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Comment by 2OEH8eoCRo0 | Hacker News Reader

I see this a lot around here. HN user hates company with a passion but buys their products rather than deal with some minor annoyance.

I guess you don't hate Apple with a passion then.

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Minor annoyance? Android is becoming just as much of a locked down walled garden as iOS. Hardware remote attestation is already here and it threatens to deny access to apps to all rooted phones.

If I must be in one of these little walled gardens, I'm choosing the better kept one. It sure as hell isn't Google's.

> Hardware remote attestation is already here and it threatens to deny access to apps to all rooted phones

My phone is not rooted, but I use GrapheneOS on my Google Pixel for security hardening and to not have the google rootkit installed.

Funnily enough, even my banking app works, but not my countries eID system.

I imagine in a few years voting will be hard due to this bs ;(

Yeah, running GrapheneOS will cause remote attestation to fail, rooted or not. Because it's done in hardware, software like Magisk will be unable to fake the attestation. It's complete bullshit.

You can hate the King with a passion but still pay your taxes. Sometimes people feel like they barely have a choice and can hate them in-part for that too.

I hate Verizon and Comcast with a passion but if it’s between them or no internet access, well I hardly call that a choice.

I would like to use a Google-free phone. However, online banking apps (e.g., N26) require you to have a mainstream phone (Android/iOS). You can't have root access, since apparently those banking apps won't work then. You need to have a SIM card as well, and you need to identify yourself when purchasing one. I really hate all that. At this point, I dream to live without smart technology as much as possible. Living mostly with "dumb tech". "Smart" ain't smart for us, it seems, it is for the benefit of those companies (e.g. Samsung TV's). More control, I suppose. Can you install uBlock Origin on a Samsung TV?

Furthermore, Samsung phones come with bloat, and you can't even remove them easily.

Samsung is just as bad as you say, but there's about a dozen other manufacturers of Android phones.

I have LineageOS without any Google services, on a Asus Zenfone 8.

Recent versions of N26 work fine.

It's the perfect phone, with an aux port too!

I mean, if you hate Apple and Google, you don't have a whole lot of other options. I'm vaguely aware of some competitors, but they're quite obscure. And I don't think going without a smartphone is all that feasible either these days.

Yep, for me, it is banking.

N26 (Europe) requires you to have a smartphone and a SIM card. Obtaining a SIM card means that you need to identify yourself.

You can't just have a smartphone. The OS needs to be unrooted and also mainstream (iOS/Android).

This really sucks.

Furthermore, Google and Discord lock your accounts, if you don't provide a phone number.

The alternative might be to use an Android/iOS just for banking. Another Android/iOS for services such as Google (Play store).

And a Librem or any other open source phone as your daily driver. Or, just live with a "dumb phone" or no additional phone. I am not sure about the SIM card. Is it even possible within the EU to buy one without identification?

> Is it even possible within the EU to buy one without identification?

If it’s a prepaid one, sure. Just go to the supermarket in NL and get one for 10€, pay with cash.

Obviously, if you’re in one of the many EU countries that require identification (even if simpler than Germany’s video identification system) it’s not trivial to go to a supermarket in NL.

I imagine it’s possible to buy one online from NL, CZ, the UK if it has EU roaming, etc.

I think you might be understating "minor annoyance". I don't like Amazon but I often buy niche products from them because I'll get them in days instead of months.

Had their been a third choice. Something not Android or iOS and may be preferably not American ( or Silicon Valley ) I would have switched.

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