Now all Android devices have integrated the Google applications. Only Huawei, due to the US ban wanted by former President Trump, has had major problems as Google services have been eliminated from its smartphones. But there are those who prefer not to use the services of Big G for various reasons: the company holds the monopoly and this, ethically, if there is a free market, it is not fair; also there are many users who poorly digest the speech privacy and it is now known that the company tracks our data. In short, you can use one nowadays Android smartphone without Google? Yes, it is smartphone / and / he is among the first, if not the first, to be born without his services. Let's see the details.
Here is / e /, the first smartphone born without Google services that works as it should, even if the name will not play much in favor of its fame
But thankfully, how is it possible to make an Android smartphone work without Google services? According to reports from The Register, all this is reality thanks to /and / Foundation, a company that has been trying for years de-monopolize the smartphone market from the clutches of the Mountain View giant. Gaël Duval, CEO of the company, was interviewed by the newspaper and revealed several details about this smartphone.
First of all we need to anticipate one thing: it is not a "proprietary" smartphone in the sense that the construction was not carried out by / e / Foundation. Specifically, the device is a 3 Fairphone, the famous ecological device that unfortunately costs a fortune. The two companies have wanted to collaborate since they share a fairly noble ethic: if it is true that the market is free, why should we continue to rely (obligatorily) on Google? Are there alternatives? And if they don't exist, why not create them?
But let's get to the highlight of the news. As soon as The Register opened and used the smartphone remained pleasantly surprise for two reasons:
- no prompts for pre-installed accounts, passwords and crapware;
- There are no pre-installed applications such as Facebook, Messenger, Spotify, Apple Music, WhatsApp, Microsoft Outlook, Excel, Word, Google Maps and many others. This undoubtedly allows a free but above all fluid bloatware experience;
As noted, ccreating such a device from scratch is not at all easy. The example is given by Microsoft with its own Windows Phones: propose a alternative ecosystem it's not easy when the largest company in the world has been working for years to create a practically perfect (but addicting) one.
How did the idea of / and / and how does it work?
As mentioned above, the idea comes from willingness to disengage from Google and its services which are always pre-installed. So it was decided to create an alternative "We are doing a mirror [of the Play Store] for all the most important applications“Duval reported. "We are using a service called Cleanapk”Cleanapk is one Android package repository (APK), which in turn draws from an open source catalog called F-Droid. Clean apk evaluates applications based on the privacy of each package using a tool called Exodus Privacy Analysis. From what we have learned, for example, Candy Crush Jelly Saga scores 0 out of 10, as does Outlook, Spotify, and many other well-known apps based on required permissions and / or trackers detected.
How is the Google Play Store system bypassed?
The operating system is a fork of Lineage OS which uses the open source part of Android, AOSP. You can find the code (s) / OS , promising . Use a project called microG which re-implements Android's proprietary apps and libraries.
While in commercial Android, services like location and notifications go through Google by default, "with MicroG we can connect any other alternative service“Duval said. "This makes / e / OS very compatible with most Android applications". According to the company's CEO this is the best way to break free from the Google monopoly and it is the best way to create mobile applications.
Is all this legal?
The answer was a bit veiled, but basically it's not all that transparent. But Duval claimed it is better take small legal risk with several publishersrather than a big risk by going directly to the Google Play Store. He further added:
We don't gain anything from this. If a publisher is not happy that their applications are in our store, they tell us and we remove the application.
But now the question arises. Will Fairphone use this new / and / OS on their devices? Certainly No. as previously agreements have been signed with Google, very stringent agreements. Despite this, the collaboration continues and is bearing fruit. The goal of the company / and / Foundation is, in the future, to find a similar alternative but also for iOS.
Conclusions? Is this smartphone worth it? Not at all. These are the main problems:
| Pro | Cons |
| Only those who care about their privacy and do not need a performing device can think of this purchase. But how many people really care? | - If a user has problems, he is basically alone, both on the software and hardware side: there are no assistance centers and the company's staff has less than 60 people; - This is not a performing device, which everyone is looking for nowadays; - There are no feature rich applications as not all of them are available for porting |
Source | The Register
