Guess we are going back to the days when only nerds that knew how to flash better roms will be using Android.
Google is closing those gates as well. Pixel 10 drivers aren’t in the new AOSP build. Graphene has been updated to the Android 16 core, but as Google tightens the leash, it will be more difficult. Google’s plan to combine ChromeOS and Android into a MegaBloat will further make it so AOSP is useless.
Every time Google releases a new app for the core OS, they stop supporting the open-source flavor of it, which is why apps like the AOSP messaging app can’t do RCS. Eventually all that will be left of AOSP is a mostly useless husk.
Google’s intended use case for AOSP going forward is for vendors to be able to test pre-release things, primarily in an emulator environment.
Couple that with things like Samsung’s Qualcomm phones can’t be bootloader unlocked, and less and less phones in general can be bootloader unlocked, it is going to be an uphill battle for alt OSes.
Hopefully, this will drive enough dev time towards getting a proper Linux-based mobile device in the works, but even that will be problematic as most modems/chips available for that kind of project are inferior, slow, do not support all the bands/modes of modern carrier networks, and even after all of that, the carrier can still reject to certify the device for the network.
It isn’t hopeless, but everyone is going to have to get creative and driven if we have any intention of retaining free and open mobile devices.
GrapheneOS said they are working with an unnamed OEM to make devices compatible with GOS. Hopefully they are good, because Pixels may indeed be a dead end.
If they do and it’s a good phone, I may literally move back to Android just for that after 3 years of daily driving iOS. Right now choice is between giving my money to Apple vs Google so I might as well go with the one that has tighter hardware-software integration.
Well said, and you’re right, it’s not hopeless. Most people don’t need the latest superphone, personally I want to carry around a good music device, that I can read books on, and preferably have maps. Many like cameras, but I like the idea of a devoted one. The communications (/surveillance) device is a separate thing and perhaps we should think seriously about breaking these things apart, hotspot that you turn on when needed for example. How about a nice general purpose pocketable linux gadget and a secure simple telecom to give it a connection?
They used to have pretty good pricing. The compact versions of the Z lineup especially. Of course, they also somehow managed to have the most fragile screens in the business at that time.
But that was also a wildly different time. You’d go to your phone company’s website and see Apple, Samsung, Sony, LG, HTC, ZTE, Huawei, Motorola and a few others. Now LG, HTC, ZTE, Huawei, Sony and Motorola aren’t even on the list anymore - even though some of those companies still make devices, some companies just won’t bother selling them anymore. It’s just Apple, Google, Samsung, Xiaomi and… I’m surprised that OnePlus even makes the list.
Now I can still get Asus, POCO or Honor from a 3rd party retailer which is fine, I don’t want to give Telia any more money anyway, but most people get their phone with a discount from their phone company on contract… So companies other than the “big 5” aren’t even being considered. Plus I don’t even know where to get a Sony phone. Even the company formerly known as Sony Center here sells iPhones, but not Sony phones (they do still sell a lot of other Sony things of course)
I won’t trust them to not screw me over for things outside of my control.
I was looking into Sony for my last phone, but one of my friends ended up getting one before I did and he hard pushed me away from it. He said it was a hassle for him to unlock it, and that they moreorless said that the act of unlocking the bootloader will void his warranty (which is not legal in the US) and that after 2 tries of unlocking and having it not unlock, he returned it and went to another company (I think it was oneplus?), he also wasn’t impressed with the performance vs price that he was getting out of it.
Google is closing those gates as well. Pixel 10 drivers aren’t in the new AOSP build. Graphene has been updated to the Android 16 core, but as Google tightens the leash, it will be more difficult. Google’s plan to combine ChromeOS and Android into a MegaBloat will further make it so AOSP is useless.
Every time Google releases a new app for the core OS, they stop supporting the open-source flavor of it, which is why apps like the AOSP messaging app can’t do RCS. Eventually all that will be left of AOSP is a mostly useless husk.
Google’s intended use case for AOSP going forward is for vendors to be able to test pre-release things, primarily in an emulator environment.
Couple that with things like Samsung’s Qualcomm phones can’t be bootloader unlocked, and less and less phones in general can be bootloader unlocked, it is going to be an uphill battle for alt OSes.
Hopefully, this will drive enough dev time towards getting a proper Linux-based mobile device in the works, but even that will be problematic as most modems/chips available for that kind of project are inferior, slow, do not support all the bands/modes of modern carrier networks, and even after all of that, the carrier can still reject to certify the device for the network.
It isn’t hopeless, but everyone is going to have to get creative and driven if we have any intention of retaining free and open mobile devices.
GrapheneOS said they are working with an unnamed OEM to make devices compatible with GOS. Hopefully they are good, because Pixels may indeed be a dead end.
If they do and it’s a good phone, I may literally move back to Android just for that after 3 years of daily driving iOS. Right now choice is between giving my money to Apple vs Google so I might as well go with the one that has tighter hardware-software integration.
Well said, and you’re right, it’s not hopeless. Most people don’t need the latest superphone, personally I want to carry around a good music device, that I can read books on, and preferably have maps. Many like cameras, but I like the idea of a devoted one. The communications (/surveillance) device is a separate thing and perhaps we should think seriously about breaking these things apart, hotspot that you turn on when needed for example. How about a nice general purpose pocketable linux gadget and a secure simple telecom to give it a connection?
https://opendevices.ix5.org/
There is still this. SONY’s phones are expensive, unfortunately.
They used to have pretty good pricing. The compact versions of the Z lineup especially. Of course, they also somehow managed to have the most fragile screens in the business at that time.
But that was also a wildly different time. You’d go to your phone company’s website and see Apple, Samsung, Sony, LG, HTC, ZTE, Huawei, Motorola and a few others. Now LG, HTC, ZTE, Huawei, Sony and Motorola aren’t even on the list anymore - even though some of those companies still make devices, some companies just won’t bother selling them anymore. It’s just Apple, Google, Samsung, Xiaomi and… I’m surprised that OnePlus even makes the list.
Now I can still get Asus, POCO or Honor from a 3rd party retailer which is fine, I don’t want to give Telia any more money anyway, but most people get their phone with a discount from their phone company on contract… So companies other than the “big 5” aren’t even being considered. Plus I don’t even know where to get a Sony phone. Even the company formerly known as Sony Center here sells iPhones, but not Sony phones (they do still sell a lot of other Sony things of course)
Yeah, I’ll never buy another Sony phone or Sony anything if I can help.
I bought one and used it to miracast to various devices.
With an update, they removed miracast capability on the phone. The same way they removed Linux from the PS3.
Will never trust them or buy Sony anything again.
I won’t trust them to not screw me over for things outside of my control.
I was looking into Sony for my last phone, but one of my friends ended up getting one before I did and he hard pushed me away from it. He said it was a hassle for him to unlock it, and that they moreorless said that the act of unlocking the bootloader will void his warranty (which is not legal in the US) and that after 2 tries of unlocking and having it not unlock, he returned it and went to another company (I think it was oneplus?), he also wasn’t impressed with the performance vs price that he was getting out of it.