Technology

Users are the commodity to be traded. They have what they see as a business model that's too big to fail. And the users agree!

First time?

I'm actively looking for a new phone that has 0 Google in it, and am looking ad de-Googling the rest of my life.

I remember being genuinely hyped about Gmail in 2008. Now, I don't want them accessing any of my data.

At some point they get large enough that the whims of users cease to affect their decision-making. If Google, Meta, and MS tomorrow rolled out a social credit system that made the Chinese version look generous, 95+% of their users would not change a THING to avoid it. Maybe 98% of their users.

I was looking into it a few ago. I found something made in Europe which advertise as more consumer friendly (Fairphone). If I got it right they want to stand out of the crowd by:

• Selling phones that can be repaired easily;
• Offer a de-googled OS based on Android.

The second point could be interesting, considering this Google abusive behavior towards users. Moreover, there is another thing that caught my attention: their devices (the last one is missing, but maybe it's just too new?) are supported by Ubuntu Touch, which should be just a Linux OS running on phones. That would be my dream, so that I can consider my phone just a computer with all the freedom I can get, such as write down my bash/python/C applications to do what I want to do without having to mess up with all that Android development suite.

However, if I am not mistaken, in the past I heard some bad reviews about Fairphone, so you should perform your due diligence.

Custom Android ROMs based on AOSP, which is the open source parts of Android. I used to use LineageOS back in the day.

Before buying a phone, make sure that it has an unlockable bootloader and a custom ROM of a recent Android version. Note that some phones have multiple versions for different regions and some might not be unlockable, while others are. For example many Samsung international phones are unlockable, but none of the USA models are.

Note that many commercial apps like Netflix, Pokémon Go, bank apps, etc. will refuse to run if your bootloader is unlocked. It also permanently trips Samsung's Knox.

GrapheneOS works well. But only on pixel devices.

Not android or apple. I'll go to a prepaid flip phone before I give apple a cent. They're essentially the paragon of greed.

IS THAT A FUCKING HEADPHONE JACK!?

Let's go 🔥🔥🔥

It's nice, and good to see more of a push. However, I think kill switches for at least microphone and camera should be the new default. It's absolutely ridiculous to walk around with an internet connected mic and a camera that looks at your face whenever you look at your phone. Personally, I'll never carry a phone around anymore that doesn't have mics and cameras desoldered or there's a kill switch. For the back camera a cover with a slide is fine, but doesn't really work with the front part.

I'd prefer that firefox os had caught on and turned into a big player today

That's would just be Windows 11 S ~Mobile~ ~Edition~, but you do not get the option to upgrade to Windows 11 Home ~Mobile~ ~Edition~ as you would on a PC

Or maybe you do get an option, but its a subscription for $50 per quarter-year. 🫠

You can stop using all Google products. Now I understand their market share on the web means they’re going to continue to shape the web.

But make no mistake. There is something, however small, that you can do. De-Google.

We burned down the past we can burn down the future too.

Wait until Google locks the bootloader.