Possible new plans (because I actually found out why I hate smartphones)

[Smithfield]

Honestly, I remember being pissed at smartphones for so long, and at first it was because of the fact that I thought they should only be a decade behind mid-range gaming laptops, and yet their game library sucks. I now learned something different after forcing myself to daily drive an HTC ONE M8, which I initially bought as a way to justify smartphones having a crap gaming library, and that was to buy a phone that is hardware incapable of any form of modern gaming and being weaker than the Switch, so it would justify me not getting good games. That ultimately wasn't it. I actually found the real reason I hated smartphones, and it was actually because Android 9 and above are the very downfall of Android.

 

You see, back when Android was using the first incarnation of Material Design, now retroactively named Material 1, Android was actually very good. It had everything that other mobile OSes did not have. It had widgets, emulators (to make gaming even possible), customization, file system access, IR blasters (certain devices only), call recording, and I think I missed something. Unfortunately, modern smartphones running Android are now missing everything except emulators, but restricting file system access actually also restricts emulators too, now making Android devices worthless. No wonder people now want to switch from Android. Remember the good old days when people switched to Android? Technically, most of those things are more of a device maker/hardware problem than with Android itself, but still, Android phones are getting worse, and it is clear that the Golden Age of Android is long over. A lot of this all started with Android 9 restricting call recording, making it near impossible.

 

However, while Android sucks now, for the longest time, I actually had a really hard time finding any decent alternative. iOS is still out, because I really, really hate Apple. GameOS on PSP isn't even able to connect to a cellular network, and its successor, whatever the PlayStation Vita's OS is called, only supports 3G, which is now pretty much completely gone from all carriers. Really, my only option was to use old Android. However, there is a problem with that, old Android has a limit to how long it is usable. Currently, I am using Android 7.1 on my HTC ONE M8, but soon, that will not usable as app developers are planning on either going 64-bit-only or require Android 8.0 or later. So I came up with four options for how I can keep using smartphones like everyone else:

1. Screw connectivity, just use old Android no matter how well it is supported! Hell, even use Android 4.0 just as a big middle finger to modern Android. Lose support for so many games and apps, not that I play any online games, so it will mostly be Ren'py games and a few other offline games that do not work. Lots of internet-connected utilities like Google Play Services, Discord, and web browsers will either not work or have problems.
2. Switch to Mobian with Plasma Mobile, a mobile OS that just seems too good to be true, so it naturally basically only supports the OnePlus 6/6T. Other devices it supports use lower-end hardware, so I will basically be forced to use the OnePlus 6/6T.
3. Buy a cellular laptop! Great, how do I even find one?
4. Screw cell phones entirely! I should just convince my family I do not want one or need one. I will do everything on my laptop (or at home on a desktop PC).

That is my ultimatum! No more modern Android, I am sick of it! And no iOS!

 

And while we are at it, can I get an exhaustive list of everything normies do on their smartphones?

Edited November 26, 2023 by Smithfield
added another question

[OhioYJ]

Wait how is your file system restricted? It's Android, you can have root access? I write to the system directory all the time. I use emulators on my phone / tablet?

[Eigenvektor]

6 minutes ago, Smithfield said:

And while we are at it, can I get an exhaustive list of everything normies do on their smartphones?

Browse the web. Send and receive messages.

[Smithfield]

1 hour ago, OhioYJ said:

Wait how is your file system restricted? It's Android, you can have root access? I write to the system directory all the time. I use emulators on my phone / tablet?

Really only two words introduced with Android 10, scoped storage. That is how file system is restricted and why Android is now so hard to use.

[OhioYJ]

20 minutes ago, Smithfield said:

Really only two words introduced with Android 10, scoped storage. That is how file system is restricted and why Android is now so hard to use.

Again, root will allow you to work around this. However, under normal circumstances, I'm not sure why this is a big deal. Apps just need permission to access files?  You wouldn't normally store say emulation ROMs on a system partition? What am I missing?

 

There is the AOSP you can change what you don't like?

[Smithfield]

31 minutes ago, OhioYJ said:

Again, root will allow you to work around this. However, under normal circumstances, I'm not sure why this is a big deal. Apps just need permission to access files?  You wouldn't normally store say emulation ROMs on a system partition? What am I missing?

 

There is the AOSP you can change what you don't like?

There used to be shared storage that all applications could freely access. Now scoped storage caused a bunch of apps to not work because there is no freely accessible shared storage.

[NavyCobra1417]

On 11/26/2023 at 9:32 AM, Eigenvektor said:

Browse the web. Send and receive messages.

Don't forget 11 hours of TikTok a day...

[Smithfield]

It seems I am going to need to make a thread specifically just to ask about what normies do on their smartphones. All I know is that it has nothing to do with using fastboot to flash a different Android or even non-Android system.

[NavyCobra1417]

6 hours ago, Smithfield said:

It seems I am going to need to make a thread specifically just to ask about what normies do on their smartphones. All I know is that it has nothing to do with using fastboot to flash a different Android or even non-Android system.

It's pretty simple: social media, messaging, photos, banking, web browsing, video consumption, micro transaction idle games, to name a few.

 

For "normies", I think the most adventurous things they try to use their phone for are occasional work/productivity applications (i.e., excel/sheets), or the occasional GBA emulator. 

 

I'm not sure if you need a whole thread to figure the average user does messaging and web browsing on their phones lol

[E-waste]

@Smithfield

 So what is the issue?  Why is "scoped storage" or rather what is, and why is it causing you frustration?

 

Are you aware of

 

https://lineageOS.org

 

https://xdaforums.com

 

and that ALL yes I mean all, Sony Xperia devices even tablets, ALL have unlockable bootloaders?  Would that help?

 

So why is this scoped storage an issue?  Just choose a directory for selecting a file, why is this all of a sudden an issue?  I have a device with android oreo still in operation, locked bootloader, and a device with a new build of lineageOS to compare how storage works if needed.

[Smithfield]

3 hours ago, E-waste said:

@Smithfield

 So what is the issue?  Why is "scoped storage" or rather what is, and why is it causing you frustration?

 

Are you aware of

 

https://lineageOS.org

 

https://xdaforums.com

 

and that ALL yes I mean all, Sony Xperia devices even tablets, ALL have unlockable bootloaders?  Would that help?

 

So why is this scoped storage an issue?  Just choose a directory for selecting a file, why is this all of a sudden an issue?  I have a device with android oreo still in operation, locked bootloader, and a device with a new build of lineageOS to compare how storage works if needed.

I seem to have found a fix for it. What scoped storage is causing issues with is simply put, we just don't have full access to /sdcard anymore. Certain app private folders are not usually writable, which causes issues with AetherSX2 as most PCSX2 stuff like cheats, memory cards, etc. are stored there! Trying to install no-interlacing patched becomes even more difficult. I found out that a file manager needs to be granted permission to install unknown apps before you can just write to /sdcard/Android/data now. You are not prompted to do this, either, which resulted in users not knowing why they cannot write these app private folders. Honestly, app "private" folders were a mistake to begin with. Also, legacy filesystem access now has to be done through FUSE, which reduces storage performance so much that older 2018 flagships running Android 9 can actually outperform 2023 flagships in file operation speeds, even if the 2023 flagships used a faster flash.

 

So anyway, see this thread for how I may have solved it: https://linustechtips.com/topic/1545235-magisk-module-to-basically-make-scoped-storage-history/