Lol I can't understand how you get so many upvotes but when I make a meme everybody's like "what's a stan???" Linux users are some of the most antisocial people on the planet.
If I need to choose, I'll go with Android but to be quite frank, I would really prefer to have a "real" computer operating system on those devices. For 10+ years I've been waiting for a device that I can put in my pocket, use it on the go, with a data connection, and have the possibility to dock it and continue using it as a full fledged computer, with Linux if possible.
I know some high end Android devices can be "docked" and connected to a monitor, but they are far too expensive and/or too rare. Also, you still have to use apps instead of proper computer software. I don't like the "everything is an app" model, where they all have to have ads and/or paid versions. Android and "mobile" operating systems are a pain to use. I want to have control over my device.
And I also know there are some devices that can to this, but with the level of technology that we have, a device like this should be easy to find. Yet, it's all niche stuff that isn't really polished nor working really well. It's all damn phones and tablets with "mobile" operating systems that locks users. I wonder if phone/tablet manufacturers keep it that way because there's no demand for this, or if they simply want to continue the milking of the mobile users.
I still am grumpy about Microsoft killing their windows phone line. Not the regular ones, but rather the ones that allowed you to dock it to a display and use a slightly stripped down Windows OS on a full screen. It could've actually changed how we use phones/ computers, but instead we have to have a separate device for everything we do.
Phones are already powerful enough to run desktop apps, but I guess it's down to profits why we still don't have a "swiss army knife" of a device for everything.
Indeed. They were on the way to a unified os. Still kinda are. And people totally hate them for it. At least you could use the (nearly) same win on your Touch-pad and desktop.
And i actually liked their phones. Just could never really keep it without telegram. And that (the lack of apps) was their downfall.
This! Mobile operating systems are trash, and there's no good reason for it. I always see people parroting the same nonsense, "you have the power of a super computer in your pocket". Okay, then why can't I use it like a supercomputer? It's all crippled toy versions of the desktop applications, social media garbage, or microtransaction stuffed toilet games.
I should be able to use it like a proper computer that can run full-fat applications, with a monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc. Everyone loves to go on about how powerful phones are, so then why can’t I use that power?
Absolutely this. I, too, go for android (pixel even, sigh) but would prefer a real os.
android was aweful when it came out, grew much better, then declined again.
And with each update they kill so many apps due to "security"-changes.
And what's worst of all, is the constant struggle to actually own your own device (=root). Noone would ever have bought a pc with no admin-pwd where you can only "refresh" your current windows-version and nothing more.
You can't buy anything else than pixels (and even with those you need at least minimum tech-knowledge and are dependent on the continuing development of ONE app).
Having any other brand makes it near impossible without luck, time and frustration-tolerance.
The coming generations will just pay 1000 for a phone they are allowed to use, not own, and think that is how it is and ever has been.
They pit us against each other in this arbitrary culture-war...the proprietary versus the open standards. And it's so wildly anti-consumer but we fall for it, year after year. Maybe one day Apple users will realize how anti-consumer it is, but I doubt it, they love the exclusivity of being half of the people with a smartpbone.
Lol yes. Isn't it sad? They're even proud of being "rich" (lol) and brag about their stupid apple-gadgets. Apple really managed to get from "get more, pay less" to "get less, pay even more and get fucked" and having people kiss their butts for it.
Apple as an OS and platform itself, isn't bad. macOS, I'd contend, is probably the most user-friendly experience out there. iOS and iPadOS aren't far behind.
Apple also tends to be late with new features, but makes sure they are polished and complete when they launch.
But that's it. I wouldn't say that makes them the best by any means. They all have their merits in their own regard. Consumers have their own reasons for selecting one platform over another, and those that don't choose Apple.
Sent from my OnePlus 12 (and I use Arch, btw) (and my last phone was an iPhone 12 pro max...the only reason I got it was because I was sick of exchanging potatograms with my wife, who wouldn't use a separate app just to message me. Before that it was a OnePlus 6T, then Galaxy S9, Note 4, Nexus 4, and HTC Hero. Might've missed one) (oh yeah had an iPhone 5 from work. Couldn't wait to exchange that (for the Note 4).
Apple might be user-friendly, but that is kinda easy if you're super restrictive. And the only one that produces their stuff. The worst thing about android is being so fragmented, not only in versions but also in makers. And some really put tons of their own shit on top of android. I hate it. Especially Samsung. The apple of android.
I also hate it to be stuck with googles pixels. They're not only the purest but also, ironically, the easiest to root and, especially, un-google them with a different OS.
This is the reason you shouldn’t choose a chat platform that requires the using the mobile OS duopoly—get your friends off of LINE, WhatsApp, & Signal.
There are many services that will give you a temp number to sign up with for these services. I have many verified discord accounts, none of which are my actual phone number.
You get a unique phone number, signal sends the activation text, you confirm the account. And they add the number to a blocklist so no one else can use that number and screw your account up. I've done it for Discord, Telegram & Signal. I have Signal running in Waydroid right now, without my phone number attached to it
Got this update message in signal earlier this week. Nice to see them moving in the right direction, but I guess the initial signup still requires a phone number.
"Your phone number will no longer be visible to anyone on the latest version of Signal unless they have it saved in their phone's contacts. You can change this in Settings.
A new privacy setting lets you control who can find you by your phone number on Signal.
You can now set and share an optional username to let people chat with you without giving them your phone number. "
Use what you like. Just like Windows, macOS and Linux for the vast majority of people, all these OSes are, are platforms to display apps and webpages. They all have sanded off most of the rough edges meaning that unless you have specific niche needs/wants, you'll just use what is familar and be happy.
Life is too short to have deep feelings about an OS.
What specific features did you notice the most? (I'm assuming switching from Android?)
90% of my phone usage is through a browser, so I could probably install Graphene pretty easily.
#1 through #69: no push notifications, no feeds on my home screen, nothing I don't explicitly turn on and configure. No bloat whatsoever, the phone comes practically empty. I got this at the beginning of 2022, before then I kept finding myself reading articles about Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. Like I could not give less of a fuck about them, that story, whatever. I don't know who she is, and I don't particularly like JD movies except maybe Dead Man from the 90s, he probably beat the shit out of her idk. But for some reason I kept finding myself reading these articles on my phone absentmindedly. That kind of shit ended immediately.
Downsides? Not everything works, because there's no google play, and I couldn't get it even if I wanted it. I can use most google services on the browser, but for maps I have to use Osmand, which works but doesn't give me the fastest way to a place, and its kind of a trick to find a specific house or business without looking it up on a computer first and locating the nearest cross street. Schools, hospitals it has saved no problem, but not the optimal routes ore even anything relatively close. Great for my city where I can get myself 98% the way there already knowing the fastest ways around. Out of town we usually use my wife's navigation.
Those drawbacks are a little annoying but I will never go back to android, and I would never use apple in the first place. I love my phone, it feels like its mine in a way no phone ever has.
Interesting. Not having a good maps / navigation app might be a bit of a dealbreaker for me, since that's pretty much the last 10% of what I use my phone for. Degoogling myself there will require some effort....
As for push notifications and feeds, I don't really have a problem with that on my current phone with base android. I'm pretty aggressive about blocking random notifications or uninstalling apps entirely if they show me push notifications ads or "use me" reminders. And my home screen is just a clock and calendar.
GrapheneOS lets you choose whether you want to have a sandboxed google play installation. This way apps such as Maps work. Basically you are in control (except for Google Pay).
You can get Google play working by sideloading it with adb, and enabling graphene's microG service in the apps menu.
Any further apps installed with Google play, and Google itself, will still be under the default restrictions imposed by graphene, instead of having full access like with stock android.
It can be a little clunky starting out, but once you get used to it, the only major downside I could find was that I couldn't verify my bank details to enable nfc payments, because Google hasn't whitelisted Graphene in their API for "security reasons"
Yeah, I can't imagine what about Graphene would make that big of a difference. Smart phones and slabs of glass with apps on them. There's very little that truly impacts the experience after you get past specs.
You need good software to make the most out of good hardware, but I think our definition of good is different. For software, as long as the software doesn't get in the way of launching the app you want, most normies will consider that good. It doesn't matter that Android is bloated and inefficient if the user can tap the Instagram or Facebook icon and have that open up without user perceptible delay.
The average person is remarkably able to put up with shit. Look at the experience on smart TVs for example. The vast majority of people are fine with the absolutely shitty experience as long as they can open up Netflix.
"Google is insidious. They're really an advertising data-collection company, but people think they're a tech service company. Their whole strategy is to provide stuff like Chrome for free so that lots of people use it and it becomes a de facto standard, and then they flip a switch and quietly mine all of that data."
I used to be one of those fanboys when I was younger, but that was driven more by the fact that they weren't iPhones than anything particularly good about Android
Used to be a fan of OnePlus but they've become like every other phone company now from what I hear
