3 ms·

OMG so much bullshit. I get the same taste as reading political posts from the past US election: blatant lies to influence audiences. Choice? Ok, so I disable

OMG so much bullshit. I get the same taste as reading political posts from the past US election: blatant lies to influence audiences. Choice? Ok, so I disable Google Play Services (b/c among other things I want to stop all the damn tracking you do with it) and the phone breaks down. Literally useless. Just swipe away pre-installed Google apps? Yeah right, by clicking a disabled uninstall button? Right, so you just want me to disable, not wipe'em off. Great! More choice. Using only a tiny space to store Google apps? Again, I have seen Google Play Services hoarding 30% of my 2GB storage. Worried about developers dealing with a fragmented ecosystem? It's called web apps (you call them Progressive Web Apps). Just give more power to the browser and developers will be super happy to use a common framework to target ALL devices. Truly open, choiceful forks like CyanogenMod exist precisely b/c everything you've written here is bullshit.

givinguflac 10y ago
Couldn't agree more, and all good reasons why I've abandoned android.
- paulryanrogers 10y ago
  What alternatives have you found with more choice? Ubuntu phones?
  - hedora 10y ago
    As sad as it is, iOS. I choose not to use any google services and store my stuff in the cloud, and my iPhone works just fine. This is not a practical choice with Android. I guess being "open source" isn't the panacea I thought it was back when android launched. sigh
    - euyyn 10y ago
      > alternatives with more choice > iOS
      - hobarrera 10y ago
        iOS supports stuff like CalDAV, CardDAV, etc out of the box, which lets me choose any provider out there. Android doesn't. And most apps require payment and end up loosely integrated.
        abawany 10y ago
        I recently tried an iPhone 5s with iOS 10.x just to see how it would work for me. I quickly ran back to Android. Here are some reasons why: * browser choice: while I could install 'Firefox', none of the plugins worked since it apparently uses Safari underneath * clear message that this isn't my device: when the phone is charged it is automatically removed from 'low power mode', which is what I leave this thing at all the time to ensure the battery doesn't drain down every 3rd day. Also, when low-power mode is enabled, the screen power off time is locked to 30 seconds * swype-like keyboard: the best I found was one from MS (unfortunately not available for Android) but for anything 'significant' the Apple default keyboard took over There were tons of other restrictions and nags which convinced me that I am not in the right target audience for iOS. Instead I updated an older phone to the latest Cyanogenmod (13.x) and was pleasantly surprised to find that they offer GApps by feature (nano, micro, etc.) which enables you to install the absolutely minimal GApps/Play for your needs. Install XPrivacy to deny (fake) tracking power to GApps and I am pretty happy with the experience.
        hobarrera 10y ago
        Clearly Android offers you the flexibility YOU need, while iOS offers me what I need. Firefox work pretty much as I expect it on iOS, and I really don't care about the low-power thing (though I do understand why that might be a pain). The keyboard? The default is fine for me. I really care a lot more about having my email/calendar/contacts properly synched (which is a lot easier). Maybe it's because I don't "hack" my phone, I'm just a "normal user" for it (contrary to the desktop where I'm a developer/power-user). But there's definitely difference flexibilities to both iOS and Android, and valid points to keep each.
        10y ago
codebook 10y ago
But I think most of the manufacturers, and OS providers (MS, Google, Apple) mandates there essential apps pre-installed and cannot delete it entirely. If you blames Google, I think you also needs to blame all the above companies in addition to wireless providers.
jm_l 10y ago
CyanogenMod exists because Android made the choice to be open source. >30% of my 2GB storage I'm going to assume you mean memory? On my phone Google Play Services uses 120 MB on average. >give more power to the browser Could you elaborate on what you mean?

givinguflac 10y ago

Couldn't agree more, and all good reasons why I've abandoned android.

paulryanrogers 10y ago
What alternatives have you found with more choice? Ubuntu phones?
- hedora 10y ago
  As sad as it is, iOS. I choose not to use any google services and store my stuff in the cloud, and my iPhone works just fine. This is not a practical choice with Android. I guess being "open source" isn't the panacea I thought it was back when android launched. sigh
  - euyyn 10y ago
    > alternatives with more choice > iOS
    - hobarrera 10y ago
      iOS supports stuff like CalDAV, CardDAV, etc out of the box, which lets me choose any provider out there. Android doesn't. And most apps require payment and end up loosely integrated.
      - abawany 10y ago
        I recently tried an iPhone 5s with iOS 10.x just to see how it would work for me. I quickly ran back to Android. Here are some reasons why: * browser choice: while I could install 'Firefox', none of the plugins worked since it apparently uses Safari underneath * clear message that this isn't my device: when the phone is charged it is automatically removed from 'low power mode', which is what I leave this thing at all the time to ensure the battery doesn't drain down every 3rd day. Also, when low-power mode is enabled, the screen power off time is locked to 30 seconds * swype-like keyboard: the best I found was one from MS (unfortunately not available for Android) but for anything 'significant' the Apple default keyboard took over There were tons of other restrictions and nags which convinced me that I am not in the right target audience for iOS. Instead I updated an older phone to the latest Cyanogenmod (13.x) and was pleasantly surprised to find that they offer GApps by feature (nano, micro, etc.) which enables you to install the absolutely minimal GApps/Play for your needs. Install XPrivacy to deny (fake) tracking power to GApps and I am pretty happy with the experience.
        hobarrera 10y ago
        Clearly Android offers you the flexibility YOU need, while iOS offers me what I need. Firefox work pretty much as I expect it on iOS, and I really don't care about the low-power thing (though I do understand why that might be a pain). The keyboard? The default is fine for me. I really care a lot more about having my email/calendar/contacts properly synched (which is a lot easier). Maybe it's because I don't "hack" my phone, I'm just a "normal user" for it (contrary to the desktop where I'm a developer/power-user). But there's definitely difference flexibilities to both iOS and Android, and valid points to keep each.
        10y ago

codebook 10y ago

But I think most of the manufacturers, and OS providers (MS, Google, Apple) mandates there essential apps pre-installed and cannot delete it entirely. If you blames Google, I think you also needs to blame all the above companies in addition to wireless providers.

jm_l 10y ago

CyanogenMod exists because Android made the choice to be open source. >30% of my 2GB storage I'm going to assume you mean memory? On my phone Google Play Services uses 120 MB on average. >give more power to the browser Could you elaborate on what you mean?