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Android 17 is the first since 3.x to add new APIs without releasing to the AOSP

1180 points · 723 comments · theanonymousone

  1. ahmd-sh · · focus · HN ↗
    i despise where Google is going with this. it's a duopoly in the smartphone OS space and we need (for lack of a better analogy, spare the technicals) open-source distros like we have with Linux on desktop.

    Graphene is reaching that status for me every day and i'm looking forward to switching to it as my daily driver.

    1. pojntfx · · focus · HN ↗
      GrapheneOS is pretty neat, <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;postmarketos.org&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;postmarketos.org&#x2F; is also pretty damn polished out of the box these days. I&#x27;d argue the &quot;mobile desktop Linux systems&quot; are actually a bit more polished than Graphene, esp. when it comes to default apps (no AOSP abandonware dialer, contacts etc. apps to fight with, it&#x27;s all just maintained, responsive GNOME&#x2F;KDE apps)
      1. cobertos · · focus · HN ↗
        I tried getting it to run on a Pixel 3a and struggled for hours, eventually gave up (albeit I tried running it with Wayland and Niri which seems less tried-and-true).
        1. grapheneos · · focus · HN ↗
          GrapheneOS provides drastically better usability, robustness, overall functional and app compatibility. Privacy and security are also drastically better in AOSP and especially GrapheneOS than that desktop Linux software stack ported to mobile.

          All of the default apps in GrapheneOS are being rapidly overhauled or replaced. It wasn&#x27;t a priority due to the incredibly good open source app ecosystem with many existing alternatives available. There isn&#x27;t a similarly large and high quality open source mobile app ecosystem available for what&#x27;s being promoted.

          Pixel 3a will lack firmware updates regardless of what you put on it. Having serious unpatched vulnerabilities for radios and other firmware is considered acceptable for desktop operating systems but definitely not by us.

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