Greetings, Android aficionados! 📱👋

Today, let’s take a moment to get to know each other better. We’d love to know:

  • Which Android devices are you currently using?
  • What do you love most about them?
  • What do you dislike?

Whether you’re rocking the latest flagship or cherishing a reliable budget device, we want to hear about your experiences. Share the brand, model, and any standout features that make your phone shine. Who knows, you might inspire someone to discover their next Android companion! 🌟💬

Remember, let’s keep the conversation friendly and inclusive. Everyone’s perspective is valuable, no matter the device they use. We’re here to celebrate the diversity within the Android ecosystem and learn from each other.

  • @dufferEnglish
    2•1 year ago

    What things are you missing from old Android versions?

    I had a realisation recently that I haven’t had the requirement to root and customise my FP4. I don’t have a terminal app and I’ve probably forgotten the majority of the ADB commands I used to use!

    Maybe I’m just being assimilated into the Google/android eco-system.

    • 𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒏English
      3•1 year ago

      Most users don’t need to root their device TBH, the stock experience is perfectly fine for the overwhelming majority of people. The ecosystem generally works too, but I personally don’t really want to depend on it, given Google’s track record of shelving good products, and some of their behaviors I find intrusive.

      My few main complaints would be…

      • Apps can no longer be moved to an SD card easily
      • The changes made to the file storage API has made accessing SD card data much slower, so things like map apps and games take much longer to load if they have stored their data there (FP3 is 64GB, installed a 512GB sd card, so most apps tend to use the SD card if I haven’t manually)
      • Developers disabling ADB backups for their apps, making it difficult to migrate apps and data to a new device using something like Helium Backup (Google’s cloud-based solution works, but only transfers data for apps that save them to Google’s cloud. For all other apps just the application itself is transferred)
      • Call recording is no longer a thing, only system-level apps can do that now (root required)
      • Google moving my photos to the new device without asking first - I find it kind of creepy TBH, especially when the previous device doesn’t have Google Photos or save photos to Google’s cloud. On older Android versions this wasn’t a thing
      • Some changes were made in Android 12/13 to fingerprint scanner requirements, and sadly it is no longer possible to authenticate into most banking apps on the FP3 after updating the OS. This change will likely affect all FP owners in the future, as Google’s certification prevents the scanner from being used in secure contexts after its manufacturer drops support

      By rooting, I have…

      • Scheduled backups to the SD card, allowing me to rollback an app+data if an update breaks something (this has saved me a few times already 😅)
      • Slowed down my fast charge speed from 13W to around 2.5W, I still boost it back up if I’m in a hurry
      • Charging stops at 91% (Most phones have this in the settings, however the FP3 doesn’t)
      • Syncthing uses root access to get around some limitations (I forgot what these are exactly, I think it’s the ability to watch the SD card for file changes)
      • Disabled/removed google apps that I don’t want (root not needed, this can also be done over ADB)
      • Disabled location access for the remaining Google apps… until they force-pushed a Play Services update to hard reboot the device when you do this
      • A few more things that I can’t recall at the mo. Generally I don’t interact with root functionality on a daily basis, it’s handled in the background by the apps that use it