Are Linux Smartphones about to KILL Android?

so over the last week i've been using
three smartphones
i've been using an iphone 12 pro max
running ios uh samsung galaxy note 20
ultra running android you're probably
quite familiar with these two
but also a libra five running something
called
linux the unboxing experience is a
little different to the standard
rectangular template too
the phone's on top and then below that
we've got a power brick a usbc charging
cable
a pair of actually pretty nice looking
earphones and a couple of adapters
nothing crazy inside but look at this
thing
it looks like the company just took
every single current trend in the
smartphone market and said
no there's no fancy triple camera setup
there's no gradient finish no metal trim
no slim glass construction and yet this
is still
800 so what is going on okay
if you think about the smartphone market
now we're kind of spoiled
we have access to so many games and apps
and features and
most of them are free we've got google
maps for navigation we've got instagram
to keep us connected
we've got an app that tells you the best
points in a movie to take a toilet break
for free well that sounds great but
at the same time people are also
becoming increasingly aware that for any
app that's free it's not free because
the company was feeling super generous
that day it's usually free because
when a company is not charging you
directly you're the thing
being sold their money will instead be
coming from selling you
your data to advertisers you can use it
to understand you better and then serve
you adverts
that they know you're gonna like and i
think the reason that people have only
started talking about all this privacy
stuff now is that
we didn't realize just how much data was
being collected
see almost every app that's built to
earn money in some shape or form
is closed source meaning that the code
of the app and the volume of info it's
learning about you
are hidden it's only visible to whoever
made them and it kind of has to be that
way like if one day instagram decided to
make their code public then
someone could just copy that code take
out the adverts and repost the ad free
version of instagram
the whole business model would just kind
of break down so
this is where linux devices like this
come in you can think of linux as
the freedom software in that it's 100
open source every line of code on every
app on this phone
is publicly available so companies can't
spy on you or abuse your data because
if they did everyone will be able to see
it and so if you actually take a closer
look at this librium 5 you
realize that while yes its construction
does probably resemble a graphical
calculator more than it does a
modern-day flagship
the privacy features are insane like
they've not just said that every app on
here is open source but they've actually
gone to the extent of only picking
components
such that the drivers for those
components the kind of bits of software
that tell them how to run
are also open source and for the very
few bits for which they absolutely
couldn't
the wi-fi card and the mobile data modem
they've actually physically separated
those pieces
from the main circuit board and that is
what
these are for they've given you switches
so that the moment you're done with
those parts
you can flip the corresponding switch
and physically cut off any power going
to them
so when you want to be you are
completely off the grid plus there's
also one here to physically disconnect
your cameras and your microphone
and you can even actually just whack off
the back door to remove the battery
it's been a long time since phone's been
able to do that so
yeah it's kind of nuts but privacy is
actually only one of the perks of linux
there's six more six more and if you're
enjoying this video the sub to the
channel would be
sourcing the first perk is that linux
being a simpler software than full-blown
android with just
fewer services running in the background
and simpler animations
has way higher performance with
equivalent hardware like even though
this thing's powered with a pretty weak
chip
most things happen instantaneously two
it's stable
because the code is public other users
can very quickly bug fix problems
like if samsung came out with a new
android phone and had a major bug
you're generally just sitting there
waiting for them to update it with linux
the power is in the user's hands it
could be done overnight
three is that unlike android and ios
which are heavy operating systems with
massive gigabyte plus updates that often
slow down older devices
the goal here is to have phones that
feel just as good if not better eight to
ten years down the line
four there is still an app store here
with just about everything on it
also open source you don't have to
create 16 different accounts on your
phone you don't have to enter your
banking details just to an app
and there's not a single
advert in sight five there's no such
thing as linux mobile
the linux here is the same linux that
you would get on a computer so you can
use the exact same
desktop applications in fact it's kind
of funny when you get the low battery
warning on this phone
it thinks it's a laptop and six the
final cherry on top
is that linux is built by individuals or
small groups of developers
and so as a result a you're supporting
people as opposed to large tech
corporations if you care about that
and b there isn't just one version of it
there's actually a dozen different linux
os's that you can
and i've got some right here so what's
this
a google nexus 5 right well turn it on
and it's actually running ubuntu touch
one of the more well supported options
and bearing in mind that this is a
seven-year-old smartphone now
it looks and runs amazing it's got a
similar status bar at the top
to android but with a pretty clever
ability to actually access almost every
setting
without leaving it it's got a much more
robust store too versus the libra
and to give you an idea of the
responsiveness this is me turning the
screen
on and off versus the 2020 iphone 12 pro
max
remember seven year old phone i've got a
sony xperia 10
a 2019 mid ranger and this one's running
sailfish os which is probably my
favorite linux software to date
it's beautifully animated it's very easy
on the eyes and everything works with
swipe gestures
which is so intuitive that once you've
adjusted to it you really wish other
phones did it too
oh yeah and have a look how this thing
handles themes
just swipe down tap a theme and it's
done new look
plus by moving your notifications from
the status bar up top to
a separate screen on the side selfish
has a less cluttered aesthetic versus
android
one that also means a bit less reaching
so you get the idea
linux has stuff going for it but at the
same time
it's got three problems and they're not
small problems the first is price this
librium five
is eight hundred dollars why is it eight
hundred dollars given that it has the
components
and the build quality of an android
phone that's a quarter of that
well it's the cost of being this privacy
respecting
see with almost every one of these ultra
high performance but somehow ultra
affordable android phones that come
out it's almost always an ulterior
motive most of them can only afford to
be cheaper because they either bake in
adverts or they have contracts with
software companies to pre-install their
applications
or they're acting as a portal to sign
people up to other services from the
company with a linux phone the only
profit this company is making
is at the point of sale and so as a
customer
you got to pay for that two choice you
might be wondering
why if i got such random phones to show
you linux like a nexus 5 and an xperia
10
well it's because while you can
technically install linus on just about
i think i said linus while you can
technically install linux on just about
any phone that runs android
if you wanted to buy a phone with linux
pre-installed on it you've got
very limited choice but most importantly
there's an app problem see in order for
a developer to spend time making a
really great app
they need a profit incentive they need
to be able to either charge customers
directly or sell customer data
to advertisers but neither of these two
really work with open source
like if i try and charge you for an app
but the code is public
then someone's just going to copy that
code and publish their own version for
free
so when you're building an app for linux
you've pretty much got to rely on
donations
and it's not really a very sustainable
business model so
you're not going to get google maps here
you're not going to get just about every
smartphone game you might be used to
playing you know when android and ios
users say oh
there's an app for that well with linux
there often
isn't for example there's a guy on
youtube called chris titus tech
who seems to be a really big advocate of
linux and privacy benefits but even he
tried really hard to live using just
linux
and struggled he found himself in
unnecessary traffic jams
wishing he had google maps that could
have alerted him otherwise he found
himself wishing he could manage his
youtube comments using the youtube app
but he couldn't so linux is it the
future
or is it dead in the water well i ended
up actually having quite a long chat
with the guys behind the libra phone
and i think it's a case that they know
they know that the day this phone
goes public it's not going to be an
android killer but at the same time
they're also surprisingly confident that
given some time they will be a major
threat because people are
more and more wanting to keep their data
to themselves and one thing that i did
think was very interesting is that
because
android is just a super specialized
version of linux
linux technically has the ability to run
android apps
and it could run them within a sort of
container a metaphorical box
such that all those background processes
and the tracking that comes with android
apps
could stay within that box and wouldn't
be able to reach out into
the rest of your phone that said my
personal take is that
it's a little late i think the concept
makes sense and if this was how things
were established right from the start
if let's say people were very used to
the idea of all apps being open source
and any company that tried to make a
closed source app was instantly
publicly shamed then yes linux phones
probably would have flown
but i just think that we're at a stage
where we're past that i think the big
tech companies almost have their claws
sunk in a little too deep i think that
things like youtube and instagram
they're almost too integral to people's
lives for them to give up now
like yes it is technically possible for
someone else to come along and build
youtube and instagram equivalents that
are open source
but who's going to do it for little to
no profit incentive i could
maybe see it being used in government
sectors where they need to avoid
tracking at
all costs on that note potentially
criminals too but i couldn't see any
normal user
born past the year 2000 who are quite
adjusted to the idea of handing over
their gps location their biometrics
i can't imagine that generation ever
picking linux
over android or ios okay there's one
final option
and it's a little less extreme than
jumping ship to linux
but it is a way that a growing number of
people are finding a bit more control
d googled android see if you dial back
android to its very base it is actually
100
open source it's called the android open
source project or aosp
there's no google services there's no
data collection at all all that stuff
happens
after google puts their apps in so i've
not used this but there's actually a
pretty highly rated os out there right
now
called the eos they've taken the aosp
android but instead of adding the normal
google apps on top of that
they've added open source alternatives
like nexcloud
instead of google drive and the
advantage of doing it this way is that
the store here does let you install
normal android apps if you want to but
it'll just pre-scan them and tell you
how well those apps protect your privacy
so feels like a pretty solid middle
ground
but still probably not for me anyway
thanks for watching
my name is aaron this is mr who's the
boss and i'll catch you
in the next one
you

Are Linux Smartphones about to KILL Android?

Are Linux Smartphones about to KILL Android?

Post a Comment

Contact Form