Fabio ManganielloMar 12

#Samsung devices from today can no longer install custom ROMs.

Odin is gone and the Download Mode is also gone, which makes life hard also for repair services that want to restore a device.

This is your daily reminder that #Android is a liability, and major hardware manufacturers who ship Google’s version of Android are a liability too.

We need to get Linux phones to work, and we need manufacturers who are aligned with our principles.

https://www.androidauthority.com/samsung-disables-odin-removes-download-mode-3648469/

Samsung's latest update is a serious gut punch to Galaxy power users

Samsung has released a controversial update that disables a tool widely relied upon by power users and service centers.

Android Authority
Show threadmyrmepropagandist3d ago

@fabio

This is why phones are not real computers. You can't write a program and put it on your phone. Unless you make a server and make it a website. And now my husband will want me to make him a website for all his programs.

And I will make it since I need it for my horrible iphone.

I would love a linux phone, but I wonder if that will ever be workable. I have this goofy work app and I bet it won't run on that. And what about wireless payment?

Anyway this sucks.

Show threadFabio Manganiello3d ago
@futurebird I think all it takes is a decent virtualization layer. I use GrapheneOS and I can get most if not all of my Android apps to work, all while sandboxing Google Play Services the way I want. If PostmarketOS, Sailfish, UBPorts or anything else could manage to get the same sandboxing model to work in something that resembles Waydroid and it’s reasonably efficient and stable, I’d probably be ready to make the jump.
Show threadPonderStibbons3d ago

@fabio @futurebird

May I ask what model phone you are using?

I have been sticking with Samsung for a while because of Apple's walled garden.
But now Android is no better.

Show threadFabio Manganiello

@PonderStibbons @futurebird so far GrapheneOS works only on Pixel phones, but an agreement with Motorola has recently been announced.

However I still see GrapheneOS as a temporary solution - not because of them, but because of the double liability they’re exposed to (goodwill of Google on one side to keep releasing all of their code openly and without crapware like age verification on one side, and goodwill of hardware manufacturers on the other).

I’ve also got PostmarketOS on some older Motorola, OnePlus and Nexus devices though, and I must admit that it works quite well. The biggest blocker is just an efficient and stable Android virtualization layer

Mar 18 at 6:53pmWeb
Show threadThe Great Llama 3d ago
@fabio @PonderStibbons @futurebird
Yep, my only concern about using Graphene is for what Google chooses to do in the future. At present, my phone is absolutely excellent. If it broke right now, I'd go buy another Pixel and install Graphene immediately.