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Qualcomm Announces the Snapdragon 855 and Its New Under-display Fingerprint Sensor (techcrunch.com)
Qualcomm announced its new flagship 855 mobile platform today. While the company didn't release all of the details yet, it stressed that the 855 is "the world's first commercial mobile platform supporting multi-gigabit 5G." From a report: The 855 also features a new multi-core AI engine that promises up to 3x better AI performance compared to its previous mobile platform, as well as specialized computer vision silicon for enhanced computational photography (think something akin to Google's Night Light) and video capture. The company also briefly noted that the new platform has been optimized for gaming. The product name for this is "Snapdragon Elite Gaming," but details remain sparse. Qualcomm also continues to bet on AR (or "extended reality" as the company brands it).
Modern Android is Google "apps and services" (spyware) on top of Java (but don't call it Java or else we'll get sued - we wrote a compatible API from scratch and just reused the signatures, OKAY?), on top of Linux on top of shitty Qualcomm SoCs that, for some reason, require a support contract for the OEM / Google / carrier to update the Linux OS or system services running on top of it, jammed into a case with inadequate heatsinks and no way to cool the thing so it overheats and throttles almost instantly.
And if you get an Android device that isn't a Nexus^W Pixel, you ALSO get spyware/bloatware installed by the OEM. And if you get it through your carrier you ALSO get their shit injected too.
Android needs to be scrapped at this point.
1: Ditch the Java approach. I don't care if you don't call it Java. I don't care if your JVM is better than Oracle's / IBM's / whatever. Ditch Java. Run native.
0: Did the last bit above scare you? It should have! Secure your fucking shit and that means isolating processes properly and giving users transparent control over applications! Notice how I labeled this one 0 and not 1?
2a: Tell Qualcomm to fuck off. If their shit doesn't come with 5 years of firmware/driver support for the SoC and various other bits they produce, screw em. Samsung is eager to step forward and will commit to updates if for no other reason than the fact that their phones run their shit (in certain markets). Alternatively, Intel is always desperate for a shot at entering the mobile market, and Google can outright buy almost whatever ARM design / designer it wants.
2b: Tell OEMs to fuck off. Android is already locked down hard and tight (Android is NOT AOSP), and OEMs have to sign away their souls to get the latest version or to market their shit as the first "Android <Stupid Dessert Name>" device or to include the Play Store & Google's apps and services. Tell them they need 5 years of timely security updates or they can fuck right on off to the Kindle Phone landfill. Tell them that all bloatware and modifications have to be fully uninstallable by users.
2c: Tell carriers to fuck off. No preinstalled bloatware at ALL! If a user wants whatever shitty carrier app you're trying to infect them with, let them download it from the store. Also tell carriers to fuck off regarding updates. Updates should come from update.android.com , not the carrier. If OEMs want to provide updates for their specific shit (their app that supports 22 cameras or their butthole scanner or whatever else) let them push it via the store. If they need a lower level firmware/driver update to support that specific shit, let them submit it to Google for review, certification, and inclusion via update.android.com (like WHQL,but actually review them and do so in a timely manner).
3: Give users control. Users should be able to manually install apps, drivers, firmware, and updates from anywehre if they accept the risks. Maybe Google's slow at approving an update for your phone's 22 camera shit. Maybe we're 10 years in the future and update.android.com is dead / incomplete / hostile . Users should be able to flash custom images. Users should be able to get root access. Users should be able to perform a FULL backup and restore with or without root access. Users should not have to look for hacks or exploits to do what they want with their hardware or figure out how to not blow e-fuses. Samsung Knox and Google Safety Net can fuck right off. If I root my phone, I can't use the app for my bank. Yet I can do everything that app does, and more, from the browser by going to my bank's website and logging in.
Don't worry! Fuchsia will save us all!!