"google-free" android?

wambacher · 2012-03-26 15:22:14

hi,

is someone using that kind of software?

https://fsfe.org/campaigns/android/liberate.en.html

with osm-apps of course?

regards
walter

SammysHP · 2012-03-26 17:10:20

Funny. Android is Google. You can't use Android without it (maybe without some additional Google apps, but the whole framework is from Google).

wambacher · 2012-03-26 23:17:23

.

Last edited by wambacher (2012-03-26 23:21:45)

honhee · 2012-04-25 01:04:56

I am not quite sure it would even be possible to port something on Android without any hints of google in it.

For starters, Android is Google in ints entirety and taking away that Google part of it would mean taking away its rightful base framework altogether.

So with this, I am not quite sure this would be possible or they would just start and mask the Google component with something similar.

Mailerdeamon · 2012-08-02 21:38:53

yes and no..

surely android is written by google, there is nothing wrong with it.
The operating system is "not evil".

Its also not the intention of that people to remove all parts google has written (by the way android is not just google, but
also linux - the operating system kernel is linux).

The intention is to "free" your phone and give you the whole power about it.

Its like the matrix.. you could take the one pilll and stay in wonderland or you take the other one and they will show you
how deep the rabbit whole goes

Clearly spoken there are two main disadvantages with the phone as you bought it:

- its branded - some google and vendor specific software is even not deinstallable
- you don't have full access to the operating system, file-system and system components

Whats wrong with this?

You don't know what this pre-installed software does and its consuming memory and cpu power (if its a service) even if you don't use them.
These resources are very limited on mobile phones, but you can't deinstall them.
Even if you are using them you don't know exactly what they are doing and which additional information they are collecting.

The problem with the shrinked access is that you aren't able to do everything you might want to do, for example as developer
or power user or hacker.
It is for example not possible to trace which data are sent from your device into the internet - what might be interesting
if you want to know what your apps do.
Its also like that that in some components of the system there are some "evil" functions - for example if you activate
location you google the permission to collect these information.

So the point of it is just to give you allpossibilities you could have - when you buy the phone they just allow you to use
the phone in the way the mean it you to use.

The website you are linking is listing some things you could do to make you less depending on google, and your phone vendor.
So you could put a different ROM (a different distribution without vendor-branding) to your phone which will allow you
to decide which applications ofwhom you want to install and which you want to deinstall - independend of what your
phone vendor wants or google wants.
Additionally some data-collecting functions which are in the "normal" android system - like the one when you activate GPS -
will be stripped away.
Also you will have root access,so you could access the whole file-system,all components of the system and so on.
You will be furthermore able to remove permissions from apps to do some things, even if they request those permissions.

Beside this they provide with fdroid a alternative to gooleplay/google market.

In the end you will loose your guarantee for your device, have some work, maybe brake your phone, but you could get
more freedom and the awarness that you have the control about your phone.

Mailerdeamon · 2012-08-02 21:43:25

By the way surely you could add applications to android devices without the "help" of google.

There are alternative app stores such as fdroid and you could also install them manually by simply downloading the .apk-package of the app you want and click it afterwards.

Even if you use a customized ROM (a "alternative" android) its possible to still use google Play/google Market - googles App Store.
Because also a custom ROM is still android - the market is just a application running on it.

Mailerdeamon · 2012-08-02 21:47:39

I am using it with osmtracker currently and its working as the orginal android system.

The only difference is that there is more RAM available at the phone after installing CyanogenMod, I assume because some HTC-services are not running in background anymore...

This was in my case positive, because osmtracker crashed many times before - I assume because there was no free memory anymore

wyo · 2012-08-03 10:18:18

wambacher wrote:

https://fsfe.org/campaigns/android/liberate.en.html

I've considered to use it once myself, yet synchronizing data is a kill argument and none of the listed solution is IMO sensible. Maybe MyPhoneExplorer is usable, but I don't know for sure. Unfortunatly MyPhoneExplorer isn't listed on this libberate site as free software. So as long as there isn't any sensible synchronisation, Google is the only way to go.

Sanderd17 · 2012-08-14 15:21:56

I once tried to de-Google and freed my Android.

Cyanogen isn't completely free (they added their own proprietary apps), I went for pure AOSP. There were free mail apps, free calendar apps, free markets, in fact everything you need (and off coarse map apps supported with OSM data). (Once you have AOSP, it's easy to get every reference to google out of the OS, as you have the full source code).

Btw, I just did this to test. I use a lot of Google services, but I only use services and programs I can replace (either by another service, or a fork of the program). Since the test succeeded (I was able to do everything I needed, only games were missing), I put everything back to the original.

And I do not agree with the "Android = Google" claim. Android is a toolchain, and the recipe comes from Google. They use the Linux kernel, Gnu tools and a rebranded Java compiler/VM. Google did make it popular and created a lot of apps with that toolchain (some open, like the launcher or the phone app, others closed like maps or the market). If you've deleted the closed apps, you have freed yourself from Google.

Falosio · 2012-10-18 12:48:48

I guess you could uninstall most of the apps, like google plus, but you can't get rid of all of it, because as said before Android = Google

wambacher · 2012-10-25 11:03:21

Sanderd17 wrote:

Since the test succeeded (I was able to do everything I needed, only games were missing), I put everything back to the original.

Hi,

there is one more question about modding: How can i save the initial firmware (rom)?
I don't need the full description how to do it (may be it depends on the type of device and/or manufacturer) but i just want to know the basic-concept of saving the original firmware BEFORE upgrading to a modified one. Even before BUYING an Android-Device.

at the moment i'm thinking about 2 ways:
a) saving the firmware with an utility, which i dont't know yet
b) dowloading the original Firmware from the manufacturer

Any Hints?

regards
walter

btw: i'm planning to get a used Samsung Galaxy Tab2 7.0 and upgrade to cyanogen9 or even 10

Last edited by wambacher (2012-10-29 19:40:29)

Cobra · 2012-10-25 12:30:22

You can download the factory images for all Google Nexus devices here: https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images

saimgee · 2013-03-23 09:20:47

Your idea is so good but i never try to use this type of apps. I will be try to use this.

OpenStreetMap Forum

#1 2012-03-26 15:22:14

"google-free" android?

#2 2012-03-26 17:10:20

Re: "google-free" android?

#3 2012-03-26 23:17:23

Re: "google-free" android?

#4 2012-04-25 01:04:56

Re: "google-free" android?

#5 2012-08-02 21:38:53

Re: "google-free" android?

#6 2012-08-02 21:43:25

Re: "google-free" android?

#7 2012-08-02 21:47:39

Re: "google-free" android?

#8 2012-08-03 10:18:18

Re: "google-free" android?

#9 2012-08-14 15:21:56

Re: "google-free" android?

#10 2012-10-18 12:48:48

Re: "google-free" android?

#11 2012-10-25 11:03:21

Re: "google-free" android?

#12 2012-10-25 12:30:22

Re: "google-free" android?

#13 2013-03-23 09:20:47

Re: "google-free" android?

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