I was an iOS supporter until iphone 5 then I discovered the beauty and freedom of Android.
To this day with Samsung s22+
But currently I am a bit tired, there is no android phone that I am passionate about, oneplus has given me nothing but problems, Samsung with exynos is a disaster (not to mention the new blockages at sideload and the green stripes on the display), I don’t even want to go near all the other Chinese brands, and Nothing is not what it promised to be.
I want to go back to iOS but there are a few things holding me back:
-
how can sideload be managed on iOS? Are there modified apps like youtube, reddit?
-
I follow a lot of NSFW channels on telegram, discord and reddit itself, are there any problems on iOS? are there ways around this? (my girlfriend has iOS, and every time I want to forward an nsfw gif she doesn’t see it)
-
surf the sea, is it complex on ios? Especially in terms of gaming?
TBH only yt, nsfw and modded apk keep me on android. Thanks a lot in advance
iOS is probably the worst choice if you want to sideload apps. I would recommend sticking with Android and run your Samsung into the ground (maybe flash a custom ROM?) before getting something like a Fairphone.
Besides, what do you want to be “passionate” about in mobile phones? To me, they’re just tools for browsing the web, playing games, and staying in contact with friends and family while on the go; anything extra is superficial.
Actually I love to testing modded app, rooting, changing roms, with samsung and oneplus I lost this because install a custom rom brings a lot of issue with banks, camera (damn camera2 api) and so on almost all modern phone is not convenient to go to a custom rom
I dont think its possible -or easy- to install custom roms on samsungs since they dont allow unlocking the bootloader
so you are choosing to go from having issues with those things to not being able to do it at all? I don’t understand. isn’t finding/solving the issues part of the testing you mention?
Sideloading apps on iOS has gotten a lot easier. I use sideloadly. It has to connect to your computer (wirelessly) once a week but does this automatically in the background. I’m still running Apollo, the best Reddit iOS app this way.
I have YT premium through Sri Lanka for $3/mo. Sponsorblock works in safari.
ROM apps like delta are in the App Store now. I have no idea about phone gaming otherwise.
Never ran into any content filtering.
If your gf uses iOS try it out there first and see how you like it.
New iPhones release on a pretty strict schedule each September so even if you don’t want the new model best to wait for older ones to be discounted.
Welcome to Linux for Mobile.
The next generation OS for keeping your smartphone private and your conversations (kinda) secure.It’s “next generation”, because we probably won’t have a good enough solution in the lifetime of the current generation’s people.
As much as I love Linux for mobile idea, it doesn’t have a lot of apps that people rely, like banking or government related stuff.
I am a desktop person.
My main reasons for using a smartphone instead of a phone, are:- GPS Maps. This is something I most probably won’t be able to contribute to, while at the same time, I need it a lot.
- UPI (Unified Payments Interface). I can manage with paper money, but this is just too useful. If Linux mobile were to pick-up, I think I could manage to get it supported by the Govt.
- WhatsApp, because no matter how much I don’t want to, others, including workplace teammates, will make that a requirement.
Until these requirements are met, I will associate Linux mobile with words like, “next” and “tomorrow”.
No
I am a degenerate. Can you please PM me your favorite Telegram NSFW channels? Thank you!
Pixel Phone with GrapheneOS is simply the best solution available right now.
Checking in from GrapheneOS
And remember kids. Buy your pixel second hand
Just be careful. OEM lock can fuck you over big time
word.
Am writing this on one in my second VPN only user profile. It’s like having two phones
* in the selected list of countries 😿
I got my pixel online before it was officially available in my country. If you can’t find anything locally you can message sellers from other countries on ebay or use a proxy store like this guy link who offers worldwide shipping.
Fairphone 4 with eOS, escaping Google and Apple’s duopoly is quite liberating and not as hard as I thought it would be. Yeah, eOS is technically Android, but deGoogled.
Long time Samsung user. Get a Pixel 8. Install Obtainium. Use it to install Neo Launcher and 99% of the apps you probably use. Or just switch to GrapheneOS. You will be happy again.
I also found filly changing my layout helps. My daily calendar, task list, and clock are the only things on my first home screen.
Filly? What does that mean in this context?
I think they typoed “fully”
OH! Got it! Thank you! I was legitimately just like “is this new lingo I don’t know”
Yes, it’s new lingo, that’s what I was using. Mmmhmm. You should too… Totally…
+1 for GrapheneOS
Agreed, grapheneos is great
Obtainium
Didn’t know about obtenium. I think pixel 8 seems the only good choice also if it’s pricey and I’m afraid that is a lot smaller than the s22+ that I think is a right size
Yea, they have gotten pricey. I ended up going down in phone size instead of getting the bigger 8, really like being able to reach all the way across the phone again. Using a tablet for reading things probably made a difference here, though.
there is no android phone that I am passionate about,
Not what you asked for:
A phone is a tool which should enable you to do stuff. Be passionate about friends, hobbies, art, not a piece of plastic.
Being forced to use iOS (work phone) and Android (Samsung, also work), both suck IMHO but Android sucks less.
My next Android will be a Pixel, as others suggested custom roms are the way to go, but even vanilla Android is more functional/open/practical for my needs than iOS.
I would never buy Apples shit with my own money: Dumped down, locked down and in the end you are renting a device from Apple to pay fees for their Appstore and Cloud offerings and vendor lock in. No thanks.
I will add that, after getting my first Pixel as my previous phone, I’ve found the Google vanilla Android experience is better than Android on other carriers that fill the phone with bloat that you can’t get rid of without rooting.
Ive use sideloaded youtube thats ad free, apollo for reddit to this day, telegram nsfw stickers, chats, everything, i havent pirated games but i wouldnt sideload a pirated game cuz that seems like a recipe for viruses (for android too). Roms and emulators are fine and easy to play now
How are you still using Apollo 👀
Sideloaded it using https://sidestore.io/
First I would say best Android right now, is a pixel with custom ROM installed.
Sidload: there exists modified apps for iPhone. To install them you have 3 options (if not in EU) you can sideload using your personal free apple dev account, there you are limited to 3 different apps and you have to reinstall them every 7 days to keep them working, if you pay apple 100$ a year, you can upgrade to a “real” apple dev account without the limitations. Easiest way to self sign apps using above methods would be AltStore application. The third way is Sideloading using a service, that uses enterprise certificates to distribute such apps, those services are either expensive (e.g. BuildStore) or they inject ads into the apps you sideload (sorry, you have to “google” yourself).
I had no issues with NSFW on Reddit, Lemmy and discord yet, 🤔 for discord I don’t know if it changed since I used it. NSFW on telegram is blocked in the iOS app, but the webApp of telegram can be added to the homescreen and then it feels like an App
I use the sea via the self hosted arrr apps and have added the webUI of each to my homescreen, alternatively you can control your arrr apps using LunaSea app. For streaming, I use plex and jellyfin which both work great on iOS
For youtube, there were some modded apps, but I just went with premium via India, because that was more convenient.
I block ads on my phone by routing my internet through my server running adGuard and on device I use 1blocker as backup (since i payed for lifetime long time ago)
Xiaomi. Or poco, redmi… Same stuff. For 200 bucks you get awesome phones and you can usually always remove stock and install LineageOS. They are all freely uockable and still under warranty after that.
Get a model near its end of market life, buy new the oldest you can find… Unlock, install LineageOS, enjoy.
I bought my Poco X3 NFC for 160€ 4 years ago and still rocks today with LineageOS 21 (Android 14).
(It usually take 6 months to 1 year for each new model to get LineageOS support, so don’t buy the latest model Also worth looking if there is official support on LineageOS before buy, or at least some unofficial ports).
Asus Zenfone are nice as well
Can you unlock them easily and still have valid warranty as well? That would be a great point
Asus bootloader is locked. This brand is a dead man walking just like sony
Get a model near its end of market life, buy new the oldest you can find
This is a very good advice for someone who is buying a new phone to install a custom ROM on it, since they are indepandant effort they need some time to hack things and find workarounds
Yes, I am a maintainer for a 4 years old device, and I would love to be able to buy it new today! New battery and all.
I use a Pixel and would recommend one. I dont have much experience with apple devices but I’ve heard of people using https://sideloadly.io/ to sideload apps on iphones. No idea how well it works if at all.
Get a Pixel, install GrapheneOS and you’re done.
I would have gotten a pixel years ago
No expandable storage
The specs are also mediocre
If Samsung is shit now and Google Pixel is a tossup for QA issues, where do to go? OnePlus? Sony Xperia?..ASUS?
can’t wait for my s22u to die so i can do that
You can wait for a cat to fall into a garbage can or you can push a cat into a garbage can and get it over with.
i would never do that to a cat and i don’t have money for a new one
Cats aren’t really that expensive, are they?
i can’t even afford to eat every day
Sadly, google cats aren’t part of the cat distribution system.
Given how expensive phones are in terms of environmental cost you really shouldn’t be buying new phones unless your current one’s broken to the point of unusable.
You just keep buying the wrong phones, Samsung is shit and the China companies steal all your data. Try Pixel, nothing but good experience with them and if you want another OS there is GrapheneOS for the Pixels. IOS is a closed system and definitely The worst for piracy and privacy, even though they want to sell you their stuff with “privacy” in mind (its better than chines phones though)
Chinese companies steal your data
Try Pixel
lol
Putting GrapheneOS on the Pixel is good advice though
Contrary to popular belief, pixels are surprisingly private, more than Samsungs or the China phones at least. Google will still try to up sell it, but they do on all Android devices.
Pixels are arguably the most private android since you only get Google tracking. With other androids you get Google tracking on top of all the other tracking
If there’s tracking it’s not private.
You can basically disable most Google tracking though a good DNS that blocks that traffic.
You can basically disable most Google tracking though a good DNS that blocks that traffic.
So only most but not all. Therefore it’s not private if there’s any tracking. Thus a de-googled version is the only option.
You won’t get rid of google tracking you on Youtube or Gmail, because thats literally part of how it works. If you don’t use Google apps, the Android itself won’t do shit. But that’s basically what de-Googled means so yeah obviously.
You won’t get rid of google tracking you on Youtube or Gmail,
For gmail that’s true (one should use something else anyhow). For youtube you can use an alternative frontend like NewPipe to avoid tracking.
If you care about privacy you should use a trustworthy paid email. They even aren’t that expensive. You can get them as low as 1 € / month.
Why not Nothing, if you don’t mind my asking?
I’ve also thought about Fairphone as my next one.
And I’ve thought about an iPhone like this too - if you have adblocking via a home router or pihole or some such then why not? Piracy could be done indirectly and just play/stream from Jellyfin or some such. But my thoughts are not well enough along to be of any use to you there, just to say that your ideas don’t seem crazy to me. Buttery smooth operation, actually pleasant to hold and use (not burning a hole in my hand after not even a minute of standard web browser usage as my own S22 does, probably bc of my Blokada VPN adblocker?), so long as the downsides can be mitigated.
Pixels seem to be to be entirely too imbalanced to me to include a super expensive camera that I barely use and barely any stats that I actually do (game emulators or whatever) - I really want a Nexus except they don’t make those. Even OnePlus doesn’t make those flagship killers anymore. I doubt they exist at all tbh.
Another idea is to get like an old OnePlus 7-ish device and just immediately replace the OS with a custom ROM. Fast charging is both good and bad - great utility but leads to heat issues later in the battery’s life.
I almost just want a cheap piece of crap dumb phone at this point, so that I don’t have to spend hundreds of hours researching every damn thing that the manufacturers are trying to do to me and ways to get around them without leaving (literal!) scorch marks on my hands.:-( But I also want Google Maps and maybe an Uber app in an emergency so that’s what holds me back.
So with that I think I’ve recommended just about literally everything now in this comment… :-P
I almost just want a cheap piece of crap dumb phone
Looked into a KaiOS device? Not entirely dumb, GMaps is only the web version so no voice navigation etc.
But might be something of interest to ya?
KaiOS
It looks interesting - thanks for the tip!:-)
This does sound quite cool!
My Nothing is the most unstable Android device I’ve ever owned and they don’t ever actually fix anything just come out with childish gimmicks.
I think the last one was Chat Gpt integration which turned out to just be a widget that launches chatgpt if you manually install it and even that only worked for a couple of weeks and chatgpts own widget is better so what was the point.
YIKES!? So it’s a marketing gimmick then? Not the ChatGPT, that’s obviously one, but the Nothing phone itself? So sorry to hear that:-(, but at least you are spreading the word so as to help others avoid that for themselves.:-)
I do have higher hopes for the Fairphone though.
Yep every article you ever see about them is some type of gimmick or another and most of them last about as long as Nothing Messages did.
Well OnePlus definitely jumped the shark, and it sounds like its spinoff Nothing did as well:-(.
I really suspect in future years it’ll be revealed Nothing is a oneplus brand, I mean I know a lot of people already suspect it but yeah I d say Nothing is to One plus what Honor is to Huawei.
