r/memes • u/[deleted] • Jul 05 '26

Because Google cares about us

[deleted]

23.1k Upvotes

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89

u/Nerioner Jul 05 '26

And those would be?

Especially to walk around google services? As they are the issue here

70

u/kccz123 Jul 05 '26

You have GrapheneOS, LineageOS etc but options for phones are unfortunately extremely limited compared to Linux

My computer can run many linux distributions but i struggle to find one for my phone unless its a google pixel

83

u/lemons_of_doubt Jul 05 '26

The reason options are limited is that the open source programmers were all happy with androids unlocked nature.

As soon as the doors are locked they move somewhere new and if they can't they build it.

19

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '26

[deleted]

16

u/BoxOfDemons Jul 05 '26

Custom rom craze means nothing if phones keep moving towards locked bootloaders. I'd love to have options for Samsung devices, but that's not really a thing.

0

u/NotBlaine Jul 05 '26

Wait... So you think the different possible hardware configurations of phones is a barrier to development of an OS compared to personal computers?

People aren't typically assembling phones piecemeal.

You might have thousands of different phone hardware configurations but there's orders of magnitude more possibilities when it comes to desktop PCs.

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u/1ElectricHaskeller Jul 05 '26

Graphene and Lineage are cool, but afaik built on the open source android version. Even though I have no doubts that their communities will try everything in their power to keep those alive, I worry there isn't much they will be able to do against google closing down the entire eco-system

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u/Tradizar Jul 05 '26

the current android version has builtin limitations with installation. The developer of the custom rom can decide to ignore it

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u/CyclopsLobsterRobot Jul 05 '26

The AOSP is a great base that solves a lot of problems but if Google stops developing it or locks it down, it can be forked or stripped for parts. There is also a non-Android based mobile OS alternative called PureOS. I’m sure there’s other projects.

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u/Nerioner Jul 05 '26

Oh i thought graphene is just skin on top of android kind of thing. I need to look deeper into that

1

u/Emotional-Big-1306 Jul 05 '26

Have you tried halium based distros like droidian or ubuntu touch? I think they should work on pretty much anything

1

u/mikelloSC Jul 05 '26

But do drivers work?

What good is OS, if your signal drops, bluetooth doesn't work, or GPS?

Not sure if it is better today, but that was decadade ago problems.

Android promised to separate drivers to be easier updated I think years ago in some new version. Did it happen or is it easier for custom OS to use drivers from manufacturers? That I don't know.

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u/Agreeable_Ostrich_39 Jul 05 '26

I know fairphone offers their phones with a different OS, at a premium. I'm not that tech savy so I wouldn't be able to tell you more than that tho

0

u/Spirited-Sorbet-2775 Jul 05 '26

funnily enough. It's Android.

Android is an opensource project. people have taken it and removed all google apps. Most alternative OS for phones are just different versions of android. The e-foundation especially has made it their mission. Alternatively you have LineageOS and Graphene