• apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world
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    22 days ago

    Before anyone gets too excited, the headline is clickbait. The bigger Chinese phone brands are looking into de-googled Android. They are still going to use Android.

    several prominent Chinese smartphone manufacturers, including Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, and OnePlus, are exploring the possibility of developing versions of the Android operating system that do not rely on Google Mobile Services.

    Chinese laptop makers are also in search of an OS that isn’t Windows. Queue a race to prop Linux with Android support on that side of things.

      • eco_game@discuss.tchncs.de
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        22 days ago

        I like your spirit, but I don’t think a Chinese equivalent to Google Play Services would be more desirable

        • timbuck2themoon
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          21 days ago

          All I want is unified push really. Then you just choose your server or host your own.

          Or just Linux. Like furios or phosh, etc.

      • Ulrich@feddit.org
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        21 days ago

        I mean they just replace Google with their own Chinese data-mining services so, no, not cool.

        • nasi_goreng@lemmy.zip
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          21 days ago

          Exactly what happened with Indonesian release of Huawei.

          Also, more ads everywhere. Even your lock screen.

        • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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          21 days ago

          No no no, it’s not Chinese data mining.

          it’s just socialised data with Chinese characteristics! Much better.

      • woelkchen@lemmy.world
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        22 days ago

        de-Googled android sounds even better.

        They are already degoogled for the Chinese market. What the Chinese Android variants to not have is a shared replacement for Play Services and a shared app store because everyone is doing their own thing for maps API, payment, …

          • jnod4@lemmy.ca
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            21 days ago

            Just read for a second about intel’s history on anti competition practices eg they would ban stores from carrying out amd cpus in my country in Europe

            • 3laws@lemmy.world
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              20 days ago

              Oh yeah, I’m not saying they’re the good guys at all. But we need a 3rd player on the GPU market.

    • agitated_judge
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      22 days ago

      It also says:

      It is currently unknown whether these companies would aim for compatibility with existing Android apps or follow the path of Huawei’s latest HarmonyOS NEXT, which removes Android app support entirely

      So, it’s not clear yet.

        • cardfire
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          21 days ago

          They got you searching for the thin line between entertainment and war.

      • Dzso@lemmy.world
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        21 days ago

        I live in Asia. I’m European and meet a lot of Chinese tourists. Trying to find a common ground with digital services we both use is impractical to the point where we often can’t connect online.

    • troed@fedia.io
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      22 days ago

      Waydroid is pretty nice, integrating the Android apps as regular apps in the Linux UI.

      • nasi_goreng@lemmy.zip
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        21 days ago

        Some Chinese phone release outside China also began to de-googled as well. At least that’s the case for Huawei in Indonesia.

    • pycorax@lemmy.world
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      21 days ago

      So like how Huawei was hyping up their new mobile OS which was really just skinned AOSP?

      • atthecoast@feddit.nl
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        21 days ago

        This was a transitional stage, HarmonyOS Next is running a fully different kernel and runtime

        • pycorax@lemmy.world
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          21 days ago

          Well there’s that, but I was talking more about how they were selling it when hey first announced it. My point is that with stuff like this, the companies have lied before. I’ll believe it when I see it.

  • haych@feddit.uk
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    21 days ago

    So that title is just a straight up lie. They want to use a de-googled Android.

    To be honest I was hoping for an alternative OS, competition is always good. But a de-googled Android could possibly be good, but being Chinese I assume instead of Google telemetry you’ll just be replacing it with CCP telemetry.

    • SabinStargem@lemmy.today
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      21 days ago

      Honestly, I think a person in either nation should consider using the opposing nation’s stuff. Harder for the US to backdoor Chinese encryption, or for Chinese to backdoor into an American phone. Play the bastards off each other.

      Odds are, that the Trump Regime will use American apps and phones to identify and track targets for ICE traffickers. China probably does the same to Uighurs. The less attack surfaces they have, the better for their respective peoples.

      • dogs0n
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        21 days ago

        That sounds funny, but In that reality, the government with all its power will find a way in (they probably already have programs (as in departments) for finding their way into other countries tech).

        Better to just install a proper de-googled android build (grapheneos, etc) and only use wifi (if data/phone num not needed) for the best odds.

        In a couple of years (with more r&d, development and investment) I bet this will change to being use a linux phone.

      • piyuv@lemmy.world
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        21 days ago

        Apple building backdoors for CCP and sharing any and all data with them: am I a joke to you?

      • jaxxed@lemmy.ml
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        20 days ago

        Except that there are credible reports of the CCP running police operations on foreign soil.

        • WarlordSdocy@lemm.ee
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          20 days ago

          But what reason would they have to go after you on foreign soil? Unless you’re like actively causing problems for China they’re not gonna spend the effort to go after you for saying “China bad” on one of their phones. That only matters if you’re in China at which point it’s silencing internal discontent. The much bigger likelihood is the American government seeing you, through data Google gathers, organize against US support of Israel or any other position they start abducting people for and grabbing you off the street for it.

          • jaxxed@lemmy.ml
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            20 days ago

            Probably not me. Most of the recorded incidents are against Chinese families that have emigrated.

            I complain about the CCP here and there, but not likely enough for any attention to be warranted.

    • Hanrahan@slrpnk.net
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      20 days ago

      Indded but as an Australian, if I have to have an anal probe i’d rather it from the CCP as they wont share it with my Government.

    • itisileclerk@lemmy.world
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      21 days ago

      US telemetry == CCP telemetry, I can’t see how CCP will be more damaging to regular person.

      • TheFriar@lemm.ee
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        21 days ago

        I think it’s just that they were saying his won’t end up benefitting us. It’s just changing who is holding the binoculars.

      • loutr
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        21 days ago

        Why bother switching then?

        • taladar
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          21 days ago

          Because, at least for now, the US has the greater power to fuck up our lives with the information gathered.

    • WarlordSdocy@lemm.ee
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      20 days ago

      I mean judging by the current American government id much rather my data is going to the CCP then the American Government via Google as a proxy.

    • wetbeardhairs@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      21 days ago

      That sounds nice and all but linux still is subject to exploits and the open sourced nature of it makes it an enticing target for state actors to include extremely well made obfuscated exploits. I dont know how to win here, tbh.

  • flop_leash_973@lemmy.world
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    21 days ago

    We are going to move away from Google, by basing our new future on AOSP, which is also primary maintained by Google…I smell another FireOS level product on the horizon. Still Android, but worse.

  • vga@sopuli.xyz
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    20 days ago

    USA is being horrible at the moment, but China has a LOT of convincing to do before I’ll let them deliberately have my data.

    Best way remains to raise as high a digital moat against everyone. If you need a smartphone, get a Pixel, install Graphene on it and as few apps as possible.

  • Libra00@lemmy.world
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    22 days ago

    You probably should’ve led with the fact that this is Chinese phones, not like Samsung and shit.

    • YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today
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      21 days ago

      Gurl let me spill the tea, there’s word floating round in China that some bde powa playas be considering maybe kinda putting something together.

      • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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        21 days ago

        Pretty soon they’re going to pencil in a meeting about possibly arranging a committee to discuss preliminary plans to do a feasibility study.

  • Alphane Moon@lemmy.world
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    22 days ago

    It makes sense for Chinese smartphone OEMs to move away from the Google version of Android. In the medium to long term you are setting up yourself for failure if you are reliant on an American company.

    Unfortunately, the United States cannot be trusted.

    • radiohead37@lemmynsfw.com
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      22 days ago

      It’s not like China can be trusted either. This is a matter of not relying on your adversary.

      • Alphane Moon@lemmy.world
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        21 days ago

        Sure, but with China everyone more less knew this. The US has used up the last benefit of the doubt that they had in the past 5 months.

        • WhyJiffie
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          21 days ago

          “everyone” yeah, in our bubble maybe. never underestimate the carelessness of the consumer

      • AES_Enjoyer@reddthat.com
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        21 days ago

        It’s not like China can be trusted either

        What exactly are you talking about? China has at no point in my lifetime exerted economic violence or taken violent policy turns towards harming other economies. They’ve been a reliable trading partner since they opened up to trade in the Deng Xiaoping/Nixon years, and done absolutely nothing remotely comparable to the US tariffs of recent (or economic embargoes to “enemy” countries like Venezuela).

        • pycorax@lemmy.world
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          21 days ago

          I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic here. I hope you are. If not a quick search on Wikipedia would show China’s aggressive behaviour towards its neighbouring countries.

          • AES_Enjoyer@reddthat.com
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            20 days ago

            Are you aware that Wikipedia is predominantly edited by western males below 50 years of age using western media as sources for information?

            If there was an online encyclopedia predominantly edited by Chinese users using Chinese news sources, would you take it at face value when discussing geopolitically-charged topics about the USA? May I remind you that the US has military bases in Philippines, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea?

            Regardless of your opinion on this, if you read my previous comment again, you’ll notice I’m talking about economic violence.

  • kepix@lemmy.world
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    20 days ago

    arent there mods on the sub to delete clickbait crap like this?

    • cauthon117@lemmy.zip
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      20 days ago

      German brand Volla has phones with Ubuntu Touch. Even allows dual boot with their own degoogled Android OS. Might be worth checking out.

    • cyberwolfie@lemmy.ml
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      20 days ago

      I really want to get to a point I can transition to using this or another mobile Linux distro. My phone is fairly (hehe, it’s a Fairphone) well supported, but my impression is that basic phone features are still not functioning properly making it more of a pocket computer and less of a phone. I still need phone features. As for mobile apps, I don’t have many needs and I think Waydroid will get me far.

  • Korhaka@sopuli.xyz
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    21 days ago

    How easy is it to degoogle Android? Don’t currently use Android or iOS but dumb phone options are getting pretty limited these days.

    If I got an Android phone I would probably be looking at something second hand because fuck paying 3 figures on a phone. I know I wouldn’t use data at all, call/SMS SIM only. I guess another option is not needing to degoogle it as it will never talk to google once I have finished downloading maps of the country for OSMand and a few other apps. Then it can be on Wi-Fi to allow communication with my PC over LAN but don’t allow it access to the internet.

    If it never touches the internet after setup I guess outdated OS doesn’t matter too much.

    • dogs0n
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      21 days ago

      If you’re looking at getting a new (used) phone, I would suggest GrapheneOS (the most secure/private de-googled rom afaik).

      You need a Pixel phone, the newer you get the longer you will keep getting software updates for the future (if you keep the phone past these many years of support, then I believe switching to a other rom will be required for security patches etc. Each phone is supported until Google stops supporting them I believe). You said you don’t care about updates because you can keep it from connecting to the internet, but it’s a plus anyways.

      If you plan on never touching a google service, GrapheneOS allows for that (nothing google by default), but on the other hand, if you need google play, etc for banking apps or whatnot, they have that covered with Sandboxed Google Services (which you can run solely in another user profile on your phone for added privacy).

      Anyways, I think GrapheneOS in a great option & their website has much more info if you’d like to continue hearing about it:

      https://grapheneos.org/

      p.s. you can check their website for how long different pixels will have continued support before (if) you get one (incase anyone else is reading this).

    • oo1@lemmings.world
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      21 days ago

      You have to be careful to get a phone and model supported by one of the projects. Check all compatibility and install instructions before buying a phone. And if you need a manufacturer supplied unlock code, make sure the manufacturer still gives them out . Some will discontinue that service after a few years.

      For graphene os you need one of the gogle devices - i’ve never tried it but i think its the one most people like.

      lineageos supports more devices usually older.

      I recently got lineageos working on sony experia xa2 - very happy with it. But to get there i had to go try like 6 computers before one of them sucessfully sent the bootloader unlock code over the ADB. For some reason usb is temperamental when doing stuff like that

      It is a lot easier on really old stuff like samsung galaxy s3 or s4 if you can tolerate something that old. Maybe you’ll lso end upon an old version of lineage.

      Once you get the bootloader unlocked it is generally straightforward. but modern phones make that fist part awkward.

      • lemmyingly@lemm.ee
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        21 days ago

        The only issue with projects like LineageOS is that the camera usually sucks because the full fat camera driver isn’t released to the public, it’s only the basic driver. The camera can still take photos but all of the features you’ve become accustomed to are not there. This was my experience and what the LineageOS team said during the Samsung S5-S8 days.

        • Tehdastehdas@lemmy.world
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          20 days ago

          I have /e/OS 2.9 (based on LineageOS) on a Sony 1 V. The default camera app was crap so I installed Sony Photography Pro (the one that came with the original Android) and it works just fine.

    • LH0ezVT
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      21 days ago

      If you have a phone with custom ROM support, pretty easy. I’ve been running LineageOS without GAPPS for like 5 years now. Most stuff just works, but to be fair, I am not using any of the cool kids apps like google pay or android auto.

      • xeekei@lemm.ee
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        21 days ago

        I just got my Pixel 9a and put GrapheneOS on it. The only thing that seems to not work right now is KDE Connect, but I’m unsure if it might be me doing something wrong rather than being impossible.

      • Korhaka@sopuli.xyz
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        21 days ago

        Yeah guess I don’t really care for most of it. Can get anything I want as an apk or mostly just on fdroid. VLC and an SSH client would be nice.

    • emergencyfood
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      21 days ago

      It depends on your definition of ‘deGoogle’. You can disable the Google apps on most Android phones. They’ll take up storage space, but won’t run.

      If you’re getting a second-hand phone and want to completely deGoogle it, you can check if (1) the bootloader is unlockable and (2) custom ROMs are available online (e.g. Lineage OS compatible devices). In general, Xiaomi, Motorola and Pixel devices have unlockable bootloaders, but not all their models have custom ROMs.

      • Korhaka@sopuli.xyz
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        20 days ago

        What do you mean, like a humans name? Pretty sure it doesn’t. I can get one with cash and top it up with cash. Until pretty recently this is what I did. Pricing changes mean I now pay £4/month instead which would be tied to my card.