The "Post-PC" era (smartphones)

[UCyborg]

Once again, I thought about replacing Google Play Services with microG, but every time I think about it, I'm discouraged. From opened issues on microG's GitHub to possibility of bootloops to not being exactly clear to me how to proceed.

[frostknight]

On the topic of Google's plans, Samsungs were already better avoided before due to Knox.

Heard about knox once and I forgot specifics, but remember that knox was not good.

Edit: Reading wikipedia it seems its like TPM from x86 devices. I don't trust their judgment at all lol

[UCyborg]

I haven't looked into Knox deeply, but I remember it being another obstacle paranoid apps trip on besides rooting.

I don't remember how unlocking Samsung Galaxy Mini was, that was before Knox. I know with Sony, you had to get the code from their website to unlock bootloader. I guess so they had the record of voiding the warranty.

The current one, it didn't want any code, just confirming on the phone screen after sending command from computer. Well, I didn't expect much from warranty on Unihertz. If it lasts 6 years, that will be one milestone. At least that's how long the Sony lasted on the software side, when factory supplied Android started feeling long in the tooth.

Sadly, there won't be any proper custom OS for this one...bloody Chinese! Almost there, but of course, they still have to be lame in one critical aspect. I heard generic images work, but some hardware features may not. This phone has FM radio, IR blaster and notification LED, all these are rare gems these days. And that LED is custom programming AFAIK, possibly Android doesn't support LEDs anymore natively. I could tweak LED behavior in Textra (SMS app) on Sony, here, apps don't have any specific control over it.

[frostknight]

I haven't looked into Knox deeply, but I remember it being another obstacle paranoid apps trip on besides rooting.

I don't remember how unlocking Samsung Galaxy Mini was, that was before Knox. I know with Sony, you had to get the code from their website to unlock bootloader. I guess so they had the record of voiding the warranty.

The current one, it didn't want any code, just confirming on the phone screen after sending command from computer. Well, I didn't expect much from warranty on Unihertz. If it lasts 6 years, that will be one milestone. At least that's how long the Sony lasted on the software side, when factory supplied Android started feeling long in the tooth.

Sadly, there won't be any proper custom OS for this one...bloody Chinese! Almost there, but of course, they still have to be lame in one critical aspect. I heard generic images work, but some hardware features may not. This phone has FM radio, IR blaster and notification LED, all these are rare gems these days. And that LED is custom programming AFAIK, possibly Android doesn't support LEDs anymore natively. I could tweak LED behavior in Textra (SMS app) on Sony, here, apps don't have any specific control over it.

Ill take pixel devices before samsung at this point. Honestly though... most phone devices are built with a lot of bs if they are locked down.

[Mæstro]

I am neutral between all smartphone manufacturers. They are distinct without difference for me. I may as well be asked to pick a favourite faction of interbellum Chinese warlords.

[frostknight]

I am neutral between all smartphone manufacturers. They are distinct without difference for me. I may as well be asked to pick a favourite faction of interbellum Chinese warlords.

my point is, I will not trust stock android. Even grapheneos with verizon is somewhat nervous.

[andyprough]

Ill take pixel devices before samsung at this point. Honestly though... most phone devices are built with a lot of bs if they are locked down.

I was reading yesterday that GrapheneOS is going to support some Motorola phones for 2027. That could be kind of cool. I'm not that excited about a Pixel, but Motorola phones in my experience are just basic phones without a lot of weird crap stuffed into them. I think they tend to work great with LineageOS.

[Mæstro]

Stuffing things onto mobiles calls at once to mind the policy of government-mandated bloatware: Max in Russia, Sanchaar Saathi for a time in India. The privacy and allied concerns are obvious and need not be discussed further, but it stands out more to me that governments and their populations simply regard government-mandated bloatware unremarkable. Writing the phrase twice makes it all the more obvious how silly it is to me.

[UCyborg]

I figured that petrol station app that broke recently for me changed in some way that login now fails if a "normal" web browser is not available on the phone. I have Via, Chrome is disabled. Confirmed the breakage by trying on another phone, where it usually works, but broke after disabling Chrome. Because the app receives URL from the server (related to OAuth login method), the URL uses custom app specific scheme rather than HTTPS and that URL is handed off to the web browser, which then callsback the app that registered the scheme. But if normal web browser is not available, WebView gets the URL, which it can't handle since it only understands HTTP and HTTPS.

I could not believe it, but ChatGPT managed to successfully guide me towards patching the app to handle this on its own to not depend on external web browser. It involved modifying one of shouldOverrideUrlLoading() methods. Interestingly, there were multiple such methods in the app and the problematic one wasn't exactly short, 688 lines when copied to Notepad, from start to end. And the AI came up with working code snippet and instructed where exactly to insert it.

I did not expect it would find a solution to such obscure problem. And the managed code from decompiled Android APKs, it's all Smali.

Mind == blown!

[jarsealer]

I am neutral between all smartphone manufacturers. They are distinct without difference for me. I may as well be asked to pick a favourite faction of interbellum Chinese warlords.

Some of them restrict installing alternative OSes (custom ROMs) on the device, while others allow you to do so easily (https://codeberg.org/zenfyr/bootloader- ... l-of-shame). though this might not matter to an average person.

[frostknight]

When I declined the offer for a a smartphone, the Comcast (Xfinity) sales agent wanted to know the reason why I was passing on getting a smartphone. My answer to the agent was, "The Road to Hell is paved with good Intentions".

Makes me wonder what the road to hell looks like when you don't even have good intentions...

I been forgetting to comment on this till now

[Night Wing]

When I declined the offer for a a smartphone, the Comcast (Xfinity) sales agent wanted to know the reason why I was passing on getting a smartphone. My answer to the agent was, "The Road to Hell is paved with good Intentions".

Makes me wonder what the road to hell looks like when you don't even have good intentions...

Be afraid! Be very afraid!!

[frostknight]

Be afraid! Be very afraid!!

Another words, I think you are saying worse, much worse

[Mæstro]

Some of them restrict installing alternative OSes (custom ROMs) on the device, while others allow you to do so easily (https://codeberg.org/zenfyr/bootloader- ... l-of-shame). though this might not matter to an average person.

I said before that even a FSF-approved smartphone remains a magic oblong, inheriting all the other bad habits which make today’s smartphones corrosive to the soul. I can respect those of the early tens’ smartphones, of which the Motorola Milestone could be considered representative, which still embedded physical keyboards and honestly tried to be desktop computers which one could hold in both hands. These are, as far as I know, extinct. In any case, I still think of them as proper really for businessmen. Injecting the internet into outdoor life for everyday people was a mistake.

[UCyborg]

"The Road to Hell is paved with good Intentions".

Yeah...
---
Regardless, aren't some of you exaggerating when blaming smartphones specifically? People have always been...problematic.

[Gemmaugr]

Regardless, aren't some of you exaggerating when blaming smartphones specifically? People have always been...problematic.

A smartphone is the centralization (and amplification) of a lot of potentially ..problematic.. issues.

It's a "newspaper"/information/public discourse and loudspeaker that pulls people into constantly giving it attention.
Leading to a 60/1 (no longer 24/7) around the clock happenings, with first come first serve clickbait engagement.

It's also a venue for family, friends, entertainment, and rapid absorption of narcissistic drama and brainrot content.

It's also a tracking device for governments and corporations. An alternative to credit card payments. An option for ID's of various kinds. A protection device by way of video proof.

And even more.

[frostknight]

Another words, I think you are saying worse, much worse

Off-topic:
Also I quote myself to say that when I said this, I should've added the inner recesses of the pit (deep in hell)

[frostknight]

eople have always been...problematic.

True...

[UCyborg]

Probably I'm not like typical user.

I remember one known Slovenian anthropologist saying at some point that smartphone is the powerful weapon. I don't remember exactly in which context it came up though. Maybe 2023 school shooting in Serbia? It's possible I've mixed it with another event regarding which he was invited for discussion.

[Mæstro]

Today, I have felt some renewed, mild pressure from family members to use a smartphone. They feel genuinely anxious by my consistent, even insistent refusal, and they cite two concerns in particular.

One worry is the hypothetical case that a future employer might mandate smartphone use within the job. Much like how the office having Windows 11 desktops should mean nothing for my personal life, I see potential professional obligations as irrelevant to personal life. Another is that, while travelling, if I happen to get lost, I would have no way of making contact. A feature phone could equally serve this purpose, as well as such things as arranging my own appointments, while respecting my values and beliefs, but they dislike the idea of paying US$40 a month to revive the old feature phone I used for this purpose, even if it is from my own resources, if they are literally getting free smartphones in the post. I am a bit delayed, for the time being, in doing this independently for unrelated reasons which should settle themselves within some weeks. More generally, they are puzzled by my willingness to choose inefficiency in my life, and dislike how it might incidentally cause others inconvenience (ah, there is that word again).

They declined for me to prepare a more detailed description of why I reject smartphones outright, but I did say this, and they did not dispute it. Smartphones’ prevalence in today’s society will someday be regarded much as we regard tobacco’s prevalence in yesterday’s. When we know an absolute majority of Australians feel afraid to go without their mobiles, and there is no reason to believe it is otherwise elsewhere, I am left to think much of their anxiety arises from how they can no longer imagine smartphone-free life, never mind that my whole adulthood has been thus.

Would anybody here be interested in a single, coherent essay post about why I reject smartphones? I have made many scattered comments on the subject here and elsewhere, but I can collate it.