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Google is baked into Android. All your saved passwords go if your account goes. Some of which may be unrecoverable if your email also goes. Google assistant

Google is baked into Android. All your saved passwords go if your account goes. Some of which may be unrecoverable if your email also goes. Google assistant devices can't work with Alexa so that means buying a new device. All your "sign in with google" OAuth sites go. It would be a major hassle to move away from Google, and I'm not even sure I'd even trust any other company to do all that anyway. Google's business model is spying on you, so you can sortof trust they won't pull the major popular services as long as you play by the rules exactly. For an average person thay would seem to be the safest option. At least until recently, they've pulled more and more stuff lately.

pmontra 5y ago
If Google bans my personal account I lose access to Google Play, Translate, some useless files on Google Drive and abandoned projects on Google Cloud and maybe nothing else. I won't be able to backup WhatsApp and move it to another phone, this is annoying. No Google Play means no updates for the banking apps so I'll be unable to log into my banks soon (they do 2FA with their app.) This is huge. Of course most Android users are more invested in the ecosystem than I am. I'm not sure I can create another account with the same phone number. I'm not going to buy an iPhone or an iPad so I'm not sure what I'll be going to do. Change number? BTW not Linux phones, too many apps I need are not working there (especially banks.)
- scarface74 5y ago
  Don’t use Android? 60% of mobile users in the US in fact don’t.
  - eternityforest 5y ago
    The only other major smartphone is iOS, Not all that interested in spending $400 minimum on a phone(Or take my chances with something used), for something I can't develop for without paying even more money, that only allows WebKit based browsers, and doesn't use USB-C.
    - scarface74 5y ago
      $99 a year to release an app is going to break the bank?
      - eternityforest 5y ago
        For someone who is not a professional app developer it can. That's insanely expensive for a FOSS side project, if you're in embedded and controls and don't do any pro apps.
        scarface74 5y ago
        But that “not a professional app developer” has to be able to afford a decent computer to run one of the god awful Java IDEs, the resource intensive Android emulators, a phone, internet access etc. If it’s an open source project that’s not going to be on the App Store, you can get XCode for free to run an app on your own device and give others the source code.
        pmontra 5y ago
        You also have to buy a Mac. The Windows or Linux computer you already have won't run XCode. That's way more than 99 dollars.
        eternityforest 5y ago
        Nobody except other maybe devs will even consider that much trouble. Especially when compiling something yourself is not really more secure than downloading a binary(Unless you literally read the entire source code first). Almost any modern app will run fine on an i5, 16GB or so GB of RAM, and an SSD. Nowhere near macbook costs. You need something of about that tier for any pro development with any kind of modern tools, and there are iPhones out there that cost more than a decent laptop. Plus, software resource demands seem to have leveled off. A Linux laptop is quite possibly going to be perfectly good for like 12 years.
        5y ago
scarface74 5y ago
Only 40% of phone users in the US use Android. Google Assistant is far behind Amazon for home devices. There is another little company that you might have heard of that sells phones that doesn’t depend on collecting data. I also avoid using sign in with Google and use a service where I can “Hide my Email”. Everything that Google does is a sub par user experience festered with ads
- eternityforest 5y ago
  That other company costs about 2x as much though, and they heavily limit what you can do with them. They also charge more money for accessories, they don't support SD cards, some say third party stuff like Tile is just a little bit crappier than it is on Android, etc. If you're rich, and really care about your privacy, it makes sense, but most people I know use Android. Not sure where all these iOS users are, it must be regional or class-based or something
  - scarface74 5y ago
    I would rather have the simple transaction that I give the company money and they give me stuff than buy a phone where the company makes money based on collecting personal data on everything I do on the phone.
    - eternityforest 5y ago
      Google's data collection lets me afford better tech than I otherwise would, so I really don't mind that much. It's not like these are random hackers that can steal credit cards, that's not what they do. There should be a lot more private tech available for those that need it, but for everyone else Apple is just too expensive for a protest unless privacy is on your shortlist of causes you really care about and prioritize.

pmontra 5y ago

If Google bans my personal account I lose access to Google Play, Translate, some useless files on Google Drive and abandoned projects on Google Cloud and maybe nothing else. I won't be able to backup WhatsApp and move it to another phone, this is annoying. No Google Play means no updates for the banking apps so I'll be unable to log into my banks soon (they do 2FA with their app.) This is huge. Of course most Android users are more invested in the ecosystem than I am. I'm not sure I can create another account with the same phone number. I'm not going to buy an iPhone or an iPad so I'm not sure what I'll be going to do. Change number? BTW not Linux phones, too many apps I need are not working there (especially banks.)

scarface74 5y ago
Don’t use Android? 60% of mobile users in the US in fact don’t.
- eternityforest 5y ago
  The only other major smartphone is iOS, Not all that interested in spending $400 minimum on a phone(Or take my chances with something used), for something I can't develop for without paying even more money, that only allows WebKit based browsers, and doesn't use USB-C.
  - scarface74 5y ago
    $99 a year to release an app is going to break the bank?
    - eternityforest 5y ago
      For someone who is not a professional app developer it can. That's insanely expensive for a FOSS side project, if you're in embedded and controls and don't do any pro apps.
      - scarface74 5y ago
        But that “not a professional app developer” has to be able to afford a decent computer to run one of the god awful Java IDEs, the resource intensive Android emulators, a phone, internet access etc. If it’s an open source project that’s not going to be on the App Store, you can get XCode for free to run an app on your own device and give others the source code.
        pmontra 5y ago
        You also have to buy a Mac. The Windows or Linux computer you already have won't run XCode. That's way more than 99 dollars.
        eternityforest 5y ago
        Nobody except other maybe devs will even consider that much trouble. Especially when compiling something yourself is not really more secure than downloading a binary(Unless you literally read the entire source code first). Almost any modern app will run fine on an i5, 16GB or so GB of RAM, and an SSD. Nowhere near macbook costs. You need something of about that tier for any pro development with any kind of modern tools, and there are iPhones out there that cost more than a decent laptop. Plus, software resource demands seem to have leveled off. A Linux laptop is quite possibly going to be perfectly good for like 12 years.
        5y ago

scarface74 5y ago

Only 40% of phone users in the US use Android. Google Assistant is far behind Amazon for home devices. There is another little company that you might have heard of that sells phones that doesn’t depend on collecting data. I also avoid using sign in with Google and use a service where I can “Hide my Email”. Everything that Google does is a sub par user experience festered with ads

eternityforest 5y ago
That other company costs about 2x as much though, and they heavily limit what you can do with them. They also charge more money for accessories, they don't support SD cards, some say third party stuff like Tile is just a little bit crappier than it is on Android, etc. If you're rich, and really care about your privacy, it makes sense, but most people I know use Android. Not sure where all these iOS users are, it must be regional or class-based or something
- scarface74 5y ago
  I would rather have the simple transaction that I give the company money and they give me stuff than buy a phone where the company makes money based on collecting personal data on everything I do on the phone.
  - eternityforest 5y ago
    Google's data collection lets me afford better tech than I otherwise would, so I really don't mind that much. It's not like these are random hackers that can steal credit cards, that's not what they do. There should be a lot more private tech available for those that need it, but for everyone else Apple is just too expensive for a protest unless privacy is on your shortlist of causes you really care about and prioritize.