Hello everyone,
first of all, a few words about me.
I have used a normal Android (unrooted) smartphone for a very long time.
My last ROM is also a long time ago, CyanogenMod Donut was my last ROM.
In the meantime a lot of time has passed. Meanwhile CyanogenMod became to Lineageos.
In the future I want to use my smartphone anonymously.
This is a lot of work, because my smartphone contacts are in the Google Cloud, too. You guys probably know how difficult it is to completely free yourself from the ecosystem.
Here are my problems and findings
1.) For my contacts I will set up an owncloud carddav server.
2.) For some websites / tools I used the Google Authenticator. I still have to check here if there are alternatives.
3.1) As operating system I would like to use BSD. That will probably be difficult. I have heard about an interesting project here:
hackaday.io/project/13145-bsd-based-secure-smartphone
3.2) Linux as operating system would also be fine. Does anyone have experience with Kali Linux (Nethunter) / Debian, Lineageos or Purism?
btw. i have a new poco x3...
Thanks in advance
cksum
Related
Hello,
First off, apologies if I have posted this in the incorrect forum.
The company I work for is looking to update one of it's product lines and has been toying with the idea of using Android as a development platform. Up until now the philosophy has always been to develop simple, bespoke embedded software that provides only the functionality that is needed at the time. The device itself will be a medical device, and as such will have no telephony requirements (and associated things like contacts, calander and the large majority of the pre-installed Android apps).
I have read, and understand it is possible to re-compile Android from source and remove all of these non-required functionality. My question is really if that is worth doing? i.e. stripping out all un-needed applications that get build into a stock ROM. Or would it be a more efficient to use some form of OTS embedded Linux platform?
Something in Android 4.0 that does seem to be useful is the support for Bluetooth HDP.
Kind Regards,
Simon
Well there are other devices that aren't phones that use Android. Take the motoactv for example. It's a fitness watch that runs a stripped version of Android, but it's still Android and applications can still be programmed and installed to it.
I like this phone. Feels good in my hand. Did the job fine with Froyo. When the GB update never came, rooted it and began a new hobby (obsession?). Now running a 4.4.4 Omnirom. Works mostly quite well. Doubtful if there will ever be Lollipop.
I do not need a quad-core screamer. This is a mobile phone and information device. I am not playing Grand Theft Auto on it, and if I spend time viewing my favorite flicks, there will be no battery left when I need to phone home. Wife will not be happy (unless here battery is also dead for similar reasons so will never know).
However, more and more apps will not run. Armv6 is definitely on the outs, even though some providers still sell such phones. Running old Maps version, Google Now does work, sideloaded, with an online-voicesearch-wrapper. Not bad, in all.
But maybe time to get a newer device. Or maybe another OS ...
Android was designed to be a Java-based Linux. Apps written would simply install and run on any hardware. No need to compile for that Atom or other chip. Simply played. The way it was supposed to be. (Gnu Linux depends on Gnu C and C++ compilers, and every distro needs to maintain app package variants for various HW architectures. Android was to be the alternative with one app store ...)
and then, devs started incorporating pre-compiled JNI (Java Native Interface) components. These are compiled (using the Gnu compilers?) for specific architectures. Read Armv7. Lets out our devices, Intels, etc. It is too much trouble to maintain multi-architecture apps this way. Armv6 is obviously obsolete, so goes by the wayside entirely. Most apps are not opensource even if I were to compile them myself.
This destroys the whole idea of Android and Google is the worst offender. How long till that shiny ridiculously priced flagship ends up like our device? How long to only 64 bit is supported (definitely need 64-bit on a ... phone!)? How long till Armv8, 9, .... Maybe time to forget about Android all together. Google is the prime offender.
Problem is that Windows and Ubuntu both need compiled Apps (though QML and HTML5 should be portable). Both do look good. Put in the Dalvik VM, just like Java gets installed on any distro, and made in the shade, can keep the more reasonable apps. Gnu tools should be available for Ubuntu.
Do not know whether this is the place for this tirade, but ... what say you?
Hey guys,
first of all I wanna clarify that I'm not that kind of android user you usually meet. I owned a lot of different android phones and tried hundreds of custom roms, kernels etc.
In the last 2 years I spent much time in securing my phone. I started using roms without any Gapps. I usually used CM nightlies as a daily driver in connection with F-Droid and just installed open source apps. Whatsapp, Facebook, games and other popular roms are not important in my eyes.
Then a while back a few Ubuntu Phones were released. I use ubuntu on my PC aswell and am happy with it.
Now I think about switching from android to ubuntu to go a more secure way. I dont want to use any closed source software (OS and apps).
Im now searching for opinions from experienced developers or users who have more knowledge than me.
Please don't call me paranoid .
Greetz, Kingz
It is possible to get 3 different phones with ubuntu phone now, none of them too expensive.
good.
i wonder what people's experience or informed opinion is?
ubuntu is pushing "convergence", which basically means that one operating system runs on all devices, that i can use my smartphone as a computer...
how far along is it?
now there's loads of blog articles and reviews out there, but most of them focus on comparing ubuntu phone (UP from now on) to other phone OSs - with their fully grown app universe. of course UP comes up short!
but that's not what i'm interested in. OS stability, and the standard browsing, music and video, and of course phone and sms is good enough for me.
but, i want the same freedom i have with my linux desktop install: to Do Things.
(my most important project is still to get a usable connection to the data & media stored on my kitchenserver.)
the day before yesterday i had a chat with someone on #ubuntu-phone - i think it was a dev.
i asked if i can use & upgrade it like any normal ubuntu/debian-based, install apps and utilities and so on.
basically he said, gui apps are difficult because UP uses a different gui model than Xorg, but basically yes, but you loose you guarantee that OTA (over the air) updates will work. but they should, regardless.
yesterday i was browsing the ubuntu phone section on ubuntu forums; of course people only post if something doesn't work - it looks like a normal and healthy distro forum to me.
OTA updates come in almost daily, i gather. very lively development.
there was, however, a lot of familiar discussions about how to get some app or other working; familiar from my 2 android phones: convoluted and fragile solutions, like installing ubuntu desktop in a chroot.
UP even recommends adb (android debug bridge?) as the only way to access the phone from your computer. or the standard mtp connection. so it's the same **** as everywhere.
the other aspect is this:
- ok, android is big, evil google, but there's a few established solutions around to use it without an account, use f-droid instead of play store, well documented security hacks and so on.
- UP certainly isn't the white knight here, but if not google, what do they use, is it really "better" than google and can i opt out easily?
yes, i am seriously considering to buy a UP phone, as soon as i get the feeling that it is an improvement freedom and security wise.
i wonder what people's experience or informed opinion is?
bump
...just a gentle one before the weekend ends.
i'd love to get some answers...
Hi all! We have started back on our project, UserLAnd (userland.tech), which is an easy way for people to have Linux distros or Linux apps on your Android device. One of the things we are trying to work on is developing access to apps that currently aren't available on Android through our platform. For example, we have just launched a GIMP app (which is the actual GIMP!) and also desktop Firefox (here is a link to all of our apps in the play store - https://play.google.com/store/apps/dev?id=8617260147938950881)
Anyway, I wanted to get some ideas from the community on what apps we should consider pursuing! Let me know and thanks in advance!