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My next phone will be a Pixel XL 128GB that Google has shipped me as a replacement for a two-year-old defective Nexus 6P 64GB that was way out of warranty. FedEx says it gets here tomorrow, and it didn't cost me a dime.

https://forum.xda-developers.c...

Entirely likely that the money I spent on the 6p ($580 after taxes) will effectively last me 4+ years :) I was originally planning on moving away from Google branded Androids since the price went way up, but if they continue to replace their phones in the case of obvious manufacturer defect, I think I'll stick with them, even if they are expensive.

At the very least, that's way better than what the $1,000 iPhone will promise:

https://apple.slashdot.org/sto...

LineageOS https://forum.xda-developers.c... ? Google and Motorola phones were very good at allowing custom ROMs, till a TOS change.

Alternately you want the ability to install and edit a HOSTS file.

See for instance, this rom for lumia 520.
https://forum.xda-developers.c...

And with the current situation where the users of a device is prevented from doing the changes they like to their devices including downgrading the OS the interest in Android goes down.

It's a sour situation right now when you aren't in control of the device you have bought. I can understand that there may be some constraints to at least prevent malware but the owner of the device shall be able to be in control of the device and not risk it being bricked.

A major reason for having more control over your device is to get rid of bloatware that the manufacturers have a habit of installing. Some bloatware is also a security risk for various reasons.

Only buy a phone that's supported by LineageOS. Then you get updated builds every Thursday. My phone, a Oneplus 2, only officially has Marshmallow. Thanks to LineageOS, I'm running Nougat. It's also more responsive, I get better battery life and I only had to install the bare minimum of Google apps needed for Play (mostly use APKUpdater and F-Droid anyway). Then I just root it with Magisk and still pass SafetyNet (I only care about Pokemon Go).

TL;DR: buy a LineageOS supported phone or an iPhone if you want regular updates.

Apparently Marshmellow was only released for non-LTE models. People who manually upgraded to Android 6 lost LTE support.
https://forum.xda-developers.c...

Also, the hardware has many revisions.
According to https://forum.xda-developers.c... the M2-801L has a B006 and B007 revision that require different ROMs

Perhaps you should have done 5 minutes of Googling and you would have found the answers yourself.

Apparently Marshmellow was only released for non-LTE models. People who manually upgraded to Android 6 lost LTE support.
https://forum.xda-developers.c...

Also, the hardware has many revisions.
According to https://forum.xda-developers.c... the M2-801L has a B006 and B007 revision that require different ROMs

Perhaps you should have done 5 minutes of Googling and you would have found the answers yourself.

>trusting your smartphone to the Chinese

Sure thing, boss.

It's the site I trust and see them to watching out for me. They are/host(?) LineageOS now, were CyanogenMOD, and my site to pick up new ROMS for my Xoom tablet (when TOS allowed - TIC). https://forum.xda-developers.c...

KingRoot https://forum.xda-developers.c...
No spam, not a pirate site.

You generally don't haul your TV set around with you; so now we're off the topic of "mobile" operation.

The use case that Ubuntu Touch tried to address was "I want mobile apps while mobile, but I want desktop apps when I've set the phone on the top of my desk, and I don't want to have to buy a $999 laptop in addition to the perfectly good computing device I already own."

I can't run macOS, Linux or Windows Applications on my iPhone for the same reason you can't run Linux Applications on your Android phone; i.e., because they don't share a processor architecture; not because of screen-size limitations. It has NOTHING to do with "Lockdown", FFS!

Install GNURoot Debian and optionally XSDL on an unrooted Android device with an ARM CPU, and you can recompile GNU/Linux applications from source code for ARM, or you can apt-get compiled versions from the ARM version of the Debian repository. The biggest thing a user of GNU/Linux on ARM misses compared to GNU/Linux on x86-64 is Wine.

If I am at home, I have a laptop

You do. Others don't.

I have a Blu R1 HD. I got it for the kids to play games with, but it has no SIM card. Any advice on how to check that it's secure (without burning/crushing/etc.)?

If you bought the Amazon version, then it's supposed to be safe.

But either way, check out: https://forum.xda-developers.c...

You'll find what you need to know about rooting it and installed a different rom and getting rid of bloat and the spyware.

Computing is more than a tool to make money. There are computers in all aspects of our lives. The ability to choose and say no is being removed from all interfaces. Regardless of your personal financial incentive, can you at least agree that manufacturers deciding how loud i can turn up my radio or how long i can listen to it is a very bad thing. We are marching to a future where liability will FORCE manufacturers to do these sort of things. Imagine a future where your music device says this. "I'm sorry, but you have been listening at X db for 30 minutes, i will now reduce volume. You have 30 minutes of music time left before mandatory shutdown to protect hearing."

Samsung already has a nag screen when you go over 50% volume. You can disable it some regions and not others. https://forum.xda-developers.c...

Apparently they are cheating at benchmarks: https://www.xda-developers.com...

I don't know how much to trust them as a company. Also the comment further up about them spamming older phones with ads for the new phone, with no way to turn it off. Even Samsung doesn't do that.

I have a 2015 Moto G. I got it partially because I thought Motorola, having touted an 18-month support + update policy, would be better about updates than most of their competitors. But they refused to issue a Nougat update, even though Nougat was released less than 14 months later.

Yes, that is annoying. Luckily, the community has got your back. I am in the same boat, with the same solution (albeit for titan, not osprey.)

It's neither CyanogenMod nor the continuation of it called LineageOS. It's CyanogenOS, which has really nothing in common with CyanogenMod than a similar sounding name and that they're both Android-ish.

CyanogenOS is essentially "Microsoft Android Like Operating System", people have been complaining about the horribility of CyanogenOS for years.

It's neither CyanogenMod nor the continuation of it called LineageOS. It's CyanogenOS, which has really nothing in common with CyanogenMod than a similar sounding name and that they're both Android-ish.

CyanogenOS is essentially "Microsoft Android Like Operating System", people have been complaining about the horribility of CyanogenOS for years.

It's neither CyanogenMod nor the continuation of it called LineageOS. It's CyanogenOS, which has really nothing in common with CyanogenMod than a similar sounding name and that they're both Android-ish.

CyanogenOS is essentially "Microsoft Android Like Operating System", people have been complaining about the horribility of CyanogenOS for years.

The "related articles widget" amounts to little more than clutter. This is part of facebook's "chaining" mechanism, devised to increase "engagement" (at the cost of hijacking the user's media consumption flow and shortening their attention span).

The same goes for the associated "featured for you" widget, along with "people also shared" and "popular from ", and all other related garbage.

I threw together a modded version of the Facebook app, which tries to get rid of as much of this garbage as possible. This is obviously a self-signed APK, but all the patching was done in place. You are welcome to decompile it, diff it against stock, and see that all the code modifications are basically single-instruction patches (with virtually no room to include malware).

XDA link: https://forum.xda-developers.c...

Yes. The Nexus 5, pre-Lollipop, did just fine tethering on AT&T. As soon as it upgraded, it disabled tethering.

https://forum.xda-developers.c...

WiFi Tether without paying extra to the carrier for the same data you're already paying for is a feature.
Backup specific apps and their data ("Titanium Backup" or its successors) or the entire device ("NANDROID" backup via TWRP, CWM, PhilZ, etc)
Root apps allow flexibility carrier-ROMs don't. Greenify shuts down unused apps. Xposed allows changing almost anything about Android operation (the "framework") with easy installation. See this link for top rooted apps.

None of these are available with locked bootloaders, and stock ROMs. (The NANDROID backup is available with stock ROMs but is if little value).

MotoG4 using Silesh Nair xt16xx 7.1.1 Lineage OS 20170113 ROM

Ehud Gavron

Here, I'll make it easier:

https://forum.xda-developers.c...

Never actually tried it myself, but it makes a nice GUI with boxes you can un-check.

Is it really too much to ask to dig up the Android SDK and the relevant drivers for USB connection in your OS of choice? Do we complain about needing to get Python or .NET runtimes if we're using platforms that occasionally need those as well? Is a USB cable that much of an ask?

except it's a tablet with actual joystick and button input

You could get any tablet and add an iPega 9023 controller.

Apple should simply pull the exact same scam Google does. Force end users to hack their phones, to install from other locations. Basically provide risky tools, to https://www.xda-developers.com... and voila the majority of end users will never ever do it and only buy from the Google store 'er' Apples store but they can buy from other sources if they want to, done and finished.

https://www.xda-developers.com...

There's talk of a fork but things are pretty dire it seems.

Yeaaaaah, you might want to hold off on signing up for that just yet.

If anyone is interested, it is apparently quite simple to block presidential alerts on a rooted android phone. I never looked it up before because why would I care... before

My phone is rooted but I'm not blocking them... yet

Wasn't really all that hard...

http://forum.xda-developers.co...

It would appear that not only have they abandoned the Nexus name, they've abandoned its philosophy of being a cheap, no-frills, hacker-friendly device. The new pixel phones will cost a minimum of $649 and be next to impossible to root.

Samsung Fridge/Freezer: Seemed to work fine for a year or so, then we noticed that after any power outage, it would tend not to cool things when it turned back on. We'd notice that the temperature indicators on the front were happily announcing that the fridge was at 60F and the freezer at 40+. (Unplugging it and plugging it back in again would usually get it working again). Now it's even worse, the temperature indicators show things working just fine, but the actual temperature inside is either way too warm or way too cold and everything in the refrigerator is frozen. Unplugging and plugging back in will usually make the temperature sensors show the actual temperatures, but there seems to be no guarantee that the actual problem will be resolved and it may need to be unplugged and plugged back in a few times before it works correctly for a while. Getting rid of this awful thing very soon.

Samsung "point-and-shoot" camera, seemed to work great when I picked it up and took it on vacation, but when I got back and downloaded the photos to look at them on a real screen, a circular area in the center of every picture was out of focus: Lens defect. Got it RMA'd right at the end of the warranty period, the third-party losers they outsource it to kept the camera for two weeks, then sent it right back with a note to "make sure the battery is charged when you use it.". WTF?

Samsung "Mesmerize" phone (Galaxy S variant), cell/wifi/bluetooth would all just die and stop working until completely powered off (not just rebooted). To be fair, the one that I got as a replacement worked reasonably well.

Samsung Galaxy S4: I actually mostly like it (still using it), but sometime in the six months after I got it, the USB data port stopped working. I'm not sure when it happened because I can still CHARGE over USB, and I usually do file transfers by SFTP rather than a cable so it was some time before I even noticed. Haven't bothered trying to get it replaced because it otherwise is working okay on "Optimized Cyanogenmod".

Before anyone asks "If they suck so bad, why do you have so many Samsung devices", it was a few years between the fridge, camera, and Mesmerize phone before the pattern became obvious. I actually was reluctant to get the S4 but it was the only model my cell carrier had that was moddable.

tl;dr:Samsung's hardware quality control sucks, and they plainly don't really care.

At least you can replace the Samsung one for free with one that works.

Yeah, then you are only left with Embarrassing Real-World Performance and easily scratched display. Nothing that can't be rationalized away, especially since it won't burn your house down.

The processor benchmarks are pointless, what matters is how fast stuff actually happens and Android is generally faster at opening the same app etc. Probably because Samsung flash memory is quicker or something, or maybe it's just the massive amount of RAM in high end models. Having a dual core CPU probably doesn't help either.

Wow, what a bold lie. Android is NOT generally faster at opening the same app. As you can clearly see, the iPhone 6s, which is a year old, laps the brand new Note 7 when opening the same apps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

As for Samsung "flash memory" being quicker? I'd love to know which Samsung shills are modding you up... Here's a quote from the Anandtech iPhone 6s and 6s Plus Review:

The other truly impressive aspect of the iPhone 6s’ this generation is the storage solution. The iPhone’s storage solution here is ahead of everything else in the industry for three clear reasons. The first is the use of more advanced NAND organization. Although TLC NAND alone is going to be clearly worse for performance than SLC or MLC NAND, the iPhone 6s’ use SLC caching in conjunction with TLC NAND to improve storage performance in the situations that matter. The second is the use of PCI-Express to enable much higher bandwidths, which means that the SLC cache can really stretch its legs to reach the high levels of bandwidth that it’s capable of. The third is the use of a custom storage controller with NVM Express, which helps to realize the full benefits of PCI-Express. Overall, all of these things come together to make noticeable differences in user experience.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/...

Apple's silicon dominance is reflected by a superior real world user experience, and that matters since what actually happens when you use a Note 7, is an "embarrassing level of real world performance".

The same lag carries onto scrolling performance in many applications, and infrequently in every application after heavy continuous usage. The phone does not get too hot, mind you, but we do notice that after continuous sessions, it progressively begins misbehaving. Scrolling behavior in particular is behind what you’d expect out of an $850 device, especially after this has been one of Samsung’s weak points for years. When compared to the OnePlus 3, we find that the Note 7 often neglects using its four cores as opposed to the OnePlus 3, which efficiently mixes up its core utilization when handling the same task. GPU profiling on the Note 7 makes it extremely clear that the phone leaks frames on several actions, even minor animations throughout the UI such as a WiFi network spinning circle animation. In some instances, we found outright damning displays of the Note 7’s occasionally-pitiful fluidity accompanied by the walls of green bars denoting serious difficulties pushing the frames through. But this is not just a matter of opening or returning to your application sooner than on other devices, Samsung’s software is noticeably slower than that of competing devices in almost every action. The stock keyboard still sees issues with split-second lockups, and the sharing menu on the Note 7 often leaves you waiting for options to load. The notorious TouchWiz Launcher has earned itself a reputation for slow speed and stutters throughout the years, and while it is not as bad as it used to be, it can still miss clear frames while switching through homescreens, and despite years of integration, Flipboard still remains the most jerky leftmost homescreen panel ever introduced by an OEM.

http://www.xda-developers.com/...

My personal anecdotal data (Android devices):

* LG P509 (3.2" screen, Android 2.3) - Have 2 of those. Going strong with some old Cyanogen Mod version (7 I think) but I'm not really actively using them..

* Google Galaxy Nexus: Obsoleted by manufacturer. Also had cracked screen, the crack was small initially but then got bigger and bigger. Don't remember dropping it. OLED burn-in. Battery was not holding charge after 2 years but at least it was serviceable. Overall rating: crap (mainly due to poor screen). Granted it has been my best experience with Google Nexus line.

* Google Nexus 7 1st gen: Faulty charger circuit (took a day to fully charge, common issue). I configured it with encrypted file system, but little did I know then that Google released it without even testing it. Eventually it got slow to a point where a single operation would take 5 seconds to refresh screen - no TRIM support for encrypted fs driver, slow software encryption are the culprits if anyone is interested. Got rid of this shit the first chance I could (traded in for $50 BestBuy giftcard).

* Google Nexus 4: This is the biggest garbage of them all. Faulty hardware design - no cpu heatsink (or was it gpu?), battery too close to cpu and gpu. More info about this here: http://forum.xda-developers.co... . When you run any cpu-intensive app it would overheat so much that it gets uncomfortable to hold phone. Charger circuit would cut off battery charging due to high temperature. If you are not on charger it would reboot the phone at some point. That's how hot it was getting. The cpus are binned slow, nominal, fast. Luckily mine was "fast" so I was able to significantly undervolt this (yes, had to recompile the kernel) to make it somewhat better. It still randomly shuts down sometimes but not as bad as it was. Oh yeah, obsoleted by manufacturer (no updates).

At this point I stopped buying Android crap.

Personal anecdotal data (Apple devices):

* iPad 2: Still going strong with latest iOS. Granted the OS upgrade has made it very slow but this is only when you are starting apps or in main screen. Once app loads it's OK. Switching between apps is slow. I can't wait for it to die because it is super slow and I hate the low resolution screen but it just keeps on going.

* iPad Mini 2 - Have 2 of those. My favorite. Going strong.

* iPhone 5S - Have 2 of those. Going strong.

I know this is very anecdotal but I haven't had a single Apple device fail or require some tinkering to make it work.

Find the root image for your device on the XDA developers site.

Based upon this post alone I am scared of those phones: http://forum.xda-developers.co...

But I really don't have enough knowledge to know.

under ROMs like CyanogenMod, you can install a very _limited_ google apps selection. For example, you can have basically just the google play store, and that's it. No Hangouts, Gmail, Google app, Chrome, Drive, etc, etc.

Not true. Check Delta Gapps With Modular Addons (All DPI). You're welcome.

From 27 Apr., 2016: "Don't use Dolphin browser in incognito mode" https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/4gnb2b/dont_use_dolphin_browser_in_incognito_mode/ From 25 Oct., 2011: "WARNING: Dolphin's collection of your browsing history": http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1319529

Although I appreciate the citations, citing limitations of a version that is 5 years old is kind of like complaining about an unpatched issue in Windows XP.

Dolphin stopped forwarding URLs five versions ago. And that "play history" file doesn't even exist on my version.

In other words, I will continue to use Dolphin. It's limitations are minor compared to Chrome/Google tracking and Firefox/Mozilla change-the-best-browser-out-there-into-Chromeshit.

From 27 Apr., 2016: "Don't use Dolphin browser in incognito mode" https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/4gnb2b/dont_use_dolphin_browser_in_incognito_mode/ From 25 Oct., 2011: "WARNING: Dolphin's collection of your browsing history": http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1319529

+1 for XPosed/XPrivacy. These can be used to fine-tune all permissions for every application.

I personally use safestrap, so I still have the stock OEM OS on there too. A custom ROM or the OEM one can be switched between at reboot.

See this forum for more info.

I'm advising anyone of importance to contact me through other channels. I have Tinfoil forced to desktop mode so I can see anything sent to me.

I had pondered forcibly enabling messenger in the Facebook APK (for Android), but I really don't want to rely on Facebook corporate anymore. I need to move away from their network.

I've never advised anyone to load fb-messenger, and I never will.

I bought Tasker. Doesn't work on iOS.

http://www.appszoom.com/androi...

Some also use it with other apps:
http://www.androidauthority.co...
http://www.xda-developers.com/...

To me Tasker is one of the few apps that can make smartphones smarter...

XPrivacy

XPrivacy can prevent applications from leaking privacy sensitive data. XPrivacy can restrict the categories of data an application can access. This is done by feeding an application with no or fake data. There are several data categories which can be restricted, for example contacts or location. For example, if you restrict access to contacts for an application, this will result in sending an empty contact list to the application. Similarly, restricting an application's access to your location will result in a set location being sent to the application.

It's pretty powerful, but does take some configuration before it stops breaking stuff, and the default configuration is not secure.

We really need a third option "Allow, Deny, Emulate" so the app even THINKS it has the mic access but just gets silence sent to it

This already exists in the form of XPrivacy:

XPrivacy can prevent applications from leaking privacy-sensitive data by restricting the categories of data an application can access. XPrivacy feeds applications fake data or no data at all. It can restrict several data categories, such as contacts or location. For example, if you restrict an application's access to contacts, that application will receive an empty contacts list (don't try this with the contacts application itself without a backup). Similarly, restricting an application's access to your location will send a fake location to that application.

Unfortunately, you have to root your phone for it to work. But in return, you can control your permissions as generally or specifically as you want, and for e.g. the location data, you can manually choose whether you want randomized coordinates, fixed coordinates, etc.

Sadly it depends on the model. I had Kindle Fire HDX 7 3rd gen. First step was downgrading OS to original version I found on the web and rooting it (updated version did not have a working exploit). Then I was able to install Safestrap and finally a build of cyanogenmod from xda-developer.

Original source here: http://forum.xda-developers.co...

Long story short, others have not had this problem after submersion and others claim to have had it with cheap cables. The OP seems fairly clueless and didn't do any proper testing.

Works fine on my N6p:
[OFFICIAL] Xposed for Lollipop/Marshmallow [Android 5.0/5.1/6.0, v79, 2015/12/17]

XPrivacy

I don't think the pages linked in the GP have been updated recently.

Works fine on my N6p:
[OFFICIAL] Xposed for Lollipop/Marshmallow [Android 5.0/5.1/6.0, v79, 2015/12/17]

XPrivacy

I don't think the pages linked in the GP have been updated recently.

To clarify, the newest Nexus phone that is stuck on 4.x is the Galaxy nexus, which is over 4 years old. Is that what you're complaining about?

If so, you need to remember that it's only "stuck" if you insist on running a factory image; there are plenty of Lollipop and Marshmallow ROMs to choose from.

Nope. See the real press release.

Android has come with emojis as a system resource since 4.1

My phone has been stuck on 4.0.4 for years and will be stuck there forever, you insensitive so-and-so. Android - ya want a new windshield wiper, ya gotta buy a new model car.

http://forum.xda-developers.co...

Fixed that for you. Android -- ya want a new windshield wiper, ya gotta install it yourself. But at least it's open and free.

i gave up on gapps

Have you tried TK Gapps? It's the direct successor to PA Gapps. I run Cyanogenmod with TK Gapps' "Pico Modular Package" and I'm quite pleased with it:

"This package is designed for users who want the absolute minimum GApps installation available.
In this package you will find the core Google system base, Google Play Store, Google Calendar Sync, and the following Play Store application: Google Play services"

(my emphasis)

I believe the grandparent wanted to avoid tracking and that it's exactly Google Play Services which delivers this. The question is how do you run basic google applications without having the tracking. It seems that the only way is to activate everything Google and then turn off tracking settings. At this point Google will pinkie promise not to track you since their buddies in the NSA and GCHQ will do that directly themselves.

i gave up on gapps

Have you tried TK Gapps? It's the direct successor to PA Gapps. I run Cyanogenmod with TK Gapps' "Pico Modular Package" and I'm quite pleased with it:

"This package is designed for users who want the absolute minimum GApps installation available.
In this package you will find the core Google system base, Google Play Store, Google Calendar Sync, and the following Play Store application: Google Play services"

(my emphasis)

I believe the grandparent wanted to avoid tracking and that it's exactly Google Play Services which delivers this. The question is how do you run basic google applications without having the tracking. It seems that the only way is to activate everything Google and then turn off tracking settings. At this point Google will pinkie promise not to track you since their buddies in the NSA and GCHQ will do that directly themselves.