Per one tech forum this week: “Google has quietly installed an app on all Android devices called ‘Android System SafetyCore’. It claims to be a ‘security’ application, but whilst running in the background, it collects call logs, contacts, location, your microphone, and much more making this application ‘spyware’ and a HUGE privacy concern. It is strongly advised to uninstall this program if you can. To do this, navigate to 'Settings’ > 'Apps’, then delete the application.”
Gimme Linux phone, I’m ready for it.
The Firefox Phone should’ve been a real contender. I just want a browser in my pocket that takes good pictures and plays podcasts.
if there was something that could run android apps virtualized, I’d switch in a heartbeat
There are two solutions for that. One is Waydroid, which is basically what you’re describing. Another is android_translation_layer, which is closer to WINE in that it translates API calls to more native Linux ones, although that project is still in the alpha stages.
You can try both on desktop Linux if you’d like. Just don’t expect to run apps that require passing SafetyNet, like many banking apps.
Waydroid?
To be clear, I haven’t used it at all and have no idea how well it works.
I gave it a run on Ubuntu touch with a fair phone like 8 months ago… It was still pretty rough then.