And there seems to be no way to buy a "free" smartphone without Google Services and telemetry below $250. Why 250? Because free OS have multiple bugs and issues and it is not rational to pay more than that.
I am considering two options, one, try to clean up and patch the firmware for a cheap smartphone (remove almost everything proprietary including Google Services, Unrusted Execution Environment, except for basic GUI and launcher), or two, port something like Lineage OS to my phone. Also I need to examine the network traffic and scan for potential weak points like SUID binaries. It is scary to think how much time I will have to waste for this.
Also, it is pretty stupid, in my opinion, to make an OS not based on Android, for example, use Qt for GUI, because there will be no apps for it.
It seems like this starting to happen as soon as apps were installable on phones, even iPhones came (and still comes) with a ton of apps you cannot remove regardless of how little you use them. Android, because of the whole OEM story, of course is much worse, but I don't feel like any of what you share is new, been going on for decades at this point.
Just root your Android phone and put a custom ROM like LineageOS etc
If you want a stretch goal try and de-Google yourself, I have tried but failed twice now.
Something funny is up; this doesn't seem deliberate.
That employees cousin probably does social media for Abboud...
You'd be surprised how many websites use Google Tag Manager to allow their marketing department to roll out trackers and other JS snippet directly into the site's root context.
GTM et al's sole reason of existence is to provide marketing people with a way to bypass corporate IT.
And I definitely would not rule out something like this being the cause in the end.
[0] https://www.reddit.com/r/motorola/comments/1s61usi/edge_60_p...
Between these companies pushing adware/spyware and Apple putting Apple Creator Studio ads in former iWork applications, ads for Apple Intelligence in the system settings, and pushing ads for their F1 movie in Apple Wallet, smartphones have reached the mass enshittification phase.
The only safe havens are Pixel with GrapheneOS and Fairphone with I don't know what exactly (Murena sorta has ads for their own stuff and has many other issues, I guess LineageOS then). Perhaps ironically, given the context, Motorola with GrapheneOS too :).
See also: various firmware builds for Moto phones like https://dumps.tadiphone.dev/dumps/motorola/aito/-/tree/user-...
They were a great brand, cool phones, one of early Android players.
After being bought out by Google, Motorola had some of the best devices out there with stock android, especially in the budget segment (and loved among android devs).They had one of the best smartwatches in the game at the time - Moto 360 (2014!!).
Then, after dropping the Nexus 6, Google stripped the patents and sold them to Lenovo. For a while it was ok, even dropping the relatively innovative Moto Z which had all the cool "modular" addons, played with it for a bit and seemed cool.
And then, things seemed to start taking a turn for the worse as Lenovo kept enshitiffying it more and more, using the brand name as a wedge in the market in which they are basically forgotten. They have the Razr brand which is cool, but the segment that was their best (budget phones) is now ruined with adware so they can extract every bit of value from it.
Such a sad ending for a company that was so early in the space.
There are ways. All the apps that install this crap can be disabled through Android's app manager, no fancy method required. (Of course updates can bring them back... But "luckily" Motorola isn't too keen on providing those for their products).
Some examples of the apps to look for:
- App Box
- Games
- MotoApps
- Moto App Manager
- Live lock screen
The active adware apps depends on your region and career. In some region Motorola doesn't push adware at all.
Personally by just disabling those (and similar sounding crap) I've never had adware sneakily installed.
For Moto G or lower tiers Edge I can begrudgingly accept that it's part of the deal... But I would be livid if they did this to my $1500 phone, which is why I refuse to risk getting a razr. Whether you want to fight your phone maker and keep using their product is up to you.
Let's hope that the grapheneos partnership plays off in our favor next year!
Anything in the last few years has the moto app manager that force loads LinkedIn etc.
Due to cheap and cheerful with long lasting battery - I still buy Moto G - but setup offline and disable all these apps using https://github.com/Universal-Debloater-Alliance/universal-an...
Seriously, get a Pixel and install GrapheneOS, or maybe a Fairphone with LineageOS.
The degree to which I don't own my own device is insane.
This was the first and only Xiaomi device I ever bought, no matter how attractive they might seem.
What is next? Our banks selling our payment histories to the highest bidder?
They do it for your own good, so that you get "more opportunity for consumer experiences in stores and online."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Card_transaction_data
https://pirg.org/edfund/resources/how-mastercard-sells-data/
Nothing screams "secure" better than app hijacking and url injections.
Edit: the timer stays even after updates so the app is not enabled again
And then, once they become dominant enough starting to play it like the others but stuffing as many unremovable crap as possible.
Gonna flash a rom on the Xiaomi anyway, but all oems are doing this type of stuff.
Which is a damn shame because not too many options exist with a headphone jack and a Snapdragon processor. I'm in an environment where Bluetooth is unreliable for a good chunk of my day.
The only other tablet that fits my needs is a gosh darn Surface which is like 1000$.
Yeah, not now.
I understand not wanting to give Motorola any money because of this, though.
Initially the project won't change, but it likely will over time.
(I think the misunderstanding is that Motorola would make the GrapheneOS builds.)
You're probably just not willing to believe that a 'partnership' with a massive company will change things, like I do. I am disagreeing, not misunderstanding. There's a difference
Time will tell, but my bet is on the GrapheneOS team doing the right thing, they have always done so in the past.
Replacing the OS is one of the first things I do with every laptop, PC and mobile device to get rid of (most) crap that was installed without my consent.
Very little ability to do that with most devices these days, unfortunately.
I hope motorola collaborates with Pine and brings linux to phones. In the age of LLM apps are obviously not a problem. (Hopefully windows Phone 7, not 8 also comes back)