I was an iOS supporter until iphone 5 then I discovered the beauty and freedom of Android.
To this day with Samsung s22+
But currently I am a bit tired, there is no android phone that I am passionate about, oneplus has given me nothing but problems, Samsung with exynos is a disaster (not to mention the new blockages at sideload and the green stripes on the display), I don’t even want to go near all the other Chinese brands, and Nothing is not what it promised to be.
I want to go back to iOS but there are a few things holding me back:
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how can sideload be managed on iOS? Are there modified apps like youtube, reddit?
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I follow a lot of NSFW channels on telegram, discord and reddit itself, are there any problems on iOS? are there ways around this? (my girlfriend has iOS, and every time I want to forward an nsfw gif she doesn’t see it)
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surf the sea, is it complex on ios? Especially in terms of gaming?
TBH only yt, nsfw and modded apk keep me on android. Thanks a lot in advance
iOS is probably the most locked down option you can pick. The EU even told Malus to open it up and Malus tried to fuck around. Now they might be in for some monetary justice, but that might take a year or two. Emulation was even only recently allowed, but only of old shit like Windows XP.
Android is still the most open, mainstream, phone OS out there. Get yourself a phone that can run a ROM like LineageOS, eOS, FairPhone or (if you want to give Google more money for surveillance) a Pixel to put GrapheneOS on it (easy process, you just need a browser and USB-C cable). That’ll get you more freedom to keep the phone alive longer and optionally become more private (if you can learn to live without Google).
To save money, you don’t even need to buy a new one. Get a refurbished phone. They are often 100-200€ cheaper than new phones and are sometimes as good as new.
iOS will lock you in, give you less options, and cost you loads to boot.
there is no android phone that I am passionate about,
Not what you asked for:
A phone is a tool which should enable you to do stuff. Be passionate about friends, hobbies, art, not a piece of plastic.
Being forced to use iOS (work phone) and Android (Samsung, also work), both suck IMHO but Android sucks less.
My next Android will be a Pixel, as others suggested custom roms are the way to go, but even vanilla Android is more functional/open/practical for my needs than iOS.
I would never buy Apples shit with my own money: Dumped down, locked down and in the end you are renting a device from Apple to pay fees for their Appstore and Cloud offerings and vendor lock in. No thanks.
I will add that, after getting my first Pixel as my previous phone, I’ve found the Google vanilla Android experience is better than Android on other carriers that fill the phone with bloat that you can’t get rid of without rooting.
Sideloading apps on iOS has gotten a lot easier. I use sideloadly. It has to connect to your computer (wirelessly) once a week but does this automatically in the background. I’m still running Apollo, the best Reddit iOS app this way.
I have YT premium through Sri Lanka for $3/mo. Sponsorblock works in safari.
ROM apps like delta are in the App Store now. I have no idea about phone gaming otherwise.
Never ran into any content filtering.
If your gf uses iOS try it out there first and see how you like it.
New iPhones release on a pretty strict schedule each September so even if you don’t want the new model best to wait for older ones to be discounted.
Get a Pixel, install GrapheneOS and you’re done.
I would have gotten a pixel years ago
No expandable storage
The specs are also mediocre
If Samsung is shit now and Google Pixel is a tossup for QA issues, where do to go? OnePlus? Sony Xperia?..ASUS?
OnePlus seems pretty good.
can’t wait for my s22u to die so i can do that
You can wait for a cat to fall into a garbage can or you can push a cat into a garbage can and get it over with.
i would never do that to a cat and i don’t have money for a new one
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Pixel Phone with GrapheneOS is simply the best solution available right now.
Checking in from GrapheneOS
* in the selected list of countries 😿
I got my pixel online before it was officially available in my country. If you can’t find anything locally you can message sellers from other countries on ebay or use a proxy store like this guy link who offers worldwide shipping.
And remember kids. Buy your pixel second hand
Just be careful. OEM lock can fuck you over big time
Uuh. I wouldn’t do it. As far as I know iOS is still pretty locked down and that won’t change.
On mobile you have 4 choices :
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Stock Android, the worst you can get, simply not use it
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iOS, as worst as android but with better UI
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Degoogled Android, good choice, avail able on many devices 👍
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Linux phones, the best but in early development and only available on some devices only
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my girlfriend has iOS, and every time I want to forward an nsfw gif she doesn’t see it
Say what? There’s no content censoring that I’m aware of. I’ve had no issues looking at all kinds of NSFW/NSFL content.
Regardless, you’re likely not going to enjoy the lack of modified apps and game piracy; I don’t do either of those. Maybe it’s possible but you’ve gotta jump through so many hoops IMO it wouldn’t be worth it.
Zero issues with NSFW though, that’s bizarre to me. There’s screen time web content filtering but I believe that only affects safari.
My partner can’t view webp/webm content on ios either. It’s a real pain once in a while.
Yeah but there’s a difference between’doesn’t support webp’ and ‘blocks porn’
Xiaomi. Or poco, redmi… Same stuff. For 200 bucks you get awesome phones and you can usually always remove stock and install LineageOS. They are all freely uockable and still under warranty after that.
Get a model near its end of market life, buy new the oldest you can find… Unlock, install LineageOS, enjoy.
I bought my Poco X3 NFC for 160€ 4 years ago and still rocks today with LineageOS 21 (Android 14).
(It usually take 6 months to 1 year for each new model to get LineageOS support, so don’t buy the latest model Also worth looking if there is official support on LineageOS before buy, or at least some unofficial ports).
Asus Zenfone are nice as well
Can you unlock them easily and still have valid warranty as well? That would be a great point
There are other mobile OSs besides Android and iOS. That being said, iOS is one of the most locked-down restrictive platforms on the planet, and any “freedom” you have now can be taken away in a single update as soon as Apple gets an angry letter from Nintendo or the RIAA or whatever.
This comment has definitely stopped me from wanting to switch to iOS, I can’t do it, if I don’t sail the high seas I don’t feel comfortable, I only spend my money where I have a grain of apparent freedom
Samsung is garbage IMO, and OnePlus has been getting worse for years. Pixels offer the smoothest experience. Nothing phones are really nice too.
Wdym about the gifs? there should be nothing stopping you from sending those on any device.
Sideloading is possible, but there’s more hoops to jump through than on Android. Plus an overall smaller amount of apps available to sideload.
Piracy depends on what you’re pirating. TV/Movie wise you’ll be fine, as well as ROMs for the few emulators iOS has (relative to android). I doubt you’ll have any luck with apps or mobile games.
Long time Samsung user. Get a Pixel 8. Install Obtainium. Use it to install Neo Launcher and 99% of the apps you probably use. Or just switch to GrapheneOS. You will be happy again.
I also found filly changing my layout helps. My daily calendar, task list, and clock are the only things on my first home screen.
Filly? What does that mean in this context?
I think they typoed “fully”
+1 for GrapheneOS
Wait WHAT BLOCKS ON SIDELOADING for Samsung?? I’m not in the loop
Normally it’s blocked by default which is pretty easy to get around (It’s just a setting toggle) but apparently Samsung added a second “safety” autoblocker to a recent update. (Which can also be turned off, so I’m not sure what all the fuss is about, aside from being a mild inconvenience.) https://www.androidauthority.com/enable-sideloading-one-ui-6-1-1-3463446/
Interesting. I don’t like this at all. Remember AT&T tried this with locked phones (or something like that I believe) where unknown sources was completely gone?
Ya it’s not a good look of things to come, but so far it’s not a huge issue (yet).
Ya it’s not a good look of things to come, but so far it’s not a huge issue (yet).
Not a huge deal now, but…I don’t like this move…I don’t like it AT ALL…
Normally I wouldn’t worry about it, Samsung just apes everything Google does. It’s part of their tug of war, basically Samsung is saying “if you ever pull a Huawei on me and disable every Google feature I’ll still have a copy of everything”.
Then again the US market is wierd so I don’t know. You can unlock Sony bootloaders everywhere else without a hitch but they cut a deal with US carriers so they won’t give unlock codes to US models. If Sony did deals like that so can Samsung.
Wait so when if I bought a Sony phone from then directly they wouldn’t fucking let me unlock it??
Just to be clear, I’m talking about bootloader unlock (so you can root it and install custom ROMs) not carrier unlock. Normally Sony offer bootloader unlock codes on their website, but not for US models.
Carrier (network) lock and unlock is done by the carriers, manufacturer doesn’t care.
Oh bootloader was exactly what I was talking about. Would this be the case if I bought it directly?
Yes, sorry. The way you bought it makes no difference. The unlock code is generated on the Sony website based on the IMEI of the first SIM slot. They can tell when it’s the IMEI of an US model and will refuse to give out the code.
You just keep buying the wrong phones, Samsung is shit and the China companies steal all your data. Try Pixel, nothing but good experience with them and if you want another OS there is GrapheneOS for the Pixels. IOS is a closed system and definitely The worst for piracy and privacy, even though they want to sell you their stuff with “privacy” in mind (its better than chines phones though)
Chinese companies steal your data
Try Pixel
lol
Putting GrapheneOS on the Pixel is good advice though
Pixels are arguably the most private android since you only get Google tracking. With other androids you get Google tracking on top of all the other tracking
If there’s tracking it’s not private.
You can basically disable most Google tracking though a good DNS that blocks that traffic.
You can basically disable most Google tracking though a good DNS that blocks that traffic.
So only most but not all. Therefore it’s not private if there’s any tracking. Thus a de-googled version is the only option.
You won’t get rid of google tracking you on Youtube or Gmail, because thats literally part of how it works. If you don’t use Google apps, the Android itself won’t do shit. But that’s basically what de-Googled means so yeah obviously.
You won’t get rid of google tracking you on Youtube or Gmail,
For gmail that’s true (one should use something else anyhow). For youtube you can use an alternative frontend like NewPipe to avoid tracking.
If you care about privacy you should use a trustworthy paid email. They even aren’t that expensive. You can get them as low as 1 € / month.
Ive use sideloaded youtube thats ad free, apollo for reddit to this day, telegram nsfw stickers, chats, everything, i havent pirated games but i wouldnt sideload a pirated game cuz that seems like a recipe for viruses (for android too). Roms and emulators are fine and easy to play now
How are you still using Apollo 👀
Sideloaded it using https://sidestore.io/