It is a good example of a company dominating a whole ecosystem. Despite the core components of Android being FOSS, Google steers development into the direction it wants and its managenent gets the final say. Also, some proprietary components of said corporation have become necessary for some apps to run. Despite being more open than iOS, it is still a very closed garden which spies on you and feeds you ads. It is designed mostly to extract value from users than empower them in day-to-day tasks (it does that too but, well, that doesn’t make money).
Also:
customising it is a pain
building it is a pain
degoogling/decorporatising it is nigh to impossible
app development is a pain
it sometimes drops features between updates
OEM editions are full of bloatware which sometimes you cannot even remove
And much more. It clearly makes you feel that you do not own your device. Because even if you get fed up with Android, the only real alternative is, well… Android.
The best part about Android is choice, there are plenty of de-corporatised, bloatware free, open source and privacy friendly ROMS to choose from. And I disagree with the idea that degoogleing android is near impossible, installing a privacy friendly custom ROM is relatively easy and there are plenty of simple to follow guides out there. Plus device support is only getting better and better with LineageOS supporting a huge amount of devices. It’s also not true that there is no real alternative to Android other than iOS, there are multiple mobile GNU/Linux distros that you can install on your phone, some companies even sell phones with GNU/Linux preinstalled. Overall, most of the time Android is bad because most android users are using a version of Android with proprietary spyware and bloatware installed, but it can be great.
I like your optimism but unfortunately custom ROMs support is selective at best. Creating a new port for e.g. LineageOS is a challenging process that can potentially brick your device, so many ports focus on devices already out of sale. And mobile GNU/Linux is still rare, at least in Europe. If you happen to have a device that is not supported by either a custom Android ROM or mobile GNU/Linux, then you have no option than to stick with what you have (unless you have enough knowledge to add the support yourself).
You are correct, most people are using devices that will not work with any custom ROM or GNU/Linux distro. At least if you are searching for a new phone there are plenty of options (as long as you plan on installing LineageOS, other custom ROM’s like Calyx and Graphene have a long way to go). Let’s just hope device support improves in the future.
degoogling/decorporatising it is nigh to impossible
That’s not true. Do you mean that some things may not work without Google services? Cause that’s kind of true, even with microG. But then again, if an app/service relies on Google services as a necessary component, then it’s probably best to avoid it altogether.
It is possible depending on the ROM you use. If you are using a ROM that is close to AOSP, then it shouldn’t be too hard, even though some apps might break. If it is a stock ROM from a big vendor with a lot of spyware, then good luck. What you might call a successful decorporstisation will certainly involve vendor-specific proprietary blobs, so not a 100% win in any case. Also, sometimes you don’t get to choose which apps to use (e.g. it may be a requirement or there might be no suitable alternatives).
What you might call a successful decorporstisation will certainly involve vendor-specific proprietary blobs
Yeah, Xiaomi phones require vendor-specific proprietary blobs, but that’s different than having Google know where I am and where I’ve been in the world, what sites I visit, and so on.
Yeah, Xiaomi phones require vendor-specific proprietary blobs, but that’s different than having Google know where I am and where I’ve been in the world, what sites I visit, and so on.
It is a good example of a company dominating a whole ecosystem. Despite the core components of Android being FOSS, Google steers development into the direction it wants and its managenent gets the final say. Also, some proprietary components of said corporation have become necessary for some apps to run. Despite being more open than iOS, it is still a very closed garden which spies on you and feeds you ads. It is designed mostly to extract value from users than empower them in day-to-day tasks (it does that too but, well, that doesn’t make money).
Also:
And much more. It clearly makes you feel that you do not own your device. Because even if you get fed up with Android, the only real alternative is, well… Android.
The best part about Android is choice, there are plenty of de-corporatised, bloatware free, open source and privacy friendly ROMS to choose from. And I disagree with the idea that degoogleing android is near impossible, installing a privacy friendly custom ROM is relatively easy and there are plenty of simple to follow guides out there. Plus device support is only getting better and better with LineageOS supporting a huge amount of devices. It’s also not true that there is no real alternative to Android other than iOS, there are multiple mobile GNU/Linux distros that you can install on your phone, some companies even sell phones with GNU/Linux preinstalled. Overall, most of the time Android is bad because most android users are using a version of Android with proprietary spyware and bloatware installed, but it can be great.
I like your optimism but unfortunately custom ROMs support is selective at best. Creating a new port for e.g. LineageOS is a challenging process that can potentially brick your device, so many ports focus on devices already out of sale. And mobile GNU/Linux is still rare, at least in Europe. If you happen to have a device that is not supported by either a custom Android ROM or mobile GNU/Linux, then you have no option than to stick with what you have (unless you have enough knowledge to add the support yourself).
You are correct, most people are using devices that will not work with any custom ROM or GNU/Linux distro. At least if you are searching for a new phone there are plenty of options (as long as you plan on installing LineageOS, other custom ROM’s like Calyx and Graphene have a long way to go). Let’s just hope device support improves in the future.
Amen to that, comrade. Especially for mobile Linux.
That’s not true. Do you mean that some things may not work without Google services? Cause that’s kind of true, even with microG. But then again, if an app/service relies on Google services as a necessary component, then it’s probably best to avoid it altogether.
It is possible depending on the ROM you use. If you are using a ROM that is close to AOSP, then it shouldn’t be too hard, even though some apps might break. If it is a stock ROM from a big vendor with a lot of spyware, then good luck. What you might call a successful decorporstisation will certainly involve vendor-specific proprietary blobs, so not a 100% win in any case. Also, sometimes you don’t get to choose which apps to use (e.g. it may be a requirement or there might be no suitable alternatives).
Yeah, Xiaomi phones require vendor-specific proprietary blobs, but that’s different than having Google know where I am and where I’ve been in the world, what sites I visit, and so on.
+1