Database Develop

Appstore, why cant I buy programs

I cant buy any programs at all.
Its many progs I would like to pay for the full version off.
Why cant I do this?
When will this be available in Norway?

Currently Norway is not a supported region for paid apps (see http://market.android.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=138294 ).
Try the beta version of the market enabler ( http://code.google.com/p/market-enabler/ ) which I believe allows you to select which region you want to "appear" to be in so you can access the apps from that region.
Regards,
Dave

This is bull**** by google.
I have to have a rooted phone to do that, and I want to wait for a easy way to root my phone. This I haven't found.

syklitengutt said:
This is bull**** by google.
I have to have a rooted phone to do that, and I want to wait for a easy way to root my phone. This I haven't found.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
rooting your phone is kinda easy... but i admit it's a pain in the ass to have to mod it just for one or two apps

Pissing me off to.
syklitengutt said:
I cant buy any programs at all.
Its many progs I would like to pay for the full version off.
Why cant I do this?
When will this be available in Norway?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I live up in Troms, Norway and I am a bit miffed at the ristrictions imposed on the market place too. I'm searching for a workaround and will post any easy solutions.
Hello to the Hero group too. I have come over from the Athena forum. I'm a WM6.5 traitor.

Hopefulle Google will change the way they support norwegians in the marked. It`s a shame!

To be fair, I believe that it is technically simple, but legally complicated to offer up something like the market in a new territory.
Essentially, Google is acting as a middle-man for all the application developers, who are selling you their apps. Depending on where they are physically located, there are all sorts of issues that may need to be taken into consideration (e.g. VAT, tax, payment processing etc) before they can open up the paid apps market to a new territory.
Not really much help to those of you in unsupported regions, and I do believe that a company the size of Google (and with resources to match!) should be able to do this much quicker!
Regards,
Dave

Have you been to Norway?
foxmeister said:
To be fair, I believe that it is technically simple, but legally complicated to offer up something like the market in a new territory.
Essentially, Google is acting as a middle-man for all the application developers, who are selling you their apps. Depending on where they are physically located, there are all sorts of issues that may need to be taken into consideration (e.g. VAT, tax, payment processing etc) before they can open up the paid apps market to a new territory.
Not really much help to those of you in unsupported regions, and I do believe that a company the size of Google (and with resources to match!) should be able to do this much quicker!
Regards,
Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not legalities that are the problem here but bureaucracy and people sat on their arse drinking coffee and eating cake all day at work. It takes so damn long to get anything done in Norway. Take a look at the XBox 360 update - streaming movies and tv available but switched off in order to let a Norwegian company take control of the content. (But the contracts, and therefore the service, were not ready because everyone was on summer holiday!)
Don't hold your breath for a paid app Marketplace here until at least end of the year.

This is exactly the sort of area where the EU should step up to the plate to harmonize the laws across individual member states. I''m not talking about taxation, or tax rates, but it should be much easier to do business with the EU as a "bloc". Trouble is the bureaucrats seem to spend more time thinking up legislation to complicate and hinder, rather than make things simpler and easier for the people they represent!
Regards,
Dave

Ermmmm.
foxmeister said:
This is exactly the sort of area where the EU should step up to the plate to harmonize the laws across individual member states. I''m not talking about taxation, or tax rates, but it should be much easier to do business with the EU as a "bloc". Trouble is the bureaucrats seem to spend more time thinking up legislation to complicate and hinder, rather than make things simpler and easier for the people they represent!
Regards,
Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Norway's not in the EU and that's it's main problem.

Well, that comes as a surprise to me! I just assumed that it was!
Regards,
Dave

I understand your frustration very well, My country is in European region and IN the EU community and we can't buy payed apps on marketplace either. Our mobile providers have to make deals with google before they can enable it.
Typical Belgium, always steps behind.
These new smartphones and app markets are what makes these new generation phones appealing.
Hope it wont take to long, otherwise people start pirating soft like on WM.

at least you guys in the EU can see the light at the end of the tunnel, im in the middle east and know for a fact that ill never be able to buy an app for my phone ,how come Apple managed to do it with the Iphone ???

quattro_rs said:
at least you guys in the EU can see the light at the end of the tunnel, im in the middle east and know for a fact that ill never be able to buy an app for my phone ,how come Apple managed to do it with the Iphone ???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so the light doesn't shine here in Luxembourg, no way to buy an app in the android store, just the free ones. Better than nothing

Rooted my phone. Now buying what I want when I want.

The same here , I'm from Saudi Arabia and I can't buy any app , I had the iphone before and I was able to buy anything also the had Arabic support !! even though apple is known for bad Arabic support , so google ; shame on you !!!!

Why does Omnirom exist?

Forgive me if this thread is out of place. I mean everything I say with the greatest respect for omnirom's devs and users.
I found out about omnirom recently. I was struck by its motto: "Omni isn’t better, just different." There has to be a better reason to go to the trouble of building a rom that's only going to be slightly different from AOSP or Cyanogenmod.
I want to make a suggestion. As a new android rom, why not fill a need in the community instead of saying, we've got nothing better to offer you, only something different. Novelty wears off and people want more than just "different" from their operating systems.
Can I suggest a huge glaring need in the Android rom space that no major mod is filling? Security and Privacy.
The NSA and other intelligence agencies and corporations are launching attacks on people. Even Google is doing that. Months after I got my new android device, I was shocked when I found that Android was uploading all my contacts and other data to google's servers without asking me.
Read this article (Ars Technica: Google’s iron grip on Android: Controlling open source by any means necessary) to see how Google is making a walled garden with Android.
With 4.4, Google seems to be going even further. They won't stop. Google is using android as a trojan horse to collect information from people and sell it. Facebook is also doing it. The NSA is doing it.
Is there anybody out there who respects people and their privacy any more? I can't think of any major rom that does it.
Omnirom has xplodwild, Dees_Troy and Chainfire and many other talented developers, but why is the only thing they offer us a slightly different rom?!
We techsavvy people want more from our roms than that. Our pressing need in this day and age is not split screen apps. We're being constantly spied on by everybody and being monetised by everyone. What about end-to-end email security via Mailpile and the Dark Mail alliance? What about the Freedombox project?
Omnirom's description says, "Omni is what custom ROMs used to be about – innovation, new features, transparency, community, and freedom." Every android rom innovates new features and they're all open source because Android is open source. Most of them have a community focus. How is Omnirom any different?
Every project needs a reason to exist. I can't see omnirom's reason for existence.
There is a lack of respect for people by governments and corporations. They seek to use us or buy and sell us. Omnirom has the chance to fill a need in FOSS android world: A rom that respects and protects the data and the individual from legalized spying.
Let me respectfully ask this question. Wouldn't it be more reasonable to put all your talents to something useful and filling a need in the android world instead of being another flavour of stock Android?

Hoodahottie said:
Forgive me if this thread is out of place. I mean everything I say with the greatest respect for omnirom's devs and users.
I found out about omnirom recently. I was struck by its motto: "Omni isn’t better, just different." There has to be a better reason to go to the trouble of building a rom that's only going to be slightly different from AOSP or Cyanogenmod.
I want to make a suggestion. As a new android rom, why not fill a need in the community instead of saying, we've got nothing better to offer you, only something different. Novelty wears off and people want more than just "different" from their operating systems.
Can I suggest a huge glaring need in the Android rom space that no major mod is filling? Security and Privacy.
The NSA and other intelligence agencies and corporations are launching attacks on people. Even Google is doing that. Months after I got my new android device, I was shocked when I found that Android was uploading all my contacts and other data to google's servers without asking me.
Read this article (Ars Technica: Google’s iron grip on Android: Controlling open source by any means necessary) to see how Google is making a walled garden with Android.
With 4.4, Google seems to be going even further. They won't stop. Google is using android as a trojan horse to collect information from people and sell it. Facebook is also doing it. The NSA is doing it.
Is there anybody out there who respects people and their privacy any more? I can't think of any major rom that does it.
Omnirom has xplodwild, Dees_Troy and Chainfire and many other talented developers, but why is the only thing they offer us a slightly different rom?!
We techsavvy people want more from our roms than that. Our pressing need in this day and age is not split screen apps. We're being constantly spied on by everybody and being monetised by everyone. What about end-to-end email security via Mailpile and the Dark Mail alliance? What about the Freedombox project?
Omnirom's description says, "Omni is what custom ROMs used to be about – innovation, new features, transparency, community, and freedom." Every android rom innovates new features and they're all open source because Android is open source. Most of them have a community focus. How is Omnirom any different?
Every project needs a reason to exist. I can't see omnirom's reason for existence.
There is a lack of respect for people by governments and corporations. They seek to use us or buy and sell us. Omnirom has the chance to fill a need in FOSS android world: A rom that respects and protects the data and the individual from legalized spying.
Let me respectfully ask this question. Wouldn't it be more reasonable to put all your talents to something useful and filling a need in the android world instead of being another flavour of stock Android?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Something that perhaps doesn't come across when reading about Omni is about our thoughts on security and privacy. I'm one of the loudest complainers about the actions of a few companies (Google being the main one), who are using Android as a platform to spy on people.
Make no mistake, Omni will seek to address that. One issue the community faces though is that it is currently at the ebb and whim of Google. If Google decide to do X, pretty much every custom ROM has no real choice other than to follow. The aim of Omni is to offer an alternative "upstream" to look towards, when you find out that Google has started to call home every inbound phone number that it doesn't "recognise", in order to find out if it's a company from Google Maps/Local... And presumably log that forever more with your account...

This is a timely question with a very reassuring response. There is F-Droid instead of PlayStore (but it tends to be a few months behind) and OsmAnd instead of Maps (which is better in some ways). I would like to see more in this direction too.

IMO unless your a spy or a criminal I don't see why someone would care about all that NSA stuff.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

pulser_g2 said:
Something that perhaps doesn't come across when reading about Omni is about our thoughts on security and privacy. I'm one of the loudest complainers about the actions of a few companies (Google being the main one), who are using Android as a platform to spy on people.
Make no mistake, Omni will seek to address that. One issue the community faces though is that it is currently at the ebb and whim of Google. If Google decide to do X, pretty much every custom ROM has no real choice other than to follow. The aim of Omni is to offer an alternative "upstream" to look towards, when you find out that Google has started to call home every inbound phone number that it doesn't "recognise", in order to find out if it's a company from Google Maps/Local... And presumably log that forever more with your account...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you thinking of implementing off the shelf carddav / caldav syncing? Instead of syncing with Google for calendar and contacts, you can sync with any other source (like ownCloud).
Something that Davdroid does.
I am using this setup on my own private Linux server the last few days and seems to work well.
Sent from my TF300T using Tapatalk 4

jonathanxx1 said:
IMO unless your a spy or a criminal I don't see why someone would care about all that NSA stuff.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, this is the biggest problem that the security industry (ie. people like me) face, in trying to explain the issues here.
Here's a small example, to show you the problems, not specifically with the NSA, but with anything "cloud". Let's imagine a malicious attacker is going after you...
Let's look at your gmail account. It's likely that you signed up for it with your old Hotmail account (the previously most common type of email service). Most people did. It's also likely that you protect your Gmail account fairly well, but have likely not changed your Hotmail password in a while. That's likely the best way in for an attacker.
Now, before you say "OK, but what's the risk", let's take a look at what information is accessible to someone getting into your Google account.
Firstly, they know the details of all your android devices (IMEI etc) - they know what tablets you have, what phones you have, and their serial numbers and identifiers. They can also carry out a remote wipe on any of your devices via Mobile Device Manager. Let's come back to this later though
From Google Mail, they have a fair idea of what you're up to, based on your communications to other people. They can access your location history, and data-mine that, to figure out where you are. They can also look at your communications with other people via Hangouts and G+, and attempt to work out where you are (or simply use the GPS location). They can access the location sharing features of google's services, and see where you and your family are. They can see you're not at home (getting your address from an email), and go to your house, aware your kids are home alone, and rob the place, abducting them.
When you return home, you meet a scene of devastation. You take out your phone and call the cops. You call 911/999/112/whatever, but the call was intercepted and passed to the attackers, via software that was installed onto your phone remotely (via the play store's remote push system).
At this point, the attacker takes your phone, and puts you in the back of the van. He uses Google Device Manager, and removes the lockscreen password from your phone (via the forgot lockscreen code feature). This also resets your device encryption password to a known one. At this point, all the devices are turned off, and their SIMs removed, and you are driven to a remote location.
The attackers then call your partner (having got their number from your Google contacts), and demand $1 million, while telling your partner that you know they are currently in <name of place from their google shared location feature>. The same remote access toolkit is installed onto their phone (given they had used your email as a recovery email for their Google account), and this permits monitoring of their phone to check if they call 911 etc.
OK, that all sounds far-fetched, but that is all entirely possible. The sheer amount of data being held about you, by google and other cloud providers, is insane. I didn't even go into the possibility of financial theft here. Cellphones are a very important thing to people, and they often take them for granted. Would you consider that when you called 911 in a moment of need, that someone had remote-installed a piece of malicious software, which exploits an android security hole, to replace the dialer app, and route the call to a rogue attacker, pretending to be the emergency services?
The amount of control that "other people" have over a phone running "Google Apps" is immense. Don't just think about the "NSA" aspects of this - consider how devastating it would be if someone had access to your Google account. And now remember that anyone on the technical team of Google could (in theory) issue an access token to your account to a well-paying attacker...
Oh, and one of the best ways an attacker can get into your Google account is simply to steal a phone or tablet, and extract the Google authentication token. Sure, they might not be able to change your password, but they are now "into" the chain, and will be able to start the attack.
If this don't bother you, I don't know what will...

scanno said:
Are you thinking of implementing off the shelf carddav / caldav syncing? Instead of syncing with Google for calendar and contacts, you can sync with any other source (like ownCloud).
Something that Davdroid does.
I am using this setup on my own private Linux server the last few days and seems to work well.
Sent from my TF300T using Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I currently use {Card,Cal}dav syncing via my OwnCloud server. Thanks for the link to DavDroid, I'd not seen it before!

jonathanxx1 said:
IMO unless your a spy or a criminal I don't see why someone would care about all that NSA stuff.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's shocking that so many people don't (want to?) see the actual problem. The whole spying system is not just about tracking down terrorists.
Google, Facebook, etc and even governmental institutions collect our data to predict and influence our future actions.
So please devs, give us the option to be more independent from the big companies.
Gesendet von meinem Find 5 mit Tapatalk

I
pulser_g2 said:
I currently use {Card,Cal}dav syncing via my OwnCloud server. Thanks for the link to DavDroid, I'd not seen it before!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DavDroid is a pretty nice solution and you can set it up for multiple accounts.
I am still looking for a good note taking app (using Evernote now) to sync with my OwnCloud server.
Do you have any suggestions for a sort of Evernote replacement that can sync with OwnCloud?
Sent from my Xperia T using Tapatalk
---------- Post added at 03:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:53 PM ----------
boernie said:
It's shocking that so many people don't (want to?) see the actual problem. The whole spying system is not just about tracking down terrorists.
Google, Facebook, etc and even governmental institutions collect our data to predict and influence our future actions.
So please devs, give us the option to be more independent from the big companies.
Gesendet von meinem Find 5 mit Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For your calendar and contacts there are solutions already. Main problem is where so you store your data. You will need your own server or trusted third party.
Sent from my Xperia T using Tapatalk

I'm trying to set up my own infrastructure
But I was surprised that there was not out-of-the-box solution to use CardDav and CalDav.
Maybe you could include the apps mentioned above as they are/will become open source.
Gesendet von meinem Find 5 mit Tapatalk

scanno said:
I
DavDroid is a pretty nice solution and you can set it up for multiple accounts.
I am still looking for a good note taking app (using Evernote now) to sync with my OwnCloud server.
Do you have any suggestions for a sort of Evernote replacement that can sync with OwnCloud?
Sent from my Xperia T using Tapatalk
---------- Post added at 03:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:53 PM ----------
For your calendar and contacts there are solutions already. Main problem is where so you store your data. You will need your own server or trusted third party.
Sent from my Xperia T using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've found a nice notepad app, but none yet that use OwnCloud sync.
I was thinking about looking into https://github.com/spacecowboy/NotePad and trying to get it working with the API. It would be fairly easy to remove the "closed" bits like Dropbox sync etc, and use the OwnCloud backend. It would also be nice to add proper encryption of notes later on.
Anyone else interested? (I hate android app coding, I can't even get the dependencies to resolve for it to build... Thus contributing to my dislike for ANYTHING java based)

pulser_g2 said:
Something that perhaps doesn't come across when reading about Omni is about our thoughts on security and privacy. I'm one of the loudest complainers about the actions of a few companies (Google being the main one), who are using Android as a platform to spy on people.
Make no mistake, Omni will seek to address that. One issue the community faces though is that it is currently at the ebb and whim of Google. If Google decide to do X, pretty much every custom ROM has no real choice other than to follow. The aim of Omni is to offer an alternative "upstream" to look towards, when you find out that Google has started to call home every inbound phone number that it doesn't "recognise", in order to find out if it's a company from Google Maps/Local... And presumably log that forever more with your account...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm thrilled to hear this! Do other omnirom devs share your opinion?
I know it's early, but does the omnirom team have specific security/privacy ideas they want to implement?
In the long run, I don't see the Android ecosystem remaining in one piece. It's going to fragment. Amazon has already done it. Samsung may make this move. And people who want privacy and secure communications need a rom (and perhaps it's own app ecosystem) to which they can turn.
Please think about changing your why omnirom page. Right now, its pitch is very weak. Add a section about privacy and security and people will flock to this rom.
boernie said:
It's shocking that so many people don't (want to?) see the actual problem. The whole spying system is not just about tracking down terrorists.
Google, Facebook, etc and even governmental institutions collect our data to predict and influence our future actions.
So please devs, give us the option to be more independent from the big companies.
Gesendet von meinem Find 5 mit Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm absolutely shocked every time I hear people say this. So many people just dismiss the NSA spying because they're not terrorists. They don't have the imagination it takes to understand that today's citizen is tomorrow's terrorist. Every country that spied on it's citizens has oppressed them.
I'm not a spy or terrorist, but I don't want my every thought and action logged away to be used against me later.
boernie said:
I'm trying to set up my own infrastructure
But I was surprised that there was not out-of-the-box solution to use CardDav and CalDav.
Maybe you could include the apps mentioned above as they are/will become open source.
Gesendet von meinem Find 5 mit Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't post links, but if you want your own secure cloud, look at the Freedombox project. It's Debian based and it has some radical ideas. Eben Moglen and Bdale garbee have worked on it since 2010. Eben Moglen's talk about countries spying on citizens came long before the NSA story came to light.
The website is kind of dead, but in August Bdale gave a talk where he said Freedombox 1.0 should come before 2014. It's on youtube.

boernie said:
It's shocking that so many people don't (want to?) see the actual problem. The whole spying system is not just about tracking down terrorists.
Google, Facebook, etc and even governmental institutions collect our data to predict and influence our future actions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a pretty simple solution to this!
Don't behave like expected.
Sent from my Find 5 using Tapatalk

Hoodahottie said:
Even Google is doing that. Months after I got my new android device, I was shocked when I found that Android was uploading all my contacts and other data to google's servers without asking me.
We techsavvy people want more
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With all due respect to the OP, the above is the major problem. While many of us are "tech savvy" to one degree or another, I think we forget how to read sometimes.
When you're given that stack of papers to sign for your mortgage, car loan, credit card or bank account, how many blindly sign where we are told to be the agent of that company? Do you read what you are signing? If you answer yes, why is setting up your phone any different? We are told that such and such information is going to be collected when we sign up for our Google accounts. We are told that additional information is going to be collected when we set up our phone. Every time we start up GPS services, we are told Google is going to use this data they collect.
This causes me to wonder why it takes people by surprise when they learn that Google isn't a computer hardware and software company, but a marketing company. And even more wonder happens when they mention it's without their knowledge. Reading terms of service is important. They spell out exactly what they are going to do and give you the option not to participate. When I worked for IBM in the 80's, I had to sign away any rights to technology I developed while working there (with the exception of anything I started before employment and listed on their agreement). If I didn't want to do that I was my choice to not work there. The same thing happened with Tricord, Wang, Computer Associates, MAI, Excactium, Pivotal, etc
The other response about the NSA is troubling as well. We elect our representatives in this country every two four or six years. How many of those people that you voted into office voted yes to the Patriot Act? You want some scary reading, research the rights we gave up allowing that to happen.
We are innocent until proven guilty. The NSA "spying" doesn't just ensnare terrorist, but easily the whole population of the USA. Their model of two, three and more levels of contact captures everyone. The real question isn't I'm not a terrorist so why does it matter, it is I'm not a terrorist so why are you doing it?
We setup up these phones with the knowledge we would be tracked. We walk down the street and see security cameras watching. Then we complain about it? We allowed it to happen to have a whiz bang new phone or to feel safer.
" Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." Benjamin Franklin
I work in retail. Every year I hear people complain that we set Christmas stuff too early. Those same people are buying their lights, cards and trees in the same visit. If they didn't buy early, we wouldn't set early. If we truly cared about not being used as marketing data, we wouldn't be using these phones. We wouldn't use Google.com to search. We wouldn't re-elect many of those in office at the local state and federal levels.
Sorry for the rant, I'll step of the soapbox and allow this discussion to get back on track.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

With no disrespect, I wonder if people who ask me to take full responsibility understand life and power.
I understand that I have to take some responsibility for signing on for services and programs, but I blame the government and corporations more because they are many times richer and more powerful than me.
And they take advantage of that.
How many Terms of service agreements have I had to sign to use internet services? If I really read all of their ToS, I wouldn't have time for anything else. I'll bet that the ceos of these companies haven't read the ToS of their own products. They don't have to because they have the money to hire 50 of the best lawyers and ask them to craft a bullet-proof ToS.
They probably spent tens of thousands of dollars on the ToS. And I stand against all of that money and power, with limited time and resources and no law degree. Am I the one to be blamed? They know I'm tired from work, that I don't have a legal background and my attention span is limited and I need this product, and there is no other choice unless I'm willing to suffer a lot.
Often these multinational corporations control the whole market and I don't really have any choice. Look at the phone OS market now. I can choose between Android, iOS or Windows Phone. My choices are an open source OS built to facilitate spying, an overpriced, closed source, simplistic OS built by a company that co-operates with the NSA or a closed source, proprietary phone from an industry giant accused of anti-competitive behaviour and also collaborating with the NSA.
There's no real choice. Not just in the phone industry, but in most places in life. Powerful people don't become powerful by giving everyone else choices and freedom. They take freedom away. You ask me to take responsibility as if I had another, better choice. Apple, Google and Microsoft ToS will be mostly similar and it'll always protect their interests. There are no other real choices. It's always been that way, and why I blame the government, corporations and powerful people more than myself.
To really win, I'd have to devote my life to fighting all these powerful forces and even if I win, I'll have to spend the rest of my life defending against other crooks who'd try to do the same thing. I wouldn't have any time left for a life.

"You ask me to take responsibility as if I had another, better choice."
Who else is responsible for your actions?
"Apple, Google and Microsoft ToS will be mostly similar and it'll always protect their interests. There are no other real choices."
Yes, these companies are in business to make money. That is no different than you having a job to make money.
But do not tell me you or Bill or Steve or Larry do not have à choice. Ever heard of CP/M? An Altair? AltaVista? If you haven't, here is some history.
CP/M was a dominant operating system before DOS. Bill Gates made a choice to create Altair Basic for the Altair microcomputer being sold mail-order. That was the start of Micro-Soft (now Microsoft). He made another choice to create MS-DOS to compete against CP/M for the IBM PC and clones. He made another choice to start work on Windows to compete against Apple's graphical interfaces and IBM's TopView.
Before Steve Jobs made the choice to sell Woz's garage built microcomputer (later named the Apple) there was the Altair mentioned above. They made a choice to build an alternative.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin made the choice to start Google, thinking they could do search better than AltaVista, Yahoo, Excite, HotBot, MetaCrawler, etc.
Powerful people become powerful many times by giving others alternatives. The above mentioned powerful people are examples.
We can make the choice to use prepaid basic phones and not worry about anyone watching us because you don't use personal information to activate.
"To really win, I'd have to devote my life to fighting all these powerful forces"
You should. Doing so makes you powerful. Recently two women changed how one of the world's largest food brands makes their products. One of them eventually dropped out of the spot light and it became the crusade of ONE woman. Kraft Foods is changing how they make some of their Mac and Cheese products due to the efforts of one individual. No more Yellow #5 in their Mac and Cheese products specifically marketed at children. That was a choice she made. A fight that became part of her life.
We all have choices. We are all responsible for our own actions. We can't blame government as a whole because they are largely elected by us. We work to make money to live the life we choose. Corporations (started by individuals) do the same thing.
Sorry again for diverting off topic, but I have a difficult time with responsibility shifting to account for mistakes. We all make them (this reply is probably one of mine). A wise person once said, the man who makes no mistake, usually doesn't make anything worthwhile.
This particular set of threads, all the Omni threads, are what make communities like this work. We can voice opinions, state facts, help with commands to build a repository, compile a kernel, even agree to disagree.
This is how XDA started, while maybe some sections have stayed from the roots, Omni has brought it back full circle.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

jonathanxx1 said:
IMO unless your a spy or a criminal I don't see why someone would care about all that NSA stuff.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You may want to skim through this: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748704471504574438900830760842
Some laws (in many? all? countries) are so loosely worded that you're probably breaking some of them right now. Now remember that the government/google/facebook/whoever is watching everything you do. If you ever become "a problem" you're not going to be too difficult to "deal with". Just a potential look at one of the many problems with complete surveillance.

You guys talk about this as if Google, Facebook and all these companies willingly gave up this information.
But the reality is this: the government (NSA) asks for the data. If the companies deny them this, the NSA then goes to obtain a generalized warrant from the FISA courts, secret courts with a 99.7% warrant approval rate, and then obtain the data regardless of what these companies want.
And for those of you who STILL think it's the companies, read this: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world...1d661e-4166-11e3-8b74-d89d714ca4dd_story.html
---------- Post added at 10:38 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:31 AM ----------
And yes, these companies DO own your data. As soon as you click "I accept these terms" on the registration page, they are now the owners of everything that goes through their online services.
But, here's the catch. Companies are individuals too, as established in Citizens United v. FCC, and are protected under the same rights as any other individual. And it logically follows that because of this, it is a breach on each company's 4th amendment rights for the NSA to obtain generalized warrants, that list NO goal for the investigation, and use these in order to force each company to fork over account details among other things.

frustration pure
one of the most common arguments of those who don't care or don't want to face the
risks of others knowing anything or almost everything of us is:
i have nothing to hide so what !
now to make a point i would like to come up with a very simple and for many
perhaps a bit strange example but i think most will understand what i mean.
ALBEIT I'M ALLOWED TO MAKE LOVE TO MY WIFE AND IT'S TOTALLY LEGAL
AND RIGHT, I DO NOT WANT ANYONE TO LISTEN OR WATCH :laugh:
UNDERSTOOD ?
regards

+1
I've been lurking and decided to give my opinion. First though, let me give a little background. Two years ago I bought my first Nexus and I rooted it right away. I left the bootloader unlocked, the CWM recovery installed, and USB debugging left on. Any app that could log me in automatically I allowed...Ebay, Amazon, Gmail, etc. I thought I was doing a good job protecting my privacy by using a strong password lock and installing Lookout.
I had no idea how easy it was to gain access to all of my data. My ignorance would not have protected me. Now to today. I have a rooted phone, but the bootloader is locked with the stock recovery installed. I will install a custom rom when a good one is available, but the stock recovery will be re-flashed and the bootloader locked when I'm done. I still use Lookout. I'm using LastPass to manage unique strong passwords now...no more saving passwords. I'm waiting for ADB Toggle to be fixed for Kitkat and USB Debugging will be turned off when my phone plugs into a computer. I am constantly looking for ways to protect my data.
To have total convenience, you must give up privacy and security. To have total privacy and security, you must give up convenience. I know that google has access to EVERYTHING I do with my phone and am not happy about it. I try to be informed and balance convenience, privacy, and security.
:good: I second the suggestion that OmniROM should attempt to become the ROM for people who want to protect their privacy and security. :good: There is a lot that can be done at the operating system level that cannot be performed by individual apps. Sure, I love all the features that custom ROMs offer and look forward to see what can be done, but privacy and security are #1 for me.
If you agree, then +1 this post.

Huawei lost access to Google tech. What now?

So, you probably have heard that Huawei is banned from Android or something along those lines. What does this mean for our device, you ask? We might actually be the ones who are less affected by all this, since we are "only" losing future updates (security patches might be affected). The p30 line is in this situation too, but all future devices are really screwed, since Huawei lost access to the Google Play Store and other aspects of collaboration between Google and OEMs. Going forward Huawei can only use the AOSP code, and nothing more (AOSP is really barebones compared to what OEMs get).
I started this thread as a hub of discussion and opinions on this event, so feel free to share your opinions, questions or concerns below.
Edit, direct quote from Reuters:
"Huawei will only be able to use the public version of Android and will not be able to get access to proprietary apps and services from Google," the source said.
Mod edit - Keep political discussion away from XDA. Thank you

To start, I'm worried that support for our phones is over. Unless they restart the bootloader unlocking code program, we are **** out of luck when it comes to manual updating, since Funky Huawei does not have codes either.

Lol maybe this will kick start them to unlock their bootloaders and provide full source code and drivers so it will work with any custom rom and open Gapps.
Unlikely but imagine how fun that would be :=

mikey_sk said:
Lol maybe this will kick start them to unlock their bootloaders and provide full source code and drivers so it will work with any custom rom and open Gapps.
Unlikely but imagine how fun that would be :=
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I envision about 4 scenarios, for meh to throw the phone in the garbage. Scenario one is no more updates, bootloader unlocks. Two is no updates nor bootloader unlocks. 3 is a rework of emui. 4. Is revoking Google play certification, plus the new emui doesn't have any app compatibility

Fernix_ said:
I envision about 4 scenarios, for meh to throw the phone in the garbage. Scenario one is no more updates, bootloader unlocks. Two is no updates nor bootloader unlocks. 3 is a rework of emui. 4. Is revoking Google play certification, plus the new emui doesn't have any app compatibility
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also drivers and kernel sources would be an absolute godsend, although we have openkirin

**** trumpet..lol. so we are left with only 2 choices? Samsung and Apple.. I can imagine trumpet will be eyeing next on other Chinese manufacturers too.

Fernix_ said:
So, you probably have heard that Huawei is banned from Android or something along those lines. What does this mean for our device, you ask? We might actually be the ones who are less affected by all this, since we are "only" losing future updates (security patches might be affected). The p30 line is in this situation too, but all future devices are really screwed, since Huawei lost access to the Google Play Store and other aspects of collaboration between Google and OEMs. Going forward Huawei can only use the AOSP code, and nothing more (AOSP is really barebones compared to what OEMs get).
I started this thread as a hub of discussion and opinions on this event, so feel free to share your opinions, questions or concerns below.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
source plz
---------- Post added at 11:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:29 PM ----------
demon2112 said:
source plz
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
anddd yeahhh aosp plzz haha

demon2112 said:
source plz
---------- Post added at 11:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:29 PM ----------
anddd yeahhh aosp plzz haha
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tweakers.net ?

demon2112 said:
source plz
---------- Post added at 11:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:29 PM ----------
anddd yeahhh aosp plzz haha
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Added a quote from Reuters (https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKCN1SP0NB?__twitter_impression=true)

demon2112 said:
source plz
---------- Post added at 11:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:29 PM ----------
anddd yeahhh aosp plzz haha
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What it means by AOSP is that Huawei only has access to that code. It does not mean that we will be getting stock android at all (plus AOSP is really really barebones)

Alternative path that Huawei may choose - https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/14/18265646/huawei-operating-systems-android-windows-ban
We will end up with non-android basically

I'm more curious about the china retaliation on this....
regarding our current phone, I think huawei will re-open bootloader unlock program to ignite the development.

Gee, when I mentioned that this was a worry a few months ago, I was lambasted and called a 'Trump supporter' (???!??!?!).

Who will fire the first missile?

demon2112 said:
source plz
---------- Post added at 11:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:29 PM ----------
anddd yeahhh aosp plzz haha
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://www.androidauthority.com/huawei-loses-access-to-google-android-987873/amp/

Sooooo would something like this be enough to get out of a contract ?
Surely ...

Loss of access to Google services and security updates will only apply to future devices. Current devices will be supported so we do not have expensive bricks.
https://www.techradar.com/uk/news/h...google-pulls-access-to-core-apps-and-services
I know Huawei play fast and loose with security processes but this is the battlefront of the US-China trade war. Huawei is one of the largest global players and I'm sure there will be a compromise once grown ups are in charge again at the White House!

catshanghai said:
Loss of access to Google services and security updates will only apply to future devices. Current devices will be supported so we do not have expensive bricks.
https://www.techradar.com/uk/news/h...google-pulls-access-to-core-apps-and-services
I know Huawei play fast and loose with security processes but this is the battlefront of the US-China trade war. Huawei is one of the largest global players and I'm sure there will be a compromise once grown ups are in charge again at the White House!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I won't be considering Huawei anymore though. I inherited my Huawei Mate 10 from my kid, and it's a good phone. Being unrooted, I use it for apps with payments.
Time to prepare to change it one of these days, waiting for Xiaomi's Poco f2 to supplement my f1. Still Chinese but I think they are in a different world from Huawei where Huawei is more than just phones or consumer products, definitely can raise concerns about a country's security.
Google can also be used by the USA to spy on other countries too lol. Anyway, China was first, they banned Google stuff, Facebook, Whatsapp, etc.

F*ck the US and Google. The US government thought it necessary to go to this extreme because Huawei is affiliated with the Chinese government. A bit rich when Google has been ordered to do this by the US government. How the irony is lost on them.
Now I will make sure to just buy Huawei phones in the future. I'd actually prefer if my phone was rid of Google. They've stolen enough of everyone's data illegally.

Well, I am not supprised, and made a big mistake buying a huawei mate 20 pro device. As soon Huawei keep doing things, what market leaders decide.... First complaining, now revocating everything, next step will be forcing / and destroy the remaining reputation. This is clear world decline that China is roadbreaker in innovation. Huawei also not helping in this. Smart phones are quiet small deal to Huawei , but they are loading in the 5G bacbone network devices, I think a lot of company under a pressure to cancel the contract with them. We know maybe there is no true in the whole story or a very little. I understand that business what Huawei doing is a western-like business model, similar what apple do in USA... But they are in China, USA still has really powerful hands to manipulate the market, so if Huawei not proving that they can be trusted, with opensource softwares , fully documented opensource hardwares/softwares, then it is a bad time for them. Rebranding and custom roms was "just for yourself" now it will be must to deploy some other firmware on your phone...
I completely lost with huawei reaction like a 2 year old kid, getting complaining then got angry and refuse negotiation, if they happen, I assume goverments will force to remove all huawei contract, if the pressure is enough high, maybe there will be some investment as well to/from nokia siemens , ericson or other big network device manufacture. Huawei wanted to build a Western like brand in China, that is a total failure. They don't need that anyway, just create the hardware sell it and do not care about software apart from the operations system drivers.
Why a logo on the phone not enough? Why they are not stepping forward last year to being more transpanent to the western world... Showing to the west, that China is overcoming create dislike in big western companies, and every exposed weak spots will be attacket. Huawei could have changed/improve the partnership, with going to negotiation providing better communication, open source apps, blueprints , whatever they want from them. But the reaction, they enclosed theirself in their castle preparing for the siege. BAD STRATEGY.
Yes not fair, if another company doing the same way like apple do, it is not threated as risk, as "west it the best" but the general trust problem with Chinese goverment and the type of the goverment can not expect the same conditions as a trusted western company... So they go into negotiation or will drastically reduce the prices and replicate apps in their store, that will not work at all....

Question Is the mi 11 safe

Iam just wondering if it's still a good idea to use the mi 11 ultra after a backdoor was found in the os and the US banned them?

I think you answered your own question...

What backdoor, never heard of anything like that. I know it was banned in the US and that's since been lifted.

deejay1308 said:
Iam just wondering if it's still a good idea to use the mi 11 ultra after a backdoor was found in the os and the US banned them?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was never shown Xiaomi has a backdoor. Also Xiaomi was never banned in the US. US investors were banned from INVESTING into Xiaomi because of allegations of ties to Chinese military. Which has been temporarily reversed by court order pending more litigation.
Huawei on the other hand was straight up banned from doing business with America and does have very strong ties to the cyber arm of the PLA.
The situations are apples to oranges. However Xiaomi doesn't want to expand into the American market in the current environment and they also want to build up a patent warchest to prevent lawsuits when they do end up in the US market.

Yes, well... just do a search "Xiaomi, security risk".
It's just apples to oranges... and they're all rotten.
Exclusive: Warning Over Chinese Mobile Giant Xiaomi Recording Millions Of People’s ‘Private’ Web And Phone Use
Xiaomi is collecting users’ browser habits and phone usage, raising red flags for privacy researchers.
www.google.com
Yeah you can trust them...
Xiaomi U-Turn: Admits Sending Private Data it Said it Didn’t
This just gets weirder: Xiaomi was caught out by security researchers, who found its devices phoning home.
www.google.com

All Chinese companies are heavily monitored by their government and are required to comply with any request so the question should be, do you trust the Chinese government?

You are aware that you can simply run my script to make your read-only system read-write-able right? All you need is an unlocked bootloader. And then you can fully debloat your device and make your MIUI experience run as smooth as silk! Enjoy it!

blackhawk said:
Yes, well... just do a search "Xiaomi, security risk".
It's just apples to oranges... and they're all rotten.
Exclusive: Warning Over Chinese Mobile Giant Xiaomi Recording Millions Of People’s ‘Private’ Web And Phone Use
Xiaomi is collecting users’ browser habits and phone usage, raising red flags for privacy researchers.
www.google.com
Yeah you can trust them...
Xiaomi U-Turn: Admits Sending Private Data it Said it Didn’t
This just gets weirder: Xiaomi was caught out by security researchers, who found its devices phoning home.
www.google.com
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be fair the fact that you can't open Xiaomi apps without a pop up about signing your life away tells you that you shouldn't be using their built in apps.
I'd suggest anyone using a Xiaomi phone to use NextDNS with a ton of blockers set up. Don't use Xiaomi native apps.

jmikepr said:
To be fair the fact that you can't open Xiaomi apps without a pop up about signing your life away tells you that you shouldn't be using their built in apps.
I'd suggest anyone using a Xiaomi phone to use NextDNS with a ton of blockers set up. Don't use Xiaomi native apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It gets worse than that. Hidden hardware level backdoors can be insidious and for all practical purposes, undetectable.
The analog attack:
Redirect Notice
After the hell the CCP bioweapon virus caused my trust level is right where it should for Chinese products, zero.
You can only trust someone to be themselves...

blackhawk said:
It gets worse than that. Hidden hardware level backdoors can be insidious and for all practical purposes, undetectable.
The analog attack:
Redirect Notice
After the hell the CCP bioweapon virus caused my trust level is right where it should for Chinese products, zero.
You can only trust someone to be themselves...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If your threat model involves nation states using back doors to target you specifically, then you are in trouble regardless. There's plenty of zero days out there being exploited that we have no idea about by nation states. But I agree. Everyone needs to find the balance in their threat model. There most certainly are plenty of threat models where someone shouldn't use a Xiaomi phone, or most OEM Androids for that matter.

jmikepr said:
If your threat model involves nation states using back doors to target you specifically, then you are in trouble regardless. There's plenty of zero days out there being exploited that we have no idea about by nation states. But I agree. Everyone needs to find the balance in their threat model. There most certainly are plenty of threat models where someone shouldn't use a Xiaomi phone, or most OEM Androids for that matter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol, Google is a national security risk.
The hardware risk level is exponentially higher with the Chicom chipsets.
I would expect it to be embedded.

why the hell xiaomi got banned but for example one plus didn't despite both being in bbk electronics?

Hahaha oh no the chinese are spying on us...
What concerns me more these days are Google Facebook and Twitter killing Democracy and freedom of speech.
Think about that....

And that's why I picked up mi 11 ultra CN variant ( supported bands were also an important factor )

*justintime* said:
Hahaha oh no the chinese are spying on us...
What concerns me more these days are Google Facebook and Twitter killing Democracy and freedom of speech.
Think about that....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Who said they don't? You can avoid all those things, it doesn't have to be only China or only Facebook lol

Xiaomi is not and never was part of BBK electronics. Where did you get this from?

General Read this before complaining about Google related things not working on your X90PP

Some may feel "targeted" by this thread. I don't really care, though. I feel it was necessary to post this.
Imagine buying a phone meant for Chinese market, and then whining and moaning on XDA forums about some features (Google Play) - that are meant for the GLOBAL market, i.e NOT China- not working properly.
People buy this phone for its cameras. Everything-Google being wonky on China phones (again, phones meant for the CHINA MARKET) is nothing new. And no, it's not just Vivo phones.
If you didn't know that, well... sucks to suck, I guess?
You didn't do [enough] research prior to purchasing, and now you are venting on the forums. Cool, but I'm pretty sure nobody wants to read your bs complaints.
It's kinda like buying a Blu-Ray disc from another region and then whining online that it doesn't work on your player. Get how stupid you sound yet? Vivo never released this particular model for the global market. It's China only, for the time being, at least. You can import it of course, but at your own risk. And that's exactly what some of you don't seem to understand. Somehow you feel entitled to your non-global phone having perfect Google Play functionality. Ridiculous.
If Vivo decides to improve the functionality of Google features on the X90 Pro+, good! They don't have to, though.
If they decide to absolutely do nothing about it, oh well. Again, they don't have to do anything. We'll try to find workarounds.
Do you understand what I'm saying to you right now?
When a China citizen purchases a phone in their country, there's zero Google stuff pre-installed on that phone. And guess what, the large majority of people in China DON'T install Google stuff, EVER. Because they don't need it. Google is not used in China. They have their own search engines etc.
We are here to help each other, find workarounds to problems. That's what these forums are for. Think twice before making a post whining and bashing brands, because it's very likely that your complaints are completely invalid.
Thanks for reading.
{Mod edit: Inappropriate language edited. Oswald Boelcke}

jericho246 said:
Some may feel "targeted" by this thread. I don't really care, though. I feel it was necessary to post this.
Imagine buying a phone meant for Chinese market, and then whining and moaning on XDA forums about some features (Google Play) - that are meant for the GLOBAL market, i.e NOT China- not working properly.
People buy this phone for its cameras. Everything-Google being wonky on China phones (again, phones meant for the CHINA MARKET) is nothing new. And no, it's not just Vivo phones.
If you didn't know that, well... sucks to suck, I guess?
You didn't do [enough] research prior to purchasing, and now you are venting on the forums. Cool, but I'm pretty sure nobody wants to read your bs complaints.
It's kinda like buying a Blu-Ray disc from another region and then whining online that it doesn't work on your player. Get how stupid you sound yet? Vivo never released this particular model for the global market. It's China only, for the time being, at least. You can import it of course, but at your own risk. And that's exactly what some of you don't seem to understand. Somehow you feel entitled to your non-global phone having perfect Google Play functionality. Ridiculous.
If Vivo decides to improve the functionality of Google features on the X90 Pro+, good! They don't have to, though.
If they decide to absolutely do nothing about it, oh well. Again, they don't have to do anything. We'll try to find workarounds.
Do you understand what I'm saying to you right now?
When a China citizen purchases a phone in their country, there's zero Google stuff pre-installed on that phone. And guess what, the large majority of people in China DON'T install Google stuff, EVER. Because they don't need it. Google is not used in China. They have their own search engines etc.
We are here to help each other, find workarounds to problems. That's what these forums are for. Think twice before making a post whining and bashing brands, because it's very likely that your complaints are completely invalid.
Thanks for reading.
{Mod edit: Inappropriate language edited. Oswald Boelcke}
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good job buddy. A post like this was long overdue even when it should be mandatory to search and read before importing a chinese device.

I don't have any issues, notifications arrive in time, etc.
If you have any issues or do you work and research or just get another phone

Before google was blocked by the chinese governement - it was widely used. Still many people use google via VPN.
But yes - google apps that require to be system apps like Android Auto or Google assistant will never work on a China OS phone that has no root. Becasue the Chinese government doesn't allow google to be used.
This is not about what Chinese user wants, but what the CCP dictates.
Also spyware going crazy (you can check with Rethink DNS how many connections are built up to Chinese servers all the time) to fulfill the CCP data hunger is something immiment to any China OS phone. Yes that includes apple phones sold in China (or maybe even global ones activated in China) or any other phone officially sold in China, else it would not be allowed to be sold.
There are plenty more issues than just google when buying a China OS phone - and most sites mentioning shortcomings do not mention them.
A good clue of what the Vivo phone spyware will likely collect can be to read reports about Feng Cai or BXAQ:
https://7asecurity.com/reports/analysis-report_bxaq.pdf
e.g.: All calendar entries, phone contacts, country codes and dialed numbers;
All stored text messages (SMS);
All information accessible for various installed apps + an MD5 hash of the app;+

Well said.
I'm super happy. I just hope to be able to add a card to Google wallet and I can't ask for more in a phone. Got over my initial disappoint about that issue as I can just use my actual card.
Camera is a photographer's dream and everything is so fast and smooth.
The Chinese can spy all they want as I'm in the UK with no relation to China. Could. Not. Care. Less

Haskren said:
The Chinese can spy all they want as I'm in the UK with no relation to China. Could. Not. Care. Less
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Weill it could actually be much worse - it's really not unlikely the Chinese government has superuser access on all China OS phones. They used to do this with an app, but it would be much easier for them to do this with inbuilt tools:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/chinese-app-on-xis-ideology-allows-data-access-to-100-million-users-phones-report-says/2019/10/11/2d53bbae-eb4d-11e9-bafb-da248f8d5734_story.html
This way it cannot be discovered easily at all like with the app they used to.
Implications of this - oh but I have absolutely nothing to worry are stupid in my eyes. How do you know the Chinese government doesn't have data breaches? The data that is known about you - would be easily enough to destroy your finances. There have been breaches in China and chinese users were financially harmed by data breached. As a foreigner you are less likely target but that data could be easily sold.
Any website offering pay services now has to secure itself from card scanning, because credit card numbers aren't expensive to buy anymore (usually missing CVC - sometimes with CVC ) those credit cards come usually from data breaches (and yeah a shop doesn't see the full credit card number - so it's not the shop that breached that data).
e.g. the vivo secure keyboard. I mean how do you know your credit card number doesn't end up in China when using it? It's enabled by default... I would not trust it a dime.
The past has shown problems already on greater scale, google up XcodeGhost and Tencent...

here it comes, another thread blocked by this guy.
If your so afraid if getting your data leaked just don't use Internet. Don't leave your house cause ur neighbours will leak your position aswell. If you're so afraid of the Chinese, just buy another Smartphone.

extremecarver said:
Weill it could actually be much worse - it's really not unlikely the Chinese government has superuser access on all China OS phones. They used to do this with an app, but it would be much easier for them to do this with inbuilt tools:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/chinese-app-on-xis-ideology-allows-data-access-to-100-million-users-phones-report-says/2019/10/11/2d53bbae-eb4d-11e9-bafb-da248f8d5734_story.html
This way it cannot be discovered easily at all like with the app they used to.
Implications of this - oh but I have absolutely nothing to worry are stupid in my eyes. How do you know the Chinese government doesn't have data breaches? The data that is known about you - would be easily enough to destroy your finances. There have been breaches in China and chinese users were financially harmed by data breached. As a foreigner you are less likely target but that data could be easily sold.
Any website offering pay services now has to secure itself from card scanning, because credit card numbers aren't expensive to buy anymore (usually missing CVC - sometimes with CVC ) those credit cards come usually from data breaches (and yeah a shop doesn't see the full credit card number - so it's not the shop that breached that data).
e.g. the vivo secure keyboard. I mean how do you know your credit card number doesn't end up in China when using it? It's enabled by default... I would not trust it a dime.
The past has shown problems already on greater scale, google up XcodeGhost and Tencent...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Everybody knows this happens with chinese phones , nothing new .Why have you bought one ? I mean you were aware Vivo its a chinese company , right ?

vendetta17 said:
Everybody knows this happens with chinese phones , nothing new .Why have you bought one ? I mean you were aware Vivo its a chinese company , right ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's simply not the case. So far phones produced in China for global market spy much less than phones produced for China. Because even Iphone produced for China or Samsung produced for China will have to comply with the Chinese government orders on receiving the content of all messages, a list of all phone calls and more data (maybe even all call content).
There is a difference between China OS phone and Chinese global phone - and most people do NOT know this.
And then - as long as there is no sticky for China OS phones listing exactly what google services are unreliable (like google wallet) and which don't work (e.g. Android Auto, google Assistant, Google Backup, Google Location History) or restrictions like very hard to exchange system launcher - and if you do you receive a notice that you have to click away (but not click on it) every reboot or every few days - most people simply aren't aware of all the problems.
I haven't seen a single review of the X90 Pro+ listing all the missing google services - on the contrary the say it's easy to install google playstore and everything works (notebookcheck) - showing that they clearly never used the phone as daily driver (but 90% of the readers will not know this!) to XDA review mentioning only Android auto and okay google not working (that way you believe the rest - including conversation with google assistant does work) or Chinahandys.net which goest the furthes but still misses some points - however does explain to remove vivo.pem (single review ever mentioning this) if you want to receive notifications - but still misses out on location history and google backup.
If the reviews all mentioned the above problems, then much less people would buy China OS phones in first place, and then it really would be justified saying don't vent about google stuff not working. But the fact is that the reviews all miss this. Even more they often tell you that you can just flash the global firrmware (in case of Xiaomi) - though with Xiaomi 13 for example this has become super complicated, and very easy to brick your phone while doing so.
That goes so far that Trading Shenzen advertises google wallet working - and I still think it's possible to get it to work so far on every phone - and people just not having the right framework installed - but there is no guarantee whatsoever it will continue to work with Android 14.
Same for updates - all the reviews mention either the global update policy which doesn't apply, or like chinahandys saying no guarentee but 2-3 years of updates including major android versions - which again ist not true - because e.g. Vivo X70 Pro+ never got Android 12, and very likely a single major updgrade - Android 13 - and very very delayed security patches (and as long as you use Android - those patches are essential - they have nothing to do with google itself).
Many people buying the X90 Pro+ come from Huawei P30 Pro or even Mate 20 Pro - those had really good / reliable software with the caveat of course of being stuck with Android 10 due to the Huawei ban. However no single other Chinese brand ever got close to the Huawei software quality...
And no - I wasn't aware of most of those points - before buying - because no damn review mentions them! And I thought chinese phones = China OS chinese phones when it comes to spyware (similar to bloatware ). But this is simply not the case. I didn't know that the China spyware costs a lot of battery life (see identical phones on dxomark or gsmarena battery tests - with the China OS version usually having 7-15% less battery life, espcially standby much shorter!)
And youtube reviews are even worse - they usually mention no single point at all of the above.

jericho246 said:
Some may feel "targeted" by this thread. I don't really care, though. I feel it was necessary to post this.
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I stopped reading here.
When a company advertises that the phone they sell will work 100% with Google Payment applications and banking apps which require secure/high integrity. Then when I pay them for that phone, I expect these things to work. When it doesn't work, I demand compensation. That's fair, that's life.
Honestly threads and posts like this belong on Reddit where you can scream into the void at your own expense and because you literally have nothing else better to do. I for one have better things to do.
Writing a long-winded rant that no one who values their time is going to read really tells more about yourself than it does about the people you have directed this thread at. Here's your free bump. But I'll make sure to ignore all of your posts going forward. I suggest others do the same.
EDIT: I got a 15% refund of my 512GB Vivo X90PP, because it doesn't pass SatfetyNet. That brings the price down to just under 850€ for me. Also this will likely be fixed in the next software update, as the trial/beta update has Google Pay working for everyone on XDA who has tested it so far.
So partial refund + working on next update. So I guess the joke is on you for not having done your own research. Clearly I did mine.

luontokoodaus said:
I stopped reading here.
When a company advertises that the phone they sell will work 100% with Google Payment applications and banking apps which require secure/high integrity. Then when I pay them for that phone, I expect these things to work. When it doesn't work, I demand compensation. That's fair, that's life.
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Aight, you sound upset (for no good reason), so let's get this over with quick. Show me where Vivo actually stated that the Vivo X90PP supports "Google Payment applications".
I'll save you the trouble; you can't, because they never advertised it. Google is never mentioned anywhere.
Now if you are talking about resellers like Wonda Mobile or Trading Shenzhen, then your issue is with them, not Vivo.

Greetings to all. Just a friendly reminder about XDA Rule 2.3:
2.3 Flaming / Lack of respect: XDA is about sharing and this does not involve virtual yelling (flaming) or rudeness. Flaming or posting with a lack of respect is unacceptable. Treat new members in the manner in which you would like to have been treated when you were a new member. When dealing with any member, provide them with guidance, advice and instructions when you can, showing them respect and courtesy. Never post in a demanding, argumentative, disrespectful or self-righteous manner.
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While everyone is entitled to post their opinion, we ask only that you do so in a polite and respectful manner, or not at all. So let us please leave the name calling out
of it shall we. Thank you.
-Regards: Badger50