https://www.change.org/p/stop-google-from-limiting-apk-file-usage
I hope that my rooted One UI 7 doesn’t get the update through some backdoor in the Google Play Services package… Or the next time I unblock Google Play to update the very few paid apps that I use…
The ironic thing is that Samsung is even worse than Google for users’ rights, and has been for a long time.
That’s crazy. I don’t doubt it… but all I have to go on is, last year or the year before, my wife’s Galaxy S22 said they were changing the terms of the health app. They were going to market the user data to be sold, and you had to opt in by a certain date. If you did not, they deleted all your past data and froze the app until you agreed, at which point it would start anew. She did not agree, so her health data was wiped and she doesn’t get the health features anymore. Any of them. If she tries to open the app, it offers the choice of agreeing to the terms or exiting the app.
Google just collects your data and sells it regardless, and they do it on phones they don’t sell. The reason they give Apple billions of dollars yearly is so they can do in on iPhones to an extent, too. They can only get so much, but they take what they can get.
The main difference I had in mind is that Google devices let you root and erase them to run stuff like Lineage OS or Graphene OS, and Samsung devices don’t.
(Samsung also puts ads on their TVs and deliberately and blatantly designes their appliances to fail just outside warranty. I will never buy anything from that company again, with the possible exception of components like RAM ICs that get incorporated into some other brand’s product. But even then I’ll try to check for and avoid it because that’s the level of petty revenge Samsung deserves!)
I’m not saying Samsung TVs aren’t trash, but all Android-based TVs kind of are. I have one, by Hisense. The best thing to do with any smart TV, even if you’re not an Apple guy, is plug an Apple TV up to it. Swallow your pride and just fucking buy one. Okay, so you have to sign up for an Apple account (totally free) to use the App Store, but when you’re done setting the thing up… It’s just rows of apps. Shove all the shit Apple apps in a folder and stick it at the end. Some of them don’t even work. I make no excuses for them. But stuff like YouTube, Netflix, Plex, whatever you stream off of, you put on the top shelf (the dock, but it’s on top rather than on bottom like on iPhone, iPad, and Mac). The only real benefit I get as an Apple guy is, I have a remote built into my iPhone, and my Watch. Other than that… the remote is serviceable, and if you enable HDMI-CEC, you can use your TV’s remote with it as well. It’s like $100, maybe $130 for the top model with double the storage (really not needed) and I think it has Ethernet? I dunno, WiFi works for me. Anyway… No ads! It’s just a stupidly simple box. It’s what smart TVs really should be.