4 ms·

If MS ends up launching phones based on AOSP like amazon, it could be interesting. Anything that reduces the near universal dependence on google play services r

If MS ends up launching phones based on AOSP like amazon, it could be interesting. Anything that reduces the near universal dependence on google play services really. My wishful thinking is that if AOSP ends up getting forked by 2-3 major players who become somewhat successful, we'll either get to some open standard for stuff that google play services provide, or webapps will become good enough that we won't need them.

techntoke 8y ago
Except Amazon's replacement sucks pretty hard. They are consistently multiple versions behind, and you can't even use applications like native YouTube.
- zanny 8y ago
  Of course you can't use Youtube? Its a Google product. Its built ground up to depend on Play Services. That being said Youtubes mobile site isn't abysmal and I'm not a fan of how the last decade saw the open web replaced by proprietary apps. A lot of sites work fine in a browser on a phone but still push users to use an application to interact with them.
  - a3n 8y ago
    cough - LinkedIn - cough
  - techntoke 8y ago
    FireOS on my Kindle Fire is still at Android version 5. Fortunately, I was able to install Google Play Services so that I didn't have to use the Amazon AppStore, however multiple profiles doesn't work well on the Kindle Fire. F-Droid is pretty awesome and the ADB toolset is pretty powerful too. I'd love to find a wrapper that just uses the core Android tools for management.
- int_19h 8y ago
  Google intentionally prevents YouTube from working well everywhere but in their walled garden. I sincerely hope they get slapped hard over this. You're not supposed to be able to abuse a monopoly like that. Your sentiment shows exactly why it's detrimental - because it's a major barrier to competition.
  - techntoke 8y ago
    youtube-dl works great so far with mpv.
Pxtl 8y ago
They don't need to form the OS, just replace Google Play services. Just is definitely a 4-letter word here. Although personally I'd rather they target getting the x86 phone chip manufacturing restarted and get us full win10 handheld devices.
- debacle 8y ago
  > full win10 handheld devices. I feel like this is something everyone says they want (including me), but history doesn't prove the demand is there.
  - Mononokay 8y ago
    There hasn't been a practical demonstration of the product yet, so there can't be a demonstration of demand.
    - Pxtl 8y ago
      Yeah, this. My dream device would be a side-slider phone with a rear trackpad like the PSVita. When collapsed it operates in tablet mode, when slid out it operates in desktop mode.
- mrep 8y ago
  Correct me if I am wrong, but it looks like bing maps does not support turn by turn navigation. They would most likely need to build that out too just like how Apple did and that is not cheap.
  - int_19h 8y ago
    It does support turn-by-turn navigation. The quality of the maps is another matter. It's hard to compete with Google on this, just because of the headstart that they have (Apple has the same problem). But it's certainly possible.

techntoke 8y ago

Except Amazon's replacement sucks pretty hard. They are consistently multiple versions behind, and you can't even use applications like native YouTube.

zanny 8y ago
Of course you can't use Youtube? Its a Google product. Its built ground up to depend on Play Services. That being said Youtubes mobile site isn't abysmal and I'm not a fan of how the last decade saw the open web replaced by proprietary apps. A lot of sites work fine in a browser on a phone but still push users to use an application to interact with them.
- a3n 8y ago
  cough - LinkedIn - cough
- techntoke 8y ago
  FireOS on my Kindle Fire is still at Android version 5. Fortunately, I was able to install Google Play Services so that I didn't have to use the Amazon AppStore, however multiple profiles doesn't work well on the Kindle Fire. F-Droid is pretty awesome and the ADB toolset is pretty powerful too. I'd love to find a wrapper that just uses the core Android tools for management.
int_19h 8y ago
Google intentionally prevents YouTube from working well everywhere but in their walled garden. I sincerely hope they get slapped hard over this. You're not supposed to be able to abuse a monopoly like that. Your sentiment shows exactly why it's detrimental - because it's a major barrier to competition.
- techntoke 8y ago
  youtube-dl works great so far with mpv.

Pxtl 8y ago

They don't need to form the OS, just replace Google Play services. Just is definitely a 4-letter word here. Although personally I'd rather they target getting the x86 phone chip manufacturing restarted and get us full win10 handheld devices.

debacle 8y ago
> full win10 handheld devices. I feel like this is something everyone says they want (including me), but history doesn't prove the demand is there.
- Mononokay 8y ago
  There hasn't been a practical demonstration of the product yet, so there can't be a demonstration of demand.
  - Pxtl 8y ago
    Yeah, this. My dream device would be a side-slider phone with a rear trackpad like the PSVita. When collapsed it operates in tablet mode, when slid out it operates in desktop mode.
mrep 8y ago
Correct me if I am wrong, but it looks like bing maps does not support turn by turn navigation. They would most likely need to build that out too just like how Apple did and that is not cheap.
- int_19h 8y ago
  It does support turn-by-turn navigation. The quality of the maps is another matter. It's hard to compete with Google on this, just because of the headstart that they have (Apple has the same problem). But it's certainly possible.