Fucking manufacturers should be forced to unlock the bootloader once they stop supporting a phone
There are only bad reasons for the bootloader to not be user-unlockable from the start.
This was apparently already patched in AOSP in October and if you use GrapheneOS and opted into security preview updates, you’re already covered.
It does not brick your phone. It causes problems with cellular features.
Joke’s on them. Google already bricked my LTE chip.
From Google “Third-party stores are insecure” and “We won’t fix VPN bugs in all Android versions.”
Classic Google ignoring devices people still use that are bootloader locked meaning you can’t even update them to a secure OS even if you wanted to. And allowing vendors to prevent phones from getting security updates. The phone industry is a total scam.
So you buy a new one every 2 years.
Don’t most phones get security updates for like 7 years now?
No. Has to be enforced by each country/region.
What? Since when? I have never heard of the same phone having different support windows in different regions. How would that even work? You go on holiday with your old phone and suddenly get several years of security updates when you’re in a different country?
As per the other comment at this time, when a cell maker wants to sell their products in a country/region, they make a deal which may involve security updates for the phones sold in that country/region.
The device is Region coded
I’m stuck on an old version of Android. I guess I’m getting a new phone when I get that text.
If it’s older than android 12 it might be safe. I’m still riding a 9.
damn they should really stop making all these new vulnerabilities
So what is in the SMS
The imposter from among us.
A bomb
This is capitalism at work guys. The only way out is to end it is from the root cause.
why do people still buy android
Alternatives include:
- No smartphone. Eccentric, comes with significant practical and social costs.
- Desktop-style Linux (PostmarketOS, Ubuntu Touch, others). Most hardware is barely usable or unusable. Few desktop apps are optimized for touch on a phone-sized screen.
- iOS. Apps can’t exist without permission from Apple. Even in jurisdictions that forced them to allow other app stores, notarization is mandatory and they can withhold it.
All of those are bigger problems than the mild crappiness of Android.
Complete tangent, because the OP of this comment thread is a joke anyway, but my boss is in the first group. This guy may own a smartphone but it lives in a drawer, I’m sure. Like, he has never once just scrolled on his phone to kill time, no way. He might have sent one text message in his entire life. And this guy is only a couple years older than me, under 50. Some people just live in a different world. He and I both live in Illinois, just so you know it’s not some third world country. Well, not yet anyways.
im pretty close to becoming the tech guy with a gun next to his toaster, im sick of what the nerd reich has done on all levels of tech
not much i really do on a phone any longer that cant just be done on a pc
bro we both know mild crappiness isnt what im complaining about
also both your option 2 and 3 are better atm
I actually have PostmarketOS installed on an older phone. It’s both really cool, and nearly unusable as a phone. It’s slow. The battery lasts about four hours. The cameras sort of work… or did. I just opened it to refresh my memory of what was broken about the image quality and it says “no camera found”. I hope Linux phones get better, but I can’t replace my Android phone with this now or soon.
As for iOS, I have no comment on whether it’s better than Android or not, nor do I particularly care. Apple’s strict control over the app ecosystem is so unacceptable to me that it makes the platform a non-starter regardless of its merits. I continue to be surprised that’s not a majority opinion among tech-literate people.
‘an older phone’ is doing some heavy lifting there
you got oneplus fairphone and pixel all working fine and heavily commnuity supported
limited hardware choices is always the trade off
as to apples control, given the september vendor lock change and the continued increase in locked boot loaders how is android not getting to be just as bad?
but all of that is moot
signs have been more and more obvious this year, how can anyone trust their personal data being safe
and if you are running graphine or the like it’s the same boat as the linux os options
It’s a Pixel 3a XL, which does seem to be one of the better-supported phones on PostmarketOS, which I see has renamed itself Nura and might work better after a reinstall instead of an upgrade in place. It still doesn’t claim to be ready for a general audience.
how is android not getting to be just as bad [as iOS regarding vendor control over app installation]?
Android is absolutely getting worse, but it’s not as bad yet, and as bad isn’t on the current roadmap. Important with regard to that is “Android” can mean more than one thing, including Android Open Source Project, Google-certified Android with Play Services and the like, a vendor distribution, or a third-party distribution. Even the worst case, a notarization-like system on Google-certified Android coming in the future, will be possible to turn off with an officially-supported procedure.
how can anyone trust their personal data being safe
You can’t trust any of these megacorporations to do anything other than maximize their own profits, Apple included. It’s possible to decide exactly how much Google stuff you want in some of the above descriptions of “Android” with increasing hassle as it approaches zero.
and if you are running graphine or the like it’s the same boat as the linux os options
No it’s not. Open source Android distributions usually use kernels compatible with the OEM proprietary drivers, so stuff actually works. Something like that might be possible for desktop-style Linux, but that’s not what the existing distributions actually do.
It still doesn’t claim to be ready for a general audience.
sure, and for the iphone crowd i wouldnt recommend it
Important with regard to that is “Android” can mean more than one thing
and im obviously talking about anything not fully stripped of google services
my original complaint wasnt including graphine and that lack of clarity is on me
You can’t trust any of these megacorporations to do anything other than maximize their own profits
don’t both sides same this, anyone paying attentions knows google has been especially bad this year
the sad fact is ios is the lesser evil atm for personal privacy gag
No it’s not. Open source Android distributions usually use kernels compatible with the OEM proprietary drivers, so stuff actually works. Something like that might be possible for desktop-style Linux, but that’s not what the existing distributions actually do.
phone makes phone calls, camera does camera things
banking is fucked but meh
what exactly do you need? i actually like graphine but the problem is hardware keeps getting more hostile towards it, wont be long before it’ll be much worse
this may be the last non adversarial generation of it
sure, and for the iphone crowd i wouldnt recommend it
I’m the using desktop Linux for decades crowd, and it’s not good enough to replace Android on my phone.
phone makes phone calls, camera does camera things
See my previous comment. The camera does not do camera things, even after I fixed the permissions problem for
/dev/video*that produced the initial error message. It’s a bit like the experience of trying to run Linux on a laptop (other than a Thinkpad) 20 years ago.what exactly do you need?
Bare minimum:
- A camera. Doesn’t need to be good, does need to take pictures that roughly convey reality.
- Signal. This is my main means of (tele)communicating with people important to me. There’s Flare, but that needs to pair with a device running the official client (or maybe a fork).
- Whatsapp. I don’t love it, but it’s hard to avoid.
- A web browser and mail client
PostmarketOSNura has passible options there. - A VOIP solution for a USA phone number that can do calls and SMS. I use Google Voice now because it’s free; I might pay a small amount for an alternative.
- Turn by turn navigation for car and bicycle.
Some things might work on Waydroid, which pretty much runs LineageOS in a VM. It was fussy last I looked at it, and that suggests the obvious option of running LineageOS on hardware, which I do.
hardware keeps getting more hostile towards [GrapheneOS]
They recently announced a partnership with Motorola.
/c/unpopularopinion
i genuinely worry for anyone that bases their preferences on how many goobers agree with them
Why are you here then?
surely you understand how lemmy works
fanboys are silly
Says the fanboy
of what?
im very confused what you think i support in the phone department because i think they all suck balls and wish we had better linux options
You started this thread, and continue to defend it, so yes, absolute fanboy.
is english not your first language?
Because the only usable alternative is worse.
have you been paying attention to 2026?
What magical new mobile operating system that supports current, real-world use cases was released in 2026?
quite the contrary things have only gotten worse
its simply what has and how that has rearranged the order of shit tiering in the mobile phone offerings
Sure, because iOS never had this same vulnerability 🤣
Yes, it had the weird symbol that would crash the phone if somebody sent it to you. That was 2024 https://9to5mac.com/2024/08/21/crash-iphone-by-typing-these-letters/
Or that weird image that would also crash the phone. Not sure the year of that.
because clearly its about the vulnerability and not the refusal to actually fix it
Because it’s better than Apple
And no nobody “buys android”, it’s freepre 2026 id agree
but here we are
and don’t be obtuse, no one is talking about you emulating on your pc
