Hard to escape Google unless you are willing to use a custom rom which is getting harder and harder to do with devices with unlockable bootloaders becoming rarer. Google also has a pretty big influence on the direction of Android.
Even GrapheneOS that is talked of often requires purchase of a Google phone.
I myself have degoogled android device without bootloader locked. I have multiple devices with stock and custom ROM. With adb or other GUI tools you can go 95% degoogled without causing any breakage
But, it not being 100% does show how Google is not Android is hard to make a reality for locked bootloaders and the influence it also can have on unlocked phones.
A phone having an unlockable bootloader doesn’t guarantee being able to flash a custom rom from one of the more trusted groups.
Sometimes it means having to rely on the work of one unknown person trying to port it over for the device, and not knowing if they snuck anything malicious.
Its just a really poor situation compared to desktop OS options that makes it hard to degoogle and also be secure. Since being more private from data collection and being secure can be different things. Right GrapheneOS is one of the few options that tries to offer both privacy without comprising on security.
Situation on mobile devices is worse than people think. These vendors are locking devices more everyday. We seriously need more than 2 mobile OS. Linux phone’s future is still unclear
Indeed mobile is so terrible. Hardware options terrible and at the mercy of OEMs and hacked together fan projects still reliant on Google contributions to Android, and available only on limited OEM phones. Which if an OEM decides to lock things down not like we can make our own phones like desktops.
We need linux phones but that is unlikely. I wish Valve running ARM for steam frame leads to them maybe in the future deciding to put on a Steam phone that runs Linux. But that’s a long shot and probably territory they dont want to enter dealing with mobile carriers.
Maybe it’s my preference of using older mid-range devices but unlocking the bootloader has been fine, the problem is some banking apps and inferior hardware drivers (worse wireless performance, stretched camera image, no control of flashlight brightness etc.)
Hard to escape Google unless you are willing to use a custom rom which is getting harder and harder to do with devices with unlockable bootloaders becoming rarer. Google also has a pretty big influence on the direction of Android.
Even GrapheneOS that is talked of often requires purchase of a Google phone.
I myself have degoogled android device without bootloader locked. I have multiple devices with stock and custom ROM. With adb or other GUI tools you can go 95% degoogled without causing any breakage
But, it not being 100% does show how Google is not Android is hard to make a reality for locked bootloaders and the influence it also can have on unlocked phones.
A phone having an unlockable bootloader doesn’t guarantee being able to flash a custom rom from one of the more trusted groups.
Sometimes it means having to rely on the work of one unknown person trying to port it over for the device, and not knowing if they snuck anything malicious.
Its just a really poor situation compared to desktop OS options that makes it hard to degoogle and also be secure. Since being more private from data collection and being secure can be different things. Right GrapheneOS is one of the few options that tries to offer both privacy without comprising on security.
Situation on mobile devices is worse than people think. These vendors are locking devices more everyday. We seriously need more than 2 mobile OS. Linux phone’s future is still unclear
Indeed mobile is so terrible. Hardware options terrible and at the mercy of OEMs and hacked together fan projects still reliant on Google contributions to Android, and available only on limited OEM phones. Which if an OEM decides to lock things down not like we can make our own phones like desktops.
We need linux phones but that is unlikely. I wish Valve running ARM for steam frame leads to them maybe in the future deciding to put on a Steam phone that runs Linux. But that’s a long shot and probably territory they dont want to enter dealing with mobile carriers.
Maybe it’s my preference of using older mid-range devices but unlocking the bootloader has been fine, the problem is some banking apps and inferior hardware drivers (worse wireless performance, stretched camera image, no control of flashlight brightness etc.)