Is this just another Google phone?

2bimpressed

Warning: Yes, I am a dinosaur! I originate from a time before ‘computers’ as we know them and certainly before the internet/www/whatever it is referred to today. It was a time when things worked and you could get on with your own business without the eye of Sauron watching over your shoulder.

Hello Nothing community,

In my transition to the Nothing world, I was hoping for an Android which escaped the clutches of the evil empire - (I was around when they proudly displayed the strap-line “Do no evil”). How times have changed.

So when I came across Nothing with its own OS, I naively thought that although it used Android, it was free from the clutches of the all seeing eye.

How wrong I appear to be. Whilst only currently setting the device up, it appears more intrusive than my previous PRC mobile.

Can anyone advise to the contrary?

Thanking you for your advice/opinions in advance.

lolifnotely🇮🇱

2bimpressed I think the only operating system that is free from Google tracking is grapheneos,But it can only be installed on Pixel phones (yes, a bit ironic…)

Coldpaw

2bimpressed To be honest I am not sure why you are surprised about it, as it would have been easy to find out prior buying with a little bit of research. Just for the fact alone Nothing relies heavily on Google apps and only uses a fairly limited number of their own 1st party apps like Nothing Gallery or Recorder. Even those 1st party apps and widgets sometimes rely heavily on Google services, for example Nothing calendar widgets sync with Google Calendar only, the new Nothing Warp uses Google Drive.

If you do some research, there are some topics here on the Nothing Community which help to get rid of Google apps and services as much as possible. Check out this one for example:

https://nothing.community/d/12006

If you want a true Android OS without Google, you’d have to find some niche devices or options. For example Fairphone offers their products with either regular Google Android or, as an alternative, with Murena /e/OS, which doesn’t have a single Google service. Murena /e/OS/ is also available to install on existing platforms, however for Nothing phones, only the CMF Phone 1 is fully supported, while Nothing Phone 1 and 2 habe limited, untested support:

https://doc.e.foundation/devices

There are more known alternatives of course like LineageOS and Graphene OS. The former at least seems to officially support NP1 and NP2, the latter doesn’t seem to support at all - but I am don’t really know how these work, so you might be able to get them installed anyways.

Another option would be getting some custom ROMs which could possibly be free of Google.

2bimpressed

lolifnotely🇮🇱 Thanks, yes. That one didn’t escape me.

I think that it was more that on my Redmi, Sauron is slightly more subtle than I experienced with the new Nothing phone.

Also, the suggestion that I was getting Gemini, whether I liked it or not, was a red rag to a bull.

lolifnotely🇮🇱

2bimpressed Are you serious? My experience with Redmi was much more intrusive than with a phone now (although I agree that it often feels too much..)

If you want, you can remove Gemini using ADB commands.If you want, you can remove Gemini using ADB commands, although I don’t understand how exactly that would work…

2bimpressed

Coldpaw Thank-you for your detailed answer.

Thanks for the link to adjust settings. I will read that and act accordingly.

I do feel that in order to do anything these days you need to sign up for a Masters. I hope I receive a certificate after all of the research. My gripe is not necessarily with google products, per se, especially as they muscled in and practically turned the internet into a monopoly at one point. It is more with how much control I have over these products, slurping my data. Seriously, advertisers do not need to know how often I use the toilet each day (yes, slightly cynical there but deservedly so).

Mind you, it is not just Google. I note that to post this reply, I must opt in to collection of my personal data, with no opt out position.

For the record: Nothing - I do not accept you tailoring my information. Therefore, I will never purchase anything suggested by you.

Coldpaw

2bimpressed I didn’t mean to sound snarky 😉

Unfortunately with pretty much all bigger Android players, they are more or less using Google, the reason is partly due to Google’s policy, a manufacturer can’t just put the Playstore and selected services / apps on their devices, if they want to get access, they have to preload a complete Google suite of apps and services.

I think Huawei is the largest Android brand without Google, but that’s only due to sanctions, they simply aren’t allowed to use them anymore.

I also try to stay away from Google services as much as possible, for example my Gmail account really only exists to get Playstore access, I use other mail providers and my mail client is Aquamail. For calendars, I also use a different provider, for sync, I use Business Calendar and DAVx. I don’t use Google Photos or sync my media with it.

However I haven’t gone the extra steps to really completely de-google my phone, as I still use some of their services frequently.