On the other hand by being Android you get to run all the Android apps out there.
What I seek in a phone is control over my privacy, not necessarily a vegan FOSS system.
What that means is things like:
- Fine-grained control of permissions to apps (e.g. access to rear camera only, access to only city-level accuracy of locations, access to read from only directories I specify)
- For apps that insist on having permissions to things like location and wi-fi scans to use them, the ability to make the app think it got said permissions, but receives fake data. And no, Android's mock location feature doesn't work, because apps can check if the feature is enabled or not
- The ability to fake IMEI, phone number, contact list, installed apps, and other identifying data
- Ability to generate fake IMU, proximity, temperature, barometer, and all other sensor data that could conceivably be used for fingerprinting
What I seek in a phone is control over my privacy, not necessarily a vegan FOSS system.
What that means is things like:
- Fine-grained control of permissions to apps (e.g. access to rear camera only, access to only city-level accuracy of locations, access to read from only directories I specify)
- For apps that insist on having permissions to things like location and wi-fi scans to use them, the ability to make the app think it got said permissions, but receives fake data. And no, Android's mock location feature doesn't work, because apps can check if the feature is enabled or not
- The ability to fake IMEI, phone number, contact list, installed apps, and other identifying data
- Ability to generate fake IMU, proximity, temperature, barometer, and all other sensor data that could conceivably be used for fingerprinting