Android

After appx. 20 years in the apple eco-system I have decided to move on.

This will take time, i’m thinking 2-5 years.

My first order of business was a tablet. I couldn’t find a viable european tablet so went for a Samsung Tab S10 Ultra which has worked out great. It won me over from my pre-conception that android is somehow more budget, 2nd tier stuff. Its actually a very solid well-designed/built piece of kit in every way an equal to an iPad.

So i’m looking at Fairphone and Nothing right now for a new phone, i’m not in a hurry, I was supposed to upgrade my 14 Pro this autumn and i’m thinking that is still the time line.

Are there other european alternatives that I should be looking at?

Will air pods and apple watches still work in any sort of way with android? I will eventually replace them but both are still quite new.

Any advice from people who has already done this journey?

Pic ridiculous but related.

Hi folks,

After numerous feedback and hundreds of changes, I'm happy to share that my project, Octopi Launcher, is ready for open testing.

Below are some key features, with more to come:

• Foldables support - have totally different layouts on each screen
• (Auto scrolling) widget stacks
• Float/ pin a widget on top of home screens
• Display drawer icons as tiles
• App drawer folders and favorite apps
• Assign a nickname to an app (e.g. searching "ff" can instantly launch Firefox)
• Launch different apps using swipes on an icon
• Icon pack and shortcut support
• Resize individual home screen icons
• Index bar and reachability mode for drawer
• Option to hide status and navigation bars
• Notification badges
• Private space support
• Lock home screen layout
• Haptic effects

Shane has also done a video review on a slightly older version, which gives an idea what this launcher can do.

Have a great day!

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/62370804

A thief flags you down, grabs your phone and makes you unlock it using your thumb.

A cop opens the cop car door, grabs your hand and unlocks your phone, or even easier, face unlock.

Granted, guns and torture are rather effective as well, but is anyone entirely against fingerprint unlocking?

Gmail is adding a "Manage subscription" page on Android that puts all of your email subscriptions in one place with one-click unsubscribe.

Anyone's else having the same problem? Oh, and it's downloading updates to apps and THEN RUNNING THEM IMMEDIATELY. Like, not something I opened.

I'm on Lemmy and I get a message saying: "app has finished downloading and will open in a moment" and then whatever app just updated opens uncalled for!

WTF with this update!

The Google Discover feed is a constantly evolving beast that offers news, updates, and now social media posts right there on your homescreen.

Following last year’s announcement, Google Messages is rolling out Sensitive Content Warnings that blur nude images on Android...

YouTube Music is building upon real-time lyrics (from 2023) by adding the ability to share them in the mobile app.

It is a half baked review, IMO. The author says that despite having 45 W charging, the phone takes 75 mins to charge. Samsung really slows down it's charging speeds post 80%, so testing from 0 to 100 is not a good criterion at all.

Plus, he forgets to mention that Samsung skips on a microSD card for A56 which was present on A55. Though in Samsung's favor, they are offering 6 OS upgrades and I doubt any other OEM except Google matches it.

This is a regional release from the brand apparently for Nigerian market only which explains the fact that despite having decent specs( things like 90W charging, 8 GB RAM and 144 Hz high PWM dimming display), it is a 4G phone only.

Though it is gimmicky in some respects. It has a SpO2 sensor apparently built into the back but skips out on basic things like micro SD or 3.5 mm jack (but hey, they do give free USB C headphones; now I can switch from Sennheiser's IE 600 to an upgraded variant :p).

There's a lot to choose from. I use KeepassDX. Wondering about the others.

On average, Google updates Android’s Calculator app once a year, and version 8.7 in 2025 makes just one straightforward change.

(when you hit the recents button) I can't believe they actually restored a feature that they'd removed by accident during an update this is wild. how long has it been back? how many years did it take them to accomplish this

I'm looking for a midrange android tablet, exclusively for taking notes with a stylus in Obsidian. It doesn't need to be powerful, but just take good notes. The ideal size is anything 11'' and under. I would also appreciate if it isn't too bloated, and behaves similar to stock android. I have looked mostly into the Pixel Tablet as well as the Lenovo M11, P11 and K11. Other suggestions are welcome.

For some users, the Google Search app on Android is sending out a new style of Weather forecast notifications...

Hello everyone, some time ago I broke the screen of my Pixel 5. I brought it to a repair store, which replaced it, but apparently they did a bad job because since then the proximity sensor started to misbehave (it was working even with the broken screen, unfortunately they refuse to acknowledge that and won't repair it for free, and it costs too much to repair it again).

Well, this sensor is driving me crazy. It works kind of good for calls, but it's almost impossible to play voice messages: the screen continuously flashes, turns on/off every second because of the sensor, and voice messages constantly stops, restart, switch from speaker to ear speaker... it's incredibly frustrating. For some reason Telegram and Signal work good, but on whatsapp and other IMs, it's almost impossible to listen to voice messages without going mad.

I have a Pixel 5 running Andoird 14 (stock, non rooted), and I'm looking for a way to disable the proximity sensor just for one app, or entirely. Searching for a solution on the internet, I've found this 2020 reddit thread describing an Android 11 option to disable all sensors entirely, but apparently it got removed because I cannot find it, or the quick setting tile the post is talking about (it would be a perfect solution!)

I'm sure there's some root/magisk app ops solution that can help, but I would have to root the phone or install a custom firmware, but I'm trying to find a solution that doesn't require that. Unfortunately I have apps that require perfect device integrity and right now I'm stuck on stock android. Any tip on how to solve this?

Why does Google Play Protect stop me from sideloading apks (from, say, Obtainium) while almost regularly I read reports about malicious apps being available in Google Playstore itself ? Why do they allow those ?

Probably just a rant out of frustration. I ignore those alerts if I am confident about the apk I'm sideloading, lol.

I used to use stocard to store the fidelty cards from several shops in one place, but now it's apparently closing and they want me to download another app which has 700 features I don't care about and that wants me to make an account and accept cookies..

Is there any Foss app that does simply this?

I am increasingly conscious of security and privacy. I don't want my data or telemetry being sent to google or Facebook, and I want to make sure my device is encrypted and not readable by anyone other than me.

Is there a standard go-to guide on securing an android device with these types of goals in mind? Is true privacy possible without having to install Graphene?