve already started delivering results as of last month.
I should also mention that the PinePhone isn’t Scott free from criticism either. Think I read somewhere that the camera is borked because the latest firmware or software update messed with the camera module functionality. No real fix for that soon, which sucks.
I’m in the same exact boat.
At some point when Google kills custom ROMs, everyone working on customs ROMs won’t have anywhere else to go other than a Linux phone.
Or they could just give up. I’ve ssen some people in my friend group who were really into custom ROMs, no GAPPS and all that. Most of them just gave up when buying a new phone. Probably because they felt like missing out on Features, Apps (Banking and such) or a good and working camera. Also it’s a lot of work to put into developing custom ROMs and probably even more for Linux Phone Operating Systems. Pleople get older, have other priorities etc… Ich would also like to use a Linux Phone as daily Driver but it is not really appealing in it’s current state. So i really hope, you are right and perople will start working on that more. I’m probably just a bit frustrated from trying to get postmarketos working on some old phones. I am really stunned about how much effort has been put into that but the systems are so closed down and different, that it is a leally hard job to cover them all.
More than the camera : 24hrs of battery life tops is what you should expect.
Instead of waiting, you could just go to a flip phone as a temporary measure. It’s a lot less on the mind. Believe me. And you may feel in the end, that you won’t need a smartphone anymore.
I don’t get it. I’ve never been addicted to my phone. It’s just something I can look stuff up on listen to music and maybe remote to my server. Oh also navigation I used that every day when working.
Music? Get an MP3 player. Navigation? Get a paper map. Want less stress? Learn to not rely on a smartphone. This is what people fail to understand. People functioned before smartphones were even a thing. People, especially younger people are just too conditioned to think outside the box.
Or, continue to deal with the smartphone rat race. It’s that simple.
Is funny, if you talk about an iPod or even cds nowadays people think youre about 10,000 years old. There was literally nothing wrong with that tech and it kept us away from corpo prying eyes and social media addiction.
Well, I don’t care what people think. I chose it (a flip phone and MP3 Player) for my peace of mind these days.
If they want to be big tech pawns and continue their circle jerk of drama, like the original poster, then that’s fine. And if people I engage with in public can’t be bothered to pick up the phone like a normal person to talk, then I just move on. Because clearly, they’ll never step outside of their smartphone. Not that you really can engage socially with those people to begin with; as they are so addicted. Just like the drug addicts.
You and I definitely think the same. I’ve said the same to my friends that continue to slurp up corptube media and have no problem with it. Gross.
I’ve made a rule. Not only does the people I hang out with have to be able to call me and pick up the phone, but anyone who is staring at their smartphone constantly, while they are supposed to be hanging out with me, I stop hanging out with. Because clearly they are too busy wasting time on social media.
Realistically, i think this idea might work well in tandem with a sort of PDA built off a Pi. I use my phone as a computer, because its a computer. The parts of my phone that i need to be a phone are calls and text, as i dont take photos almost ever. Data is nice, but im fairly certain i had seen recently a sim module for Pi devices, so i can just bake it into that instead so i still have a mobile computer.
Someone will eventually make a better phone OS, but in the short term it seems smart to move to a dumb phone and offset everything else to a device tou can actually control.
Someone will eventually make a better phone OS,
I’m not hoping on that; especially if big tech is involved in anything that becomes mainstream. The best option is just to avoid the mainstream.
but in the short term it seems smart to move to a dumb phone and offset everything else to a device tou can actually control.
That’s the real point I am making. But people who put their entire life into their phone are incapable of this. And that’s what’s depressing about all of this. Because of addictive social media algorithms, people hinge their entire lives on their phone.
I was on board the Fairphone hype, and while I think they have a good message, I actually think Pine64 does exactly what they do - just without the flashy marketing.
Exactly what they do, except it’s not a functional product. “Overpriced, underpowered, and half-finished” is the motto of pine64.
Yeah, as I alluded to at the end of my post, Pine64 has a lot of issues with making their devices actually useful.
They base a lot of their development on the community though. So if the community isn’t up to it, then virtually no one at Pine64 is.
You missed the overpriced and underpowered part. In the EU, the pinephone pro cost 600€, the same as the fairphone 6, and it’s significantly worse in every single way. Even if it actually worked, who in their right mind would pay that much for a device that’s going to run out of ram as soon as you open a few tabs in Firefox?
They base a lot of their development on the community though. So if the community isn’t up to it, then virtually no one at Pine64 is.
I doubt they’ll be fixing anything since they seem to have stopped selling them.
Also, if we go by their track record with the pinetime, PRs fixing basic functionality will be left open for years. Like how they can’t be bothered to accept fixes allowing the stopwatch to run in the background and not reset when you get a notification, let alone QoL improvements like being able to tell the time on your watch while the stopwatch is running.
I doubt they’ll be fixing anything since they seem to have stopped selling them.
Pine64 stopped selling the PinePhone Pro due to a lack of demand.
The regular PinePhone is still being sold, although a lack of a “Pro” qualifier certainly doesn’t help their optics of producing a competent phone at today’s standards.
Framework has the chance to do something really funny…
Would love to see it but that sounds significantly more difficult.
I wonder what a SIM modem expansion card would look like
Yeah I wish Framework, Tuxedo or Stillbook produced a Linux phone🤞
They’d have a better chance banding together with other companies and communities and pool resources into one device/os combo.
My next phone will be a ThinkPad because it has a SIM card slot.
With the simcard slot can you use mobile data? If so thats amazing and I will be looking for that feature on my next device.
I have a laptop with a SIM slot and I can use mobile data, SMS and even make voice calls. It doesn’t support 5G though. Also the mobile hardware is crap, and I get like a 10th of the speed over 4G that I do on my phone, plus it chews through battery.
So yeah, awesome feature but not as nicely implemented as I’d like. Hopefully the Thinkpad version is better!
yep you can. actually a lot of business laptops other than thinkpads also have one, it’s very useful.
ThinkPads are built to last. I have one that is 17 years old running as my Pi Hole server to not only clear out all the ads and trackers online, but also any mainstream social media platforms and anything big tech related.
And as the cherry on top, a Raspberry PI to host my own SearXNG instance with a blacklist applied to that as well; to filter mainstream tech sites, big tech and also all mainstream social media platforms from my search results.
It’s been refreshing.
I bought mine (P14s AMD) this year and it works flawlessly.
Smart phones are simultaneously such a wonder of human engineering and have become such a disappointment of human greed.
This whole situation has made me just care less about my phone, and use it less in my life while I use Linux PCs much more.
I don’t see my phone as a “computer” at this point, really. It’s more of a communication appliance. If I’m launching an app that’s not texting, calling, GPS, or music, it’s probably a replacement for a website I’d normally use on a PC.
Linux phones could change this though. The idea of your PC being your docked phone would work great for most use cases. Unfortunately though, even though I would love it I don’t really see the general public jumping at the chance to get back to the desktop experience. I could maybe see a little traction in the business world.
Anywhere there is freedom and thoughtful development there are corporations waiting to capitalize on it and ruin it.
This is pretty much how I am. Use my desktop for important things. On weekends I try to not even have my phone on my person and I check it a couple times a day while it stays in the bedroom like a house phone. Life is so much better without it.
I unfortunately still do like to take it with if walking/biking/driving but I wish I didn’t. Id like to have another phone that only makes phone calls for that but has my same number. Its funny. When I was a kid we didn’t even think about it because none of us had phones. Going on a random dirt bike ride miles away with nothing. Better (also unsafe) times.
Im tired of smartphones consuming everyone’s minds.
Im tired of smartphones consuming everyone’s minds.
Resisting the standard smartphone addiction just makes the addiction of some others so much more apparent. My own wife is still pretty badly shackled to hers.
My one friend cant stop staring at his when driving. He lives near me and sometimes I wave at him driving by and hes like I never even saw you. Like dude, youre a fucking idiot.
I found myself using my phone less and less too, and to be honest, I’m even feeling healthier mentally. Portable devices were supposed to improve our life, not make it worse. Big tech did something really terrible to phones :(
Oh same here! My reduced phone usage has been part of a much larger overall improvement in my well being and being able to live in the moment and be content.
I recently saw a video from a harvard dude talking about how we NEED to be bored. It’s when we fall into our baseline mental state and start thinking through shit and figuring life out. And not doing that can lead to anxiety and depression and other bad shit. Given my experiences, I certainly cannot disagree.
Being bored… It’s how I got back into writing and doing digital art again. Along with picking up Japanese again, and getting back into archery and even beach volleyball at the park. And coincidentally, it was because I not only filtered big platforms with my PiHole server and my hosted SearXNG instance (by filtering my search results of all big tech and huge platforms), I also turned to RSS feeds to avoid any future algorithm manipulation.
The getting rid of the smartphone (for a flip phone) was just the cherry on top; as I wasn’t using it for anything else for calling by then.
All that helped give me my creativity back.
I love hearing the individual specifics. All the variety and niches that make life interesting.
It’s funny you mention getting back into Japanese, because my big focus this year has been rebuilding and upgrading my koi pond. It would be neat to learn the language, but knowing how I function I don’t think it’s in the cards for me.
Then for my more physical activities, that was carpentry and construction driven by the damn pond. :D
It’s perfect for me though. I am a builder and creator to my core, and my career is in software and electronics, so outdoor wood working perfectly offsets that.
I guess it is funny. And Japanese isn’t an easy language to pick up. But anyway, yeah. I chose to filter out all the noise online and get my life back. Going to archery today in fact.
Speaking of noise, I think just as soon as I made this account, I’m just going to delete it. Because people on here like to complain for the drama when you offer practical solutions (the solution really is removing big tech from your life at this point); as it’s a byproduct of many people conditioned to using the mainstream social media. A lot of them have the same mentality, like the original poster. It’s an endless circle jerk I don’t want to waste my time on.
Have fun with the koi pond!
I hope you have fun as well, whether your account is deleted or not!
One note about the complaints and drama in response to your suggestions though: I see your instance is lemmy.ml and that fact alone will make a lot of people respond to you with hostility, regardless of what your personal political beliefs actually are.
And I don’t know the latest of who is defederated with who, but you may also not even see some of the more decent communities.
Well, you came to realize that the smart devices made by big tech are now designed to manipulate the user. Not benefit them. Think about it. The phones come all preloaded with social media crap. So, it’s just a tap away. And it’s all so the big tech companies can monetize their attention; never letting go of them.
Gradually, more people are realizing this. And, I, for one, am happy they are pulling the smartphones out of the schools. The younger people just can’t function anymore, and it shows.
As for me, I just went back to a flip phone. So much less of a headache.
My solution? Giving up the smartphone. I simply had enough. So, I went with a Sonim XP3Plus flip phone. Yeah, it runs Android, but it comes as a scaled down version of Android, 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. 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 went with a Sonim XP3Plus flip phone
This is how I solved the modern tech problem.
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.
I did solve the problem; by choosing not to bother with it
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
For observing the chaos over that poor decision? 😂
It’s a pub. I think there should be no questions 🤣
If we all stopped
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.
I’d never do banking on a smartphone; not in a million years.
They’re not doing it by choice. The phone is used as mandatory authentication to access the account.
One theft or hack in public, and all your money and data are at risk
…and how do you suppose your laptop is immune from this? Or your desktop, even?
that’s the aspect you want to keep avoiding.
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.
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. 🤣
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.
😬 I’m writing this on my pixel 3… What happened??
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.
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).
