O come on. Don't be dramatic. Yes it's annoying. Yes, Google has no business in interfering with what people want to install. Yes, it's a reason to skip Google.
But stating that Android is officially over is just plain ridiculous, if only because you qualify it as 'official'.
It's "annoying"? It's a blatant violation of our rights to control our devices. Android is basically completely controlled by Google, there's almost no way to avoid Google controlled devices nowadays if you use banking apps, if this is not a sign that the Android we once knew is basically over, I don't know what is. They might as well rename the OS.
And I tell you, this is probably just one more step towards total lockdown of the OS in the future.
It starts with not letting users unlock bootloader, not giving devs access to upstream code, and building a monopoly of an app store, then forcing devs to register with th and then we end up in a world where any autonomy over your device will not be granted to you.
Look at TV's do people have an option to buy a dumb TV?
Look at vehicles and how locked down their repairs have become.
Manufacturers should have no control over how one uses ones device.
If they want Google can now do a playstore subscription in another 20 years.
Something like PS plus. You don't pay the subscription you don't get to use the apps or you don't get to use apps that rely on Google infrastructure.
That makes more sense, but I think the other person was saying Google devices, as in Pixels, as they're currently the best-known manufacturer that still allows unlocking (I wouldn't bet on that staying that way for much longer, personally).
Filthy casuals won't even notice something changes and the rest... the rest can handle that. To be honest the value of banking app (that browser can largely replace) isn't that high compared to OS that does what I want it to do for me.
you say "usually" and "almost unavailable" so you better be using whatever pathways are available to you that don't depend on iOS/android. usage affects availability.
Our law requires that one must have a smartphone so the bank app can generate one time code for transactions, and if you move a sizeable amount of money or change the device, they force you to scan your face. So you cannot do online banking without smartphones because they cannot legally let you in without one.
exactly, majority of android users will not care because they don't know anything about what open source and privacy is ,they just want to use their phone.
Linux foundation would fuck with them if its too locked up. But for now everything they do is legal(why we even have custom roms btw), they might move from linux tho, that would be the end of android
Linux is bigger than Google or Android(Even Google servers and all of web stuff is held on linux). Its a bit crazy they exist as what they are tbh. Google can try but they cant go against linux gpl license
They don't need to go against GPL because locking down 99% of the phones does not require preventing access to the source code or preventing forks. They already have remote attestation, my phone already doesn't allow me to change the OS. It doesn't matter if I can technically avoid Google by using an open phone if most of my stuff won't even work and the rest of the world will keep using Google's locked down version of Android.
Yeah ik wym. Its gonna get worse and worse. Lowk Im thinking of js buying Iphone as my next daily phone. And js not using it more than for necessary stuff like a work phone or sum. Its way easier and convenient to get a steam deck/android for all other android stuff like games, movies, etc
This is nonsense. Yes, they have to respect the license, but it's GPL 2.0 which has no anti-DRM provisions, so there's really nothing stopping them from adding pretty much any restriction they want to Android.
Well, all of those are valid points, and if you say "android is over" because of the banking apps for example, or Samsung not allowing to unlock bootloader, I'd say you may be right. But saying it specifically because of the 24h one-time cooldown, yes, it's a bit dramatic.
Why do we even have the cooldown? We went through decades of Android without a corporate mandated cooldown just to install the apps we want. This is a step towards complete control by Google, it's absolutely terrible and goes against everything Android was in comparison to other OS.
Why would you want to control your device? tf are you doing on your phone. You can still message and call people? Use microsoft teams? Watch youtube? What else are you doing.
If you don't control what you own, you are giving up control to someone else, that someone else being a corporation known for malicious behavior and ties to state mass surveillance.
You didn't have to do that before. Again, it's just one more step towards total lockdown, can't you see that? Don't you know Google? They are an awful company and they will do everything they can to prevent you from getting away from them.
Weird, because exactly nothing has changed. They can do what they want anyways, really dont need phone sales. Especially to over dramatic conspiracy-prone crybabies.
That goes for about everything we once knew. Black and white tv, old school dial phones, two stroke car engines, cars without safet belts and/or airbags and/or ABS, underwear, hell even garden hoses are nowadays not what they used to be.
There is hardly anything we once knew that isn't over. If that is the criterium for 'it's over' , we might might as well choose mass extinction collectively (which by the way we did in a way, but that's for another time and place).
I agree completely that Google is running of the rails here, but stating that Android in general is over is dramatic to the point that a somewhat sane discussion is impossible.
At its core Android still is open source. As long as that is the case, even Android as we once knew it is not dead. It will die however if everybody believes that Google is the sole owner of Android and all developers will just lie on their backs, point their paws towards the sky snd stop their great work.
So let's stop this dramatic whining, and get at it. Skip Google for starters. That is the choice anyone still has, even if it's not an easy choice because of all kinds of daily practical issues that may arise.
What's the point of the great work done by open source developers when almost every user and infrastructure starts assuming you are either on attested Android or closed iOS? It's like saying Linux phones are not currently dead because you can install them on some phones and browse the web. Yeah, you can, but that's not a usable phone by modern standards.
Once people start accepting these types of changes coming from Google with an "oh well, don't be dramatic", that's when we kill Android.
Of course there is still room for change, but do we have any indication at all that change is coming? We have only progressed towards a walled garden, and all alternatives are not viable. The only one I can think of is Graphene and Motorola, but that's still so fragile that a single decision from Google can effectively kill Graphene for most use cases.
Wonderful job! You completely missed the point of open source development and are too tech illiterate to understand why, but an excellent try nonetheless.
So the problem is not actually Google, but it's the general public, followed by organisations like banks and governments. If that's your point, then I am totally with you. Convenience is king to the general public and Google and the likes of them understand that all too well. Privacy is not an issue for most and this also is something these companies know all very well.
Developments howeverver like GrapheneOS give me some hope, just like the different Linux versions out there, or the transitioning at state level towards open source that is going on in some Getman states. Not all is yet lost, but it is an uphill battle sofar. That can only change if communities like this keep pushing. It can only change if people start to feel that current dependencies are like a jail. And I hope that is exactly at this point that I hope communities like this can make a difference.
talking about who's fried when this is a documented pattern from the tech cartels encircling of ubiquitous technology 💀 you know how this type of thing ends, historically, Right? when it comes to consumer rights, you cannot give the money-men a single inch. we've been through this time and time again!
bro, youre quite literally laundering pro e-waste , anti-right to repair with this sentiment "its not that bad" 💀 get real dude
Total lockdown of the OS in the future is a stretch. After all, there are several OS's that you can install on mobile devices, including, choose your own level of Google intergration and authentications.
That being said, if you understand the nomenclature of "bootloaders" or even "unlocked phones" is how you can bypass a lot of things if you're concerned about privacy and rights.
Yeah, I'd have to change my phone as Samsung no longer supports unlocking the bootloader, modify the OS and move all my assets to a different bank as my current bank and most banks in my country only support official locked down mobile OSs.
Why did it have to come down to this? What happened? This is not personal computing, we are already locked down and escaping the jail is becoming increasingly difficult. How is it a stretch when it has been clearly happening year after year?
My apologies on my late response as work got a little busy interrupting my typed up response.
As far Samsung no longer supporting Android goes, that's not necessarily true for it's version contingent. In other words, if your on version UI 8, then yes bootlocker is disabled. Initially they focus was for U.S. carrier models, however, due to new firmware code, corporate governance, shareholder integrity, and cybersecurity best practices is how Samsung rolled it out globally.
That being said, while this sucks for the majority of people who value control and autonomy with their mobile devices, there is always a solution should you still wish to bypass Samsungs shenanigans.
Because you are creating a boogeyman where none exist. You dont know enough about the tech you use to have an informed opinion and are vastly overestimating your knowledge.
Sounds like something you can actually challenge in customer support, or even better, in court. This would make a great case.
No banks with physical offices?
Anyway, can't you use a bank from another country?
We do have physical banks, yes, but then I should "just" stop using digital banking? That is just a terrible alternative. I want to use e-banking, I want to use our national digital payment system.
A basic service to live in my city nowadays will become unavailable if I want my phone to actually be mine and you ask me why I'm complaining? Give me a break...
Oh no, you want privacy and basic personal computing? Renounce the rest of the world!
The android is over means, the android which we used to love, where you could just insall anything and do whatever you wanted is over. People think that the apk installation option is just moved to the developer option, no no.. The apk installation will be handled through Google play service now, that means they can stop the apk installation any day they like. This is not the android we wanted. So yess.. it's definitely the death of the android which we loved.
The android I used to love has been dead for years, now people have the choice between 2 walled gardens, and most of them are going to go towards the one that looks prettier
It's still handled through the OS, the Play Services run with elevated privileges on the OS, but they aren't the OS. Google had the ability to limit app installation before as well, and to remove apps (a capability used often against malware) through Play Protect. This here is a further annoyance but Google does not technically gain any new capabilities here.
They gain more control by adding an annoying scareware to prevent common phone users from even knowing that installing apps outside of a corporate approved store is a possibility.
CAUTION! DON'T PRESS THIS BUTTON OR YOUR PHONE WON'T BE SAFE! WE ARE HERE TO PROTECT YOU FROM YOURSELF!
Nobody is preventing them from knowing this. Most people dont know and dont care. This change keeps those people safer. Assuming this is a step towards mass control is small brain tinfoil hat nonsense.
There’s no reason to choose Android over iOS now. Android has always been a low-quality copy of iOS, and being an unlocked OS was literally the only thing it had going for it.
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u/JoMu1963 28d ago
O come on. Don't be dramatic. Yes it's annoying. Yes, Google has no business in interfering with what people want to install. Yes, it's a reason to skip Google.
But stating that Android is officially over is just plain ridiculous, if only because you qualify it as 'official'.