not_IOFeb 18

Keep Android Open

https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/38763622

Blåhaj Lemmy - Choose Your Interface

Show threadcertified_expertFeb 18

Dumb question: how is this affecting projects like Graphene OS?

Can android just be forked and detached from google?

I am guessing that despite being “open source”, the project depends on many binary blobs to interface with the wireless devices ??

Show threadfloofloofFeb 18
Google has been systematically moving stuff out of the open-source part of Android and into proprietary areas for some time now. They’re making it harder and harder for anyone to make a working Android OS that isn’t full of closed-source Google spyware. For now these projects survive, but Google is clearly hostile to them.
Show threadcertified_expertFeb 18

What would it take to start from a clean slate? I mean, a mad lad said about 35 years ago “UNIX expensive. I’m gonna make my own OS”

What are the obstacles for something like this to happen for phones? I assume device drivers, but probably it is much more complicated than that

Show threadCanuck

I have a GNU/Linux phone I carry in my other pocket. Here are the biggest issues I can see:

  • Driver support for components in the mainline kernel (lets you install any distro and things like camera, Bluetooth just work)
  • Power management; turns out it is a hard technical problem to have your phone suspend to save energy, while being awake enough to know what and when to turn back on to receive chats/calls, playback music, etc
  • Cameras have a lot of stuff beyond drivers happening behind the scenes these days in software that would need to be developed, especially given it is a big reason people choose their phones for
  • Phone certification is tough, this has stopped even companies like Fairphone from shipping their devices worldwide, I imagine even harder for a device like the Purism Librem 5 where you can literally upgrade Wi-Fi, BT, and cellular generations like a gameboy cartridge
  • App ecosystems take a while to build up, it is a chicken/egg scenario. I think things are in a useable state for all the default apps an iPhone has, but if you want Uber, Uber Eats, you either have to draw even more power essentially running Android via Waydroid, or use a typically more janky web app that may be missing some features
    • Feb 18 at 8:27amWeb
    Show thread-RJ-Feb 18
    Aren’t there also issues with Banking Apps and their requirements around security and signing?
    Show threadCanuckFeb 18

    As some other people mentioned the Waydroid app or their website can work. If you do Waydroid, you can install Gapps, and other banking app isn’t happy with that, they typically offer decent mobile websites.

    GNOME Web and Mozilla Firefox via this PWA extension let you have a dedicated app icon for any web service you want into your app drawer. The Firefox one works best, and I believe does a better job isolating stuff from the main browser.

    What’s cool is you can run an entire Monero wallet (or other cryptocurrency) on device for full mobile financial experience, though don’t store more in it than you would a regular wallet.

    Progressive Web Apps for Firefox – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US)

    Download Progressive Web Apps for Firefox for Firefox. A tool to install, manage and use Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) in Mozilla Firefox