• cyborganism
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    1021 month ago

    I’d like to use a Linux phone, but it has to run Android apps though. They Gotta find a way, else it’s never gonna happen.

    • @tal@lemmy.today
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      1 month ago

      It’d theoretically be possible to run a straight GNU/Linux tablet or laptop with a 5G cell modem for data, use SIP service and a GNU/Linux dialer, and then run Waydroid for any specific Android apps that one has to run.

      Idle power usage is gonna be a lot higher than on a phone, though.

      And a lot of Android apps are made with a touch interface and small screen in mind and are aware of things in a cell environment, like “only update X when on WiFi”. Not really common for GNU/Linux software to do that.

      • @cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de
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        321 month ago

        like “only update X when on WiFi”.

        Most Linux software only updates when the user tells the package manager to update it.>

        • @Colloidal@programming.dev
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          201 month ago

          I think you’re misunderstanding it. Most mobile apps have sensible defaults regarding data and battery usage, for instance, not updating (their feeds/server status/whatever networked service the app uses) if not in WiFi.

          • @AHemlocksLie@lemmy.zip
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            430 days ago

            No, I think they understood. Android needs those settings because the process is automated. A Linux device would probably not automate updates like that and let users choose when to do so, which means they can just not do it until they get to WiFi.

            • @Colloidal@programming.dev
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              930 days ago

              Package manager update >< background information update

              Unless your chat app requires a package manager update to retrieve new messages, we’re talking different things.

        • @tal@lemmy.today
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          1 month ago

          I’m talking about stuff like pulling down new podcast episodes and such.

        • @tal@lemmy.today
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          1 month ago

          I dunno, man.

          Android and all its apps have had a lot of work done on keeping stuff low-power.

          The GNU/Linux laptop I’m currently typing this on is drawing about 10W (granted, with the screen on, which is larger). The Android phone in my pocket is drawing (checks) a little under half a watt.

          Granted, I didn’t choose the laptop hardware to try to minimize power usage; you can certainly get laptops that will draw less. But there have been a lot of engineers banging on Android power usage for a long time.

          And stuff like auto-suspension of background apps using CPU time and stuff doesn’t have a GNU/Linux analog that I’m aware of.

          There’s a GNU/Linux phones community here on the Threadiverse at !linuxphones@lemmy.ca. Even the phones they talk about there — where the hardware is much less powerful than typical current Android hardware — don’t have amazing battery life as phones go.

          • potatoguy
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            31 month ago

            My tablet draws 4.5w at peak, at low loads it draws almost nothing (x86_64 tablet), maybe it’s the design of the laptop/tablet, but mine just consumes the same even with waydroid on, maybe setting efficiency in the BIOS help, but idk. On windows it just consumes a power plant every minute, linux is just efficient.

    • potatoguy
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      131 month ago

      Waydroid with a ROM with GAPPS? I use lineageos on my linux tablet, a lot of android games run just fine.

    • MrMobius
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      101 month ago

      A program like Wine, but to run Android apps on a Linux machine would be great. It would use a lot less battery power than a virtual machine.

      • @iturnedintoanewt@lemmy.world
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        351 month ago

        You mean…waydroid? It’s literally a translation layer running on a container, AFAIK. Then you can add an additional ARM emulation plugin for specific apps that don’t have x86 versions.

        • MrMobius
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          230 days ago

          Oh I thought Waydroid was a VM. But still, it’s a lot more recent than wine. So is it really fully compatible with most apps?

          • It’s…kinda like a VM? But without the VM part. It runs in a container, AFAIK, so it’s using a lot less resources than a full blown VM. It works for a lot of apps. And the ARM emulation plugin helps a lot, too. But then again, I usually stick to mostly FOSS apps, and refuse to install the gapps suite. So, no Play Store. I can still install apps via Aurora, but there’s a problem there between Waydroid and Aurora, which leads to frequent crashes (of Aurora) when trying to install an app. But once the app is installed (you can download it by other means, and just install it into waydroid by running something like ‘waydroid app install myfile.apk’.

    • LeTak
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      630 days ago

      SailfishOS can do that. They have a sandbox for android that you should not really notice as a end user.

      • @smiletolerantly
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        330 days ago

        How good is it with background activities?

        About the only thing holding me back is that my phone runs a continuous glucose monitor, constantly connecting with a small sensor in my arm. That all quietly dying in the background would just… not be an option.

    • Wugmeister
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      430 days ago

      A phone I’m excited for is the Bigme Hibreak Pro. Its got an e-paper screen that refreshes at a tolerable speed, and you can install apps from the Google Play store which run just fine. Will it ever play video smoothly? Fuck no. Is it cool? Also no. Is it horrifically expensive? Surprisingly, also no.

      Bigme has also made some exciting (but way too expensive) progress in the desktop computer world by making a 60hz eink monitor. It frankly is terrible at most things people do on their home computers, but it can keep up just fine with the boring work stuff like Vim and the MS Office Suite. Am I willing to pay almost $2k for a monitor for work? Absolutely not, but I’m glad it exists.

      • @altkey@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        430 days ago

        I’d honestly like to have an e-ink monitor because I do a lot of coding and writing, without 60hz, just like e-book with speedy updates over empty space. It can be a secondary one dedicated to just these tasks. But the lack of demand makes it too exclusive for my pocket.

    • @Turret3857@infosec.pub
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      129 days ago

      I mean Waydroid runs Android apps on linux. Its currently the only way to play Roblox on linux with only 1 layer of trust (Roblox itself) (Sober exists but theres no source code, meaning you have to trust Roblox and SoberDevs code)