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So FairPhone are launching the 5th version of their phone and right there on the page (which I won’t link to):
“All of your favorite Google Apps will be right there with you.”
Nothing like a good bit of fair trade, environmentally-friendly surveillance capitalism, eh?
(I spoke with them when they were just starting out. They fully know and understand what #Google’s business model is. They fully understand what #SurveillanceCapitalism is. This is not an oversight; it’s strategy.)
And please do not enter my mentions with “but you can install a different operating system on it.”
Statistically speaking, no one does that.
No one buys a car and changes the engine except for car geeks.
(Not to mention the legitimacy an organisation with the stated goals of Waag/FairPhone gives to surveillance capitalism by endorsing Google… I mean, that’s something special that money can’t buy.)
@aral Mira que iba a comprarme un #FairPhone pronto, ya no lo compro, maldita sea.
@aral As a FP user, I feel like I'm also to blame for keeping the Google apps on there. I could install other stuff, but won't because it's too big of a hassle.
As for why they don't do it themselves, I guess it's because replacing Google's polished (but privacy-invading) apps is hard. How much business would they lose if they shipped an OS with UX that's 50% worse?
@aral It probably sounds like I'm looking down on the open source alternatives, but you know, pouring lots of money into UX makes a huge difference whether I/we like it or not. Hell, Google Android UX sucks compared to Apple's versions.
@mikamtb It shouldn’t be about the business. They’re not Samsung.
(And it’s not your fault. You’re lucky you have the technical knowhow to do that if you wanted to and even you don’t have the time to do so without devoting your self to it to keep the custom OS secure and updated and, and, and…) :)
@aral I wish it wasn't about the business, but they have to sell phones or they won't exist much longer.
I hate capitalism as much as your average leftie, but it's hard to impart change in the hardware world without having to play by its rules.
Murena phones run /e/os, a degoogled version of Android.
No idea if it's a better experience than Lineage MicroG on Fairphones which, speaking from experience on Fairphone 2 and 3, is a hassle even after installation.
@aral @mikamtb Even if you do have the know-how, it's easy to brick a phone when you try to install another OS on it. Happened to e when we tried to install LineageOS on an ASUS phone. We ended up having to install the recovery program into the boot partition, because the manufacturer had blocked the recovery partition.
This means that for every update, you have to flash the boot partition with the recovery program. This is not usable.
Normal people will not touch this with a barge pole.
@aral yes would be better without the Google Apps and then during the boot or so you can flash them if you want. But that would have to be really easy or they would have to replace with some replacements and run the services for their users.
Sad that there is alternatives, but none are really easy like the stuff from the iUniverse (and not even close to G-Products).
@aral You can buy the FP4 with a different operating system: https://murena.com/shop/smartphones/brand-new/murena-fairphone-4-eu/ I know that Fairphone cooperates with /e/, while other manufacturers make it hard to build alternative ROMs on purpose. But I agree with you, they should sell it with /e/ themselves.
@sossalemaire @aral The FP5 is already available on murena : https://murena.com/shop/smartphones/brand-new/murena-fairphone-5-fr/
@sossalemaire @aral Perhaps they should provide that option for us privacy-conscious geeks. But realistically speaking, their organization probably isn't big enough to handle all the returns and support calls when this-or-that app doesn't run the way it does on stock Android.
@sossalemaire Guess they can't do that themselves. It's part of the Google certification I've heard that you're only allowed to sell the certified device with the certified crap then. @aral
@IzzyOnDroid @sossalemaire @aral yeah also heard that, they are not allowed to do that. AFAIK. So ask your local politicians to disallow such contracts.
@IzzyOnDroid
That's my guess too.
@aral
@aral
The landscape is grim and thats a real shame.
I searched around and the best I could do is still use Google hardware but use grapheneOS, which has a bunch of refreshing places where they actively design stuff to limit Google. It sucks that as you say its not accessible to pretty much everyone. Doing any meaningful degoogling is an unbelievably time and labor intensive process (that has taken me a year and counting of concerted shifting). Idk what it takes to run a cell manufacturing company but goddamn it if it takes allegiance to Google, I thought they were gonna be the Good Ones.
We have to make these systems for each other, no way we can just individually work our way out of surveillance capitalism.
@aral Fairphone 5 is available from Murena with e/OS pre-installed since day one. There's no need to install it yourself when you can just buy the phone with it.
@aral TIL: I am an outlier and should not be counted!
Statistically speaking, no one does that.
But that's also because statistically speaking, everybody wants their Google apps. Those who don't, are a lot more likely to install their own OS.
Don't forget that their primary mission is to clean up supply chains. And if they keep their phone only for a tiny niche, they would be choosing to have little to no impact. They want to show that a responsible phone can be a good and popular phone.
@aral If you're not a geek, you won't survive on Android with no Google apps.
They make an effort to provide more environmentally friendly products, but ultimately there is no ethical consumption under capitalism.