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Re: [LUG] Android tablet

 

On Tue, 27 Nov 2012 09:30:03 +0000
George Parker <georgeparker20@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> After the usual months of thinking about it and researching I have got 
> myself an Android tablet running Android 4.1 Jellybean.  After so long 
> being able to configure everything to within an inch of it's life on 
> various distros it is very frustrating to be back in a box.
> 
> Google is nasty and pernicious and very difficult to sidestep. Very 
> controlling.  I don't have an Android phone or i anything so I'm having 
> to learn a lot from scratch but in between I'm trying to configure 
> myself out of the traps as far as possible.
> 
> I've loaded the Firefox android browser to get away from the inbuilt 
> browser that has Google in big letters on every web page you go to. I 
> synchronised with my desktop PC but I can't find my bookmarks on the 
> tablet. Hey ho...  The email takes some getting used to and I must get 
> away from Google play.
> 
> But, after only one day, I quite like the thing and I think it will 
> repay the effort.  Even if it's only to let herself sit in bed in a 
> morning with her cup of tea checking the BBC news and emails, leaving me 
> in peace on the desktop.
> 
> Any tips from other Android users?
> 
> George
> 
> -- 
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Well, you can disable most services without rooting your device, in Settings > 
Applications Manager > All > 'click on desired app' > 'choose Disable'. This is what 
is called 'freezing' an app. The frozen app will never be initiated and non of the 
apps processes or services will ever be run in association with that app. I have 10s 
of bloatware and extraneous stock apps disabled this way, and it seriously minimised 
running processes (OS Monitor is a great system monitor app to keep an eye on what 
is running and what resources are being used), as well as cutting down memory usage 
by a chunk. You can disable many of the apps and services (not quite all) that push 
your paranoia buttons. If you want complete control over what you can 
freeze/uninstall you will have to root and install the appropriate tool (Titanium 
Backup comes to mind). Note: for some apps you will have to choose 'Uninstall 
Updates' before you can select the 'Disable' option.

If you are really so apprehensive about Google, why did you get an Android tablet? 
You could of held out for the Vivaldi (i think they are finally in production), 
which runs KDE Plasma Active, out of the box. I am half joking, though Plasma Active 
looks cool enough, and if your not going to be making use of Google Play store 
anyways...

One good thing i will say for the Play Store, is that it keeps track of all your 
installed apps and what you have paid for (you wont pay twice), useful for easy 
download to a new devise or following a reinstall. I have had to make use of this 
twice, due to a bug on the S3 where the clipboard gets corrupted and you can't 
copy/paste (add this gripe to my recent S3 review i wrote for this list). Two 
factory resets to cleanse the clipboard (unacceptable!). I have rooted now, which i 
wanted to avoid for warranty reasons, but fuked if i was resetting it again 
(hassle), when with a rooted phone i could simply delete the clipboard contents. Why 
the clipboard contents aren't stored in a user accessible location i don't know. 

As far as email goes, i can heartily recommend K9 mail. A pretty complete (gratis 
and add free) email solution for Android.

Seen as you are using Firefox for mobile, if you also use FF on the desktop you can 
make use of the Sync feature, that will synchronise your open tabs and bookmarks 
(desktop FF tabs and bookmarks -> android FF, not visversa, that i can tell, 
unfortunately). This is a neat feature, but has been a bit unreliable for me: i have 
had to re-establish Sync a couple of times as it seems to fail, for some reason.

Oh, and as regards permissions when installing apps: do be very cautious here, but 
also bear in mind that the requested permissions look a little more dramatic than 
they are, using fairly stark wording for rather mundane access rights (access 
rights, that, for the most part, any <i>desktop</i> app would have by default). And 
any app permissions request, save for the "This app requires no special privileges 
to run" are going to set of alarm bells in the rightly cautious mind. Read up on the 
potential privacy and control issues associated with the various Android 
permissions, and make an informed decision on an app by app basis.

Personally, many of my favourite apps are paid apps (if only upgrades to get rid of 
adds), i don't  mind Google knowing what apps i buy, and it is not like providing my 
payment details to Google gives them access to information other than apps purchased 
with that card and my name and address (he hopeth), and seen as i use DuckDuckGo at 
home, they wont be able to link that to search results associated with the IP linked 
to my home address. Paypal has my card details, so does Amazon, and any other online 
payment system i have used my debit card for -- so, that ship has long sailed. 
Personally, i think it's great that there is a Open Source platform that readily 
supports direct to developer payments, and makes this normal. This does a service, 
not only to the developer, but to open platforms generally: proving their commercial 
viability; a vital step on the road to world domination in a market driven global 
economy. 

Cheers.

Mike.

-- 
Egon Spengler <migel_wimtore@xxxxxxx>

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