henfredemars

@henfredemars@infosec.pub

This is a secondary account. My main account is listed below. The main will have a list of all the accounts that I use.

henfredemars@lemmy.world

Personal website:

henfred.me

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henfredemars,

I’ve always thought having proprietary drivers was really weird. Don’t you want people to maintain your code for free?

henfredemars,

It would be nice if there were any technical details on how Qualcomm intends to achieve this.

henfredemars,

I have no mouth and I must scream.

henfredemars,

In principle it is cool, but large corporations can still bully you into submission even when it should fall under Fair Use.

henfredemars,

It’s ridiculous. I think the law should be written with the expectation that the common citizen cannot afford legal counsel for an unlimited period of time.

I am not a lawyer.

henfredemars,

That’s why I use a USB condom.

henfredemars,

Lockdown mode was introduced in 2018’s Android 9 Pie release as an optional feature users could add to their power menu. When enabled, lockdown mode hides notifications and disables all forms of authentication except for the user’s primary authentication (PIN, password, or pattern). In Android 12, Google made the lockdown mode toggle appear by default in the Android power menu, though some OEMs hide it or offer their own, similar version of the feature elsewhere.

Android 15 will further restrict USB access in this mode to help defend against attacks.

henfredemars,

Yes, but the data pins are still connected and talking to some software. That software can have vulnerabilities.

It’s more secure to allow no communication whatsoever, whereas it’s extremely hard to prove that any software is free of vulnerabilities.

henfredemars,

It’s smart! Do not expose logic without first supposing an appropriate level of trust. Software can have errors.

henfredemars,

Is Safari even available on Android?

Comparison on iPhone is meaningless because they all have to use the same Safari WebKit engine per Apple policy.

henfredemars,

Thank you for this work! I’ve been very interested in the topic but haven’t been bothered to actually test.

Are you intending to provide this relative power data to browser developers?

henfredemars,

For me it wasn’t even the performance angle. The modem is a real under-performer.

henfredemars,

Don’t misunderstand – I loved the phone. But in my area, with my service, it struggled. Many people don’t have this problem. I find it’s a bit choosy.

I’m not sure I can make a confident recommendation without more information about what you value. There are many respectable options, and Pixel is generally one of the best.

henfredemars,

I’m a fan of the OP 7 Pro. It’s a bit long in the tooth, but it’s performed well mainly because it was generous with memory when I first came out. Also a good CPU generation. The ROM scene could be better.

Paradoxically, I think it’s still the Pixel as my favorite, but it would be nice to get an opinion first from someone who uses your cellular provider. I hate having to preface it because I love the vanilla Android experience. I’m trying to resist making sweeping generalizations based on my one data point. It’s technically possible that I had a hardware problem.

henfredemars,

Attempts have been made to improve battery longevity in software, but at the end of the day battery chemistry sets the rules.

henfredemars,

AI need not be deceptive to be damaging. A human can simply instruct the AI to produce content and then supply the ill-will on its behalf.

henfredemars,

It only took half of forever. Glad to hear it.

henfredemars,

We have a winner! Employees are rewarded for starting new influential projects, not maintaining or improving existing ones. Thus, there’s intense pressure to propose new products and shut down the old one to beef out the performance reviews.

Hence, Google can almost never take a product from concept to maturity because it hurts the people working on the project to do so.

henfredemars,

A masterclass in terrible branding. Consumers are stupid. You need to clearly identify your product tiers.

henfredemars,

It is the final stage. It’s not a matter if, but when, for all publicly traded companies.

I think they’ll be around for a long time.

henfredemars,

Remember that presentation where Google promised everyone that we’re firmly standing behind this architecture, so we encourage our partners to invest?

Google doesn’t have a great track record with standing behind products.

That said, I think we’ll see some degree of support eventually.

henfredemars,

AV1 hardware decoders are available in recent phones.

henfredemars,

If you have an older or low to some midrange phone, then you might get better performance watching some videos.

henfredemars,

OK, this is really cool. We have practically zero insight into the longevity of these things. Even if you know what chips are being used, lack of information about the wear leveling algorithms means there isn’t much that we can say about the real world performance under different loads.

henfredemars,

I must disagree. I’ve encountered a couple of phones from people in my family that could not be restored because the flash itself was bad. The flash memory specifically failed and required them to purchase a new phone.

We’re talking 5 to 7-year-old phones here. It does happen. There are plenty of people who will never replace their phone until it breaks.

For another example, consider that Google added forward error correction to their system images because they encountered issues with failing memory chips in the wild. This was an effort to keep devices booting and operable for longer.

henfredemars,

I’m not sure about this feature. I’ll need to see some use cases. If you’re just talking malware protection, I’m not sure why we need a new quarantine state. The app should be completely completely disabled or removed if possible, and if you’re worried about false detections, perhaps it would be better to tackle the false detection rate from a different angle.

henfredemars,

I guess this is good. I’m disappointed yet not surprised that they’ll be using a Samsung modem. My connectivity has been really poor with the 8 Pro. I sold it last week because of issues that implicate that modem.

Experience very. Some people have no issues, but I found it a bit of a lemon.

henfredemars,

Another one bites the dust!

henfredemars,

Yeah, that was a dumb design without simultaneously adding features to use that newly empty space. It feels too much like programmers first GUI with a flow layout causing widgets to stack up unexpectedly because the screen was slightly different size than tested. It has a naïve and unpolished rather than deliberate UX flavor.

henfredemars,

I really would like to see Tile get in on this network for the improved performance and likely better security.

henfredemars,

I had a Pixel Watch for a few months, but man constantly having to recharge it. Eventually, I felt like I’m the one being smart, planning, doing this extra work and for what? I went back to a regular watch.

henfredemars,

If it makes you feel better, many components in smartphones are already made in China. The country already has a great degree of control if they wish to exercise it from a supply chain attack perspective.

My point is, you’re not leaping from zero to suddenly they are in your supply chain. They already were in your supply chain to some extent.

henfredemars,

I for one am OK with incremental changes. I don’t want to learn a new UI unless there’s substantial benefits.

henfredemars,

Please make it good! My Airpods are dying and I’ll be back on the premium earbud market sometime this year.

henfredemars,

I remember being really disappointed when this feature was cut. I loved using it as a way to feel like I was standing in places I had visited.

henfredemars,

The article doesn’t explain why it’s faster to use the Video LAN decoding library versus Google’s.

Looking at the code repo, it looks like the reason is because the new library has lots of hand-optimized assembly code to perform the decoding for a wide variety of platforms. This will help ease the transition to the new codec especially for economy devices that lack the hardware support.

If you want to see how you’re decoding different audio and video formats on your device, you can open this app to view your decoder capabilities: play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.parseus…

henfredemars,

Very exciting feature! I could definitely make use of some generative assist for more mundane notes.

henfredemars,

The fact that Android is less popular among younger generations poses a challenge for its future success in the US market.

I think this concern is overstated. While nobody knows the future to certainty and there’s value in brand familiarity, there’s also a huge difference between getting your phone on your parents’ plan versus managing the plan for yourself or your family.

Priorities change, and I’m not just talking about cost here. For one, I think people care less about what others think as they get older, and that peer effect is a major selling point on Apple products.

henfredemars,

I’ve had several Google products just die after an update. I don’t really trust them anymore.

henfredemars,

It’s the hype cycle at work.

henfredemars,

I’m not a big fan of the visual design. Those flat edges seem out of place, jarring even. Perhaps it’ll appeal to others’ aesthetic sensibilities.

I’m also very concerned for the Tensor G4. The article mentions the performance gap is widening. It really needs to pull out ahead in AI capabilities else the SoC will be an increasingly tough pill to swallow.

henfredemars,

Does this one come with the massive data loss feature?

henfredemars, (edited )

I’ve gone between the two brands. Samsung strikes me as a little visually complicated whereas Pixel is cleaner and the point with its design choices. Connect ADB and you can disable all of the apps that come with the Samsung if you wish. Don’t really prefer OneUI, though it felt snappier with the Snapdragon.

With that said, I enjoyed my Samsung overall, and I’m enjoying my Pixel. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed, but if I were you, I would reflect on how I feel about a little bit more clutter. It’s in the details, like having two account sign in areas for both your Samsung and your Google accounts. Two app stores. The price and stress of more choices.

If you intend to own the device for a long time, consider that you have much better aftermarket solutions on Pixel because Google releases more, higher quality code and drivers makes your ROM devs life much easier. Fewer bugs for you in the aftermarket. You can only run GrapheneOS on a Pixel.

henfredemars,

One tip that I’d like to add: you can connect ADB and user disable packages even if you can’t uninstall them in the GUI. This helped me slim down an S21. I recommend doing this when you first get the phone rather than later in case you disable something important, so you can reset and be on your way before you really get set up.

I always prefer a leaner system, but it can be quite serviceable.

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