Comment by laktak 2 days ago
I'd love to see a hybrid phone with an embedded stock android for banking, pay and government apps and a regular LinageOS or Linux OS that runs on a separate partition/hw/vm.
Like "gluing" two phones together - just better ;)
It would be great to run an open OS but having to carry a separate phone for banking/paying is not really a viable option.
This is on point and it's sickening what Google is allowed to get away with. Even with the recent crackdowns on Google by various governments, they are steadily locking down Android, so even if you paid for your phone, whatever apps that you want to put on it will need their seal of approval.
The excuse of "security" or "it's for the children" is complete BS, because it's about "them" having unwanted and total control.
I would be happy if any of the big phone makers will starting adopting LineageOS or GrapheneOS as the main operating system for some of their models.
Or just leave the possibility of easy unlock the phone and publish sources.
BQ tried that with Cyanogen (the precursor to Lineage) https://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/bq-aquaris-x5
As did WileyFox - https://www.xda-developers.com/wileyfox-to-issue-update-to-m...
They were both budget brands with niche offerings. For most people, the source of the OS is immaterial. There's very little competitive advantage to selling a forked OS, and a rather large downside in terms of support costs.
I'm mostly happy with my GrapheneOS device - but it is absolutely not suitable for mass market.
> I'm mostly happy with my GrapheneOS device - but it is absolutely not suitable for mass market.
What makes you say that? I run GrapheneOS on a Pixel and had to go through the relative simple flashing process, but if GOS came preinstalled on a device anybody familiar with Android (or even iOS) would be able to use it. Compatibility with Android apps is great too.
Off the top of my head:
Lots of banking apps don't work.
RCS has only just started working.
No "Find My Device" support.
Permissions model is difficult to understand - even I struggle with it.
Standard launcher has tiny icons which can't be adjusted.
Pop on to https://discuss.grapheneos.org/ and see the struggles which users have.
Given that Cyanogenmod was discontinued shortly after the OnePlus One released, it's hard to blame them.
GrapheneOS is partnered with a major Android OEM and working towards some of their future devices meeting our requirements and providing official GrapheneOS support. It won't be the main operating system, but it will be an officially supported option. Their current devices don't meet our requirements, but they're working towards meeting those for future devices.
Lots of them are, in fact. It's not that hard, maybe even easier. What's wrong with the rest of them that require a phone?
Ok, less so NFC, but my bank and all the governments I have to deal with have reasonably functional websites. It's clearly possible.
The only app I use that actually cares is Craigslist of all things. The app doesn't do anything that the mobile website doesn't.
For the love of God, why does McD's of all people require device attestation? I assume it's some downline package they are including?
There's 0 reason why bank/pay/gov apps can't be ran on a regular OS. The goal is to force users into the Google world at the excuse of "security"