When you're looking to buy an inexpensive test phone for coding, and you see recommendations for Chinese brands, so you go to their websites and such... and a hour later and a rabbit hole later you discover your shithole country has banned certain brands for no actual articulable reason. Just some vague "Chinese spyware!" To which my question is always, even if that's true, which I doubt, isn't the bootloader unlocked? I'll just install some other rom. "NOPE, CHINA SPY WARE BALLOONS DONT YOU GET IT?!?"
Land of the free, home of the brave my asshole. Can't even buy the phone you want without Uncle Sam having a say.
It should be worrying to all these FREEDOM
LOVING PATRIOTS ™️ that the US is becoming less "free" (as far as private commodity purchases go) but, it turns out, it was never about freedom or not, it was just about racism and nationalism. 🎵 whomp whomp 🎵
and a hour later and a rabbit hole later you discover your shithole country has banned certain brands for no actual articulable reason. Just some vague “Chinese spyware!” To which my question is always, even if that’s true, which I doubt, isn’t the bootloader unlocked? I’ll just install some other rom. “NOPE, CHINA SPY WARE BALLOONS DONT YOU GET IT?!?”
I used to hate this this super annoying non sequitur too; but it's meant that I've been employable at a time when most wouldn't give me the time it day so I'm okay w it now. Lol
the knee jerk policies from multiple government entities about how china is gaining technological & economic leverage forced multiple chinese companies either respond or lose access to the american market and this came at a time when communications for employment offers from recruiters and companies have slowed to less than a trickle.
i suspect that the reduction to a trickle is a result of a blacklisting from a very well connected silicon valley firm since i'm in a super lucrative field w very high unemployment rates; but still get very little attention and i'm usually MUCH more successful w non-western firms, especially lately.
That sucks though. I hate that Android, which used to be the pride of nerds due to its customization options, is locking down more and more year after year.
Even if people don't care for their phones/tablets, ok, but the "trusted" default companies are all dogshit. Now google is implementing shit that seems like it will effectively eliminate custom roms in the next few years by making it impossible (or very hard anyway) to use apps that use their "security" shit.
I use android and ios (because I'm a freak) and it makes me sad to think that the only reason for using android at all (and I'm not trying to do a fanboy war. I literally use both OS) which is the ability to install basically whatever the fuck I want might be gone someday soon. This mostly matters day to day (and I suspect this is the REAL motivation here) in apps like modified YouTube, Spotify, Twitch, Twitter etc. all for the purpose of removing annoying/no-one-asked features and, of course, the endless deluge of ads. I know "the end of Adblock!" fearmongering has been a constant for at least a decade now, and I'm sure longer, but as these corporations lock down operating systems and apps further and further we may actually be approaching that moment for real. It's very clearly in the interest of the corporations to do it, but obviously consumers hate it, so they've been slow boiling us and at this point maybe finally they're letting it boil. I suppose we'll see. Google still makes the Pixel series for now, but the changes with the trust system (I forget their name for it. Safetynet and all that shit) make loading custom roms possible but increasingly impractical. Just hate to see it.