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> The solution is to choose hardware and software from companies that value your freedom This can already be done with Android. Good for them for making anothe

> The solution is to choose hardware and software from companies that value your freedom This can already be done with Android. Good for them for making another alternative, but they're really overstating their case here.

ocdtrekkie 6y ago
Technically Google can remove sideloaded apps from your Android too. Nearly every Android in existence gives Google remote root access to everything on the device.
- lern_too_spel 6y ago
  > Nearly every Android in existence gives Google remote root access to everything on the device. That's the point. You're choosing a phone, not among all Android phones at random (or worse, all smartphones at random, which by virtue of including iOS worsens your odds). Even Android phones made by Google are usable with a DNS block on google.com (as long as you manually sideload OS updates), removing Google's remote root.
mcherm 6y ago
But it is NOT widely done. Why? Perhaps only a few people value this? Or perhaps it hasn't yet been marketed properly?
- lern_too_spel 6y ago
  People who do value it use it that way (and this is the only widely available platform that allows them to do so today). You'll see many such users on this very forum, but as you observed, there aren't that many in total. This says something unfortunate about the size of Purism's addressable market but not much about Android itself.
aidenn0 6y ago
TFA addresses that point explicitly where they say Google lags a couple of generations behind Apple in lockdown features, and newer defaults are pointing in the direction of further restricting sideloading.
- lern_too_spel 6y ago
  > they say Google lags a couple of generations behind Apple in lockdown features, Android is already caught up with iOS in lockdown features and in some ways already surpassed. This is a very strange argument for PureOS, which requires apps to request permissions at install time (like earlier versions of Android), and many apps in Flathub just ask for all permissions. I hope PureOS improves this situation because it will also make my desktop better in addition to providing more mobile choices, but to claim they are better than Android already at this simply has no basis in reality. > newer defaults are pointing in the direction of further restricting sideloading. Google itself has said that sideloading will become better in upcoming versions of Android. This is something that I am looking forward to because I develop apps for my own devices that I want to manage the deployment of myself without being restricted to the basic deployment capabilities of the Play Store. https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2020/09/listening-to-developer-feedback-to.html?m=1 https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2020/09/listening-...

ocdtrekkie 6y ago

Technically Google can remove sideloaded apps from your Android too. Nearly every Android in existence gives Google remote root access to everything on the device.

lern_too_spel 6y ago
> Nearly every Android in existence gives Google remote root access to everything on the device. That's the point. You're choosing a phone, not among all Android phones at random (or worse, all smartphones at random, which by virtue of including iOS worsens your odds). Even Android phones made by Google are usable with a DNS block on google.com (as long as you manually sideload OS updates), removing Google's remote root.

mcherm 6y ago

But it is NOT widely done. Why? Perhaps only a few people value this? Or perhaps it hasn't yet been marketed properly?

lern_too_spel 6y ago
People who do value it use it that way (and this is the only widely available platform that allows them to do so today). You'll see many such users on this very forum, but as you observed, there aren't that many in total. This says something unfortunate about the size of Purism's addressable market but not much about Android itself.

aidenn0 6y ago

TFA addresses that point explicitly where they say Google lags a couple of generations behind Apple in lockdown features, and newer defaults are pointing in the direction of further restricting sideloading.

lern_too_spel 6y ago
> they say Google lags a couple of generations behind Apple in lockdown features, Android is already caught up with iOS in lockdown features and in some ways already surpassed. This is a very strange argument for PureOS, which requires apps to request permissions at install time (like earlier versions of Android), and many apps in Flathub just ask for all permissions. I hope PureOS improves this situation because it will also make my desktop better in addition to providing more mobile choices, but to claim they are better than Android already at this simply has no basis in reality. > newer defaults are pointing in the direction of further restricting sideloading. Google itself has said that sideloading will become better in upcoming versions of Android. This is something that I am looking forward to because I develop apps for my own devices that I want to manage the deployment of myself without being restricted to the basic deployment capabilities of the Play Store. https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2020/09/listening-to-developer-feedback-to.html?m=1 https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2020/09/listening-...