Google wants you to handle all your storage needs through Drive and Google Photos, where they are in control, can scrape more data, train models on your photos, and push you onto paid storage plans.
I can’t really see the benefit to Google in having an excellent local file manager with wide archive-file support. It doesn’t profit them in any way that I can think of.
Thankfully the workaround isn’t too bad, just installing an alternative file manager.
It’s “open” except for the proprietary stuff Google layered on top, and that the only RCS implementation Google has allowed on Android is their own, and a couple of derivatives of their own, where they had to sign an agreement with Google.
So in actual practice, not open. Even if the standard technically is.
Right now, if you want to make an RCS app independent of Google, you’d also need to make a new OS. Or fork Android and do major work on it.
I don’t think you’re following. We were discussing the state of backups on Signal, then you suddenly decided not to talk about it, but to keep talking about nothing in particular.
No, it’s not a feature, it’s a missing feature. When your backup and restore system only works sometimes, despite being set up correctly, then that’s a shit backup solution.
Also. Who the hell uses Ios?
Everybody who uses an iPhone. Which is a metric shitload of people. What kind of question is that?
Americans on Lemmy/Reddit always say this, but it’s not easy.
WhatsApp is essentially SMS. If you don’t use WhatsApp, you’re gonna have a bad time. You won’t be contacted by friends or family, you’ll struggle to make friends or get dates, you won’t receive 2FA codes for a load of services, in some places even government stuff is done via WhatsApp.
WhatsApp is about as optional as having an email address. You basically need it unless you want to live as a hermit.
Relies on people actually using Signal, which is an immediate non-starter unfortunately.
Over time, the amount of signal contacts I have had went down, not up. IMO the Signal foundation has made multiple bone-headed moves that have stifled their growth and discouraged using Signal.
Shit, look at VAG if you want to see an extreme example.
They have the likes of Jetta (chinese-only, not to be confused with the VW Jetta car model), Skoda, Seat/Cupra, leading up to Volkswagen, then to Audi, then the likes of Porsche, Bentley, Lamborghini, and finally to Bugatti and now Rimac (sort of… there’s a weird and complex ownership structure going on there).
Sony phones are hands down the best android phones I’ve used. The UI has for a long time been mostly stock, with nice additional touches.
Plenty of options in the settings, and almost all have a good explanation of what they do without dumbing it down too much. Giving actually helpful information to the user instead of treating them like infants.
The fact that they’ve stuck to offering 3.5mm jacks and SD slots is great, they stuck to dedicated camera shutter buttons for ages too (even with a two stage focus function when you pressed lightly). No notches. Two front facing speakers.
They’re also very dev friendly, going as far as publishing bootable AOSP builds on their GitHub.
I like how, despite them being a small player, they their code contributions to AOSP is beaten by only Google themselves. Many of the sleep/battery optimisations we’ve seen over the years were actually a Sony contribution.
There’s a lot to like about Xperias. That said, there’s also some stuff that pisses me off.
The naming is dreadful. What comes after the Xperia 1? Why the Xperia 1 II of course! I swear only their console division is capable of clear and sensible naming.
They often announce a new phone then don’t release it for another 2 months
They’ve fallen seriously behind in software support. This will be mitigated by EU legislation forcing longer support, but it’ll still be behind Samsung/Google.
They overcharge for their phones, get blasted in reviews for it, then drop prices a couple of months later, but by then the perception of the phones costing too much has already taken root - stupid!
We’ve heard your concerns about Microsoft Teams, and we have developed a solution: clicking links in Teams will now open the webpage in Microsoft Edge, rather than your default browser. You’re welcome.