Yeah I wasn’t thinking about these things, you’re right. I mean, even with “Smart” TV (don’t get me started) I have a media dedicated computer with a small footprint attached and I do everything via that.

I don’t use any tech that I’m not fully in control of, unless I have no other choice. The tv thing I completely realize is the minority case. I know only tech geeks who have the knowhow are doing anything like that.

The whole smart tv thing is irrelevant to me because it’s such a scam. They stop updating apps after a certain amount of time, forcing the users to just chuck a perfectly good tv and buy something new because apps are no longer being maintained on that one. Such a fucking scam. But P. T. Barnum called it long ago, “There’s a sucker born every minute.”

I think the Xperia seems always to have been a line for a little extra glamour. I’ve seen a few different models from over the years and they’re all a bit indulgent in their own ways.

Just curious why is this entire thing even in the Android community? This is a privacy topic or a YouTube topic etc. There’s nothing about it that ties it to Android. Can we keep stuff like this out? It’s just one more topic that devolves into politics, scare speculation etc. Just read the comment threads if you need to see.

I don’t know how or why you see ads on YouTube. I have been using firefox and before that whatever else, for a very long time. I have not seen an ad of any kind on YouTube in many MANY years. And since sponsor block came out I’ve only seen a few that managed to slip through. I just fast forward. But why would anyone suffer YouTube with ads? You’re volunteering for it at this point because it’s insanely easy to block them.

I don’t know what your financial status is, but a nice Synology NAS unit is a terrific investment. I’m really happy with the one I got a while back.

Morale. Just fyi not being snooty :-)

It’s definitely click fodder like 99.99999% of today’s content. That’s where we’re at because many years ago we let the pigs into the palace.

Elementary OS, or something like Garuda or Debian with either Gnome or KDE desktops.

Ah, right. Why let you use the tech that’s already built-in and designed for just that, when they can call it something else and charge you more for it?

Fucking savages.

And what is the problem with VoLTE anywhere? Just curious.

Exactly. And as I said in another comment, you can make a wrapper for it if their website is not the most mobile-friendly. Any browser can handle everything beneath the skin.

Well, they all have standard web interfaces, and so many apps are merely wrappers for it or a rebuilt front-end. On a Linux device one would presume you’ll have a standard web browser so all you need really is a wrapper for the website and the browser engine handles all security. Is there any reason not to just go that route?

The Apple App Store is a cesspool. Has been for years. It’s just pushing short-term games with gobs of micro transactions by the hundreds. That’s almost all you see. Tons and tons of it.

Seriously. I, too, was wondering what rivers had to do with this lol.

Yeah but the demographic that will do this is like infinitesimally small. It’s fine, techies always know how to stick it to the man, but they succeed with most people so they get what they want. Not a dispute just a comment.

That blog post is such a heap of shit. Do they think they’re fooling anyone? It’s politik-speak. Nobody believes them, yet they bother to make those statements anyway.

What about the fact that when I buy a device I fucking own it. I now should be able to do whatever I want.

It’s so pathetic. And yeah, I’m not going to buy a new phone for a very, very, very long time. I’ll stock up on Android phones that are decent but still have the freedom to do what I want.

This shit is obnoxious and if we really want to fight it, we need a serious, globally unified boycott that gets advertised and shared daily. If successful, the device sales would drop drastically and the registrations of higher Android versions, usage etc. data should all show they are throwing away their user base.

Because literally one and only one thing ever matters: the almighty dollar. So take your dollars back, make them lose money, and have a very well-established unified protest where they can see the losses are directly tied to their decision to take away ownership. This is the only way that POSSIBLY, we may gain back what we have now.

Also - on the same front, a companion campaign could be active to persuade any hardware maker to fully allow custom ROMs and GSIs to be installed. No e of this hacking and exploiting… fully endorsed but I would not expect support and that’s fine. Hardware warranty is ok. But anyone who wants should be able to change their OS and install whatever they want.

One day you’re gonna see big manufacturers like Dell, HP etc. make consumer lines of products that literally won’t run any OS other than Windoze, because of an agreement with Microshaft. That’s their next step I absolutely guarantee it. Try to install Linux, and the BIOS will be programmed to reject it.

Because money. Sorry, not because money; because MORE money. Sorry, not because more money; because more and more and more money. Sorry, not because more and more and more money; because insatiable greed for every farthing they can fuck out of your goddamn pores.

But back to this architecture: if there is a financial incentive for a few manufacturers to make devices we can own and install our choice of Android, they would have at least one demographic guaranteed to buy. That pressure may or may not change Google’s mind, but it would open up a whole world of FOSS options or even paid versions, to compete with the giant.

Thoughts?

Most people don’t care about their privacy anymore. They don’t think there’s any value in it.

Indeed, it has. If we really want it to stop, there needs to be a boycott on buying new devices. Only buy used, and encourage others as well. Educate them how google is turning android slowly into another iOS with closed walls.

I’ve tested quite a few and most of the differences lay in what kinds of customizations have they built into the settings module. And most of them are aesthetic or things like easy switches. There’s really not much difference at the functional level, except for some come with MicroG integrated already which simply saves you time and occasional nuisance of installing it. But really, whatever you can find that works is good. Ironically, Lineage itself is the most vanilla and least gadgety; most of the others are built on either Lineage or Cyanogen. Understandable since they were early progenitors of the custom ROM if I’m not mistaken.

crDroid is a really good one. I have it on a few devices. Quite a bit older even than yours and it runs beautifully. One of my faves.