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.

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.

Try Iodé, try crDroid, ResurrectionRemix, Havoc, or Bliss. They all have nice features to offer.

I’m running /e on a Galaxy Note 4 and it’s nice but nothing magical.

/e and others like it are just flavors. I happen to like Bliss and crDroid and several others as well. But they aren’t exactly unique, so whatever ROM will work for what you need is what you should go with.

Google made Android to get a foothold into the market. The free and open model was only because they were up against Apple. Don’t nobody kid yourself into thinking their intent was all along anything other than being able to rake it in and have total control just like Apple. They just needed an in to get big. Now Android is huge and now they wanna slam the door and lock everyone down and start really fucking the cash out of everyone’s asses.

Ah, so you’re familiar with google!

Well I was not really addressing the specific item that spawned this discussion thread, only the notion that was stated that one should only ever use the official stores.

Well I know there’s this app called Plexus or Plexor something and that supposedly helps you get an app past that requirement. I used it once to success long time ago by choosing a setting for the app and then it suddenly did not demand to get from the Play Store, so I know it works - in theory. But since that one success a few months ago, I haven’t gotten it to work again. I suspect maybe that phone at the time was completely de-googled or was a ROM such as CyanogenMod, and maybe the app can bypass if it doesn’t see the Google services at all.

Anyway, I will further investigate. I have some ROMed phones I can try on. If you want, I’ll post update in case you’re interested.

Thanks again for reply. Even if you didn’t have info for it I appreciate the courtesy.

Yes because it’s that simple. Every file online that’s not from some huge corporation is spyware. /s

Some people are strange - we know what we’re doing, we know a site and whether they have a solid reputation, we have experience and can determine when we’re getting a safe file. Oh, and do you truly believe that the “official” sources don’t dole out spyware left & right? Don’t be this naive; It’s not as simple as you stated. That’s just the general carte blanche rule that experts tell ordinary users because if we didn’t, they would download crap from everywhere under the sun and load up on malware every day.

Ok so I have a question: I have a few apps that I have the apk but when I run them, or even if I install from Aurora Shop, when I run them they say I need to install it from Play. Then they exit.

How do I work around this? I have been told it can be circumvented but I haven’t got a handle on how.

Thanks if you can advise.

I feel like the consumers who get these devices are definitely tolerating a lot of compromise just to have the toy. It’s vulnerable to so much going bad and even when it’s perfect and factory new, many of the ones I’ve seen are not quite flat and you can definitely see the crease very noticeable.

So I suppose sufficient consumers were willing to accept a device that is not quite there yet, as a way to finance the manufacturers’ further refinement of the feature. Personally I would not. If I ever get a folding one it’s going to be when it’s perfected and the fold is seamless and undetectable.

My sentiments exactly. Anyone worried about this can suck it, our society is crumbling.

Ah. Makes sense.

Yeah but it’s a hardware keyboard, not a screen-keyboard. I am not saying that means it won’t work - I definitely don’t know - but it’s conspicuous they focused on it briefly. SHRUG lol I’m sure there will be a hack for it if it doesn’t already behave how people want.

Yup. Definitely an awful design choice.