You're not alone: This email from Google's Gemini team is concerning
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Bixby is, or used to be, on Samsung phones.
Gemini replaced Bitchxby on the latest Samsungs.
It's in the firmware.
With the S25 series they even give you a year of full subscription.
They made it the centrepiece of the launch event of the product line.Galaxy devices now come with Gemini, your powerful AI assistant from Google. Long press the power button to get started.
The Samsung's front is called "Galaxy AI" but Gemini runs every new feature really - including "cross-apps actions".
(The non-obsolete Bixby features retained the name but are part of Galaxy AI now.)But even with everything off One UI 7 (and Samsung apps, like camera) is still littered with AI buttons.
youtube.com/HinL5jCy_oI&t=1270
(Gemini is now the default action for long-pressing the power button) -
PostmarketOS is cool, but as an actual phone replacement it is tough, at least last time I tried.
I'm looking at a Volla phone https://volla.online/en/
But I also have no experience of Linux in general yet so I have no idea if this is a good move.
I just really want to get away from android/apple/windows on all of my devices.
I want SteamOS for desktop, because quite frankly gaming is all I really use a desktop for anymore.
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Linux has become good enough to replace desktop operating systems.
Now, we are back at square one. I’ll be the first to inaccurately declare, “This will be the year of the Linux phone.”
Isn't Android using a Linux kernel already?
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All I need is a good enough emulation of android apps to fool them (eg for banking).
Sailfish OS has it.
Unfortunately the project has some closed source bits which, imho, aren't an issue when you look closer (some parts of the UI). Maybe I'm naive but I trust this EU company.
I use it as my daily driver. It certainly is frugal compared to recent Android versions, but fully functional.
It's an actual Linux OS (as opposed to any Android version). Things work the same way they do on my laptop & server.
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PostmarketOS is cool, but as an actual phone replacement it is tough, at least last time I tried.
I haven't tried, but I took a closer look at their wiki yesterday:
- the Main (official) devices are QEMU, i.e. virtual
- the list of Community devices is long, but whenever I clicked on something there were significant caveats
IMHO they should focus their efforts on getting at least one actual phone working fully.
I want this project to succeed, but until then I use Sailfish OS, btw.
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I'm looking at a Volla phone https://volla.online/en/
But I also have no experience of Linux in general yet so I have no idea if this is a good move.
I just really want to get away from android/apple/windows on all of my devices.
I want SteamOS for desktop, because quite frankly gaming is all I really use a desktop for anymore.
Volla also has a (reliable, judging from reports) community version of SFOS
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Linux has become good enough to replace desktop operating systems.
Now, we are back at square one. I’ll be the first to inaccurately declare, “This will be the year of the Linux phone.”
Behold, the Linux phone:
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Isn't Android using a Linux kernel already?
Yes, but everything above it (including drivers) is custom-made and tightly controlled by Google.
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I'm looking at a Volla phone https://volla.online/en/
But I also have no experience of Linux in general yet so I have no idea if this is a good move.
I just really want to get away from android/apple/windows on all of my devices.
I want SteamOS for desktop, because quite frankly gaming is all I really use a desktop for anymore.
Maybe look into Bazzite if you get impatient waiting for SteamOS to become more widely available.
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Isn't Android using a Linux kernel already?
Yes. IIRC it's based on latest LTS kernel with Google patches. So it's been "year of the Linux phone" for a while now.
It's unfortunate that the slop they put on top of it is such a privacy nightmare. PostmarketOS is trying to change that and supports Plasma, Gnome, etc. But it's early days yet and still rough around the edges from what I've been reading.
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Linux has become good enough to replace desktop operating systems.
Now, we are back at square one. I’ll be the first to inaccurately declare, “This will be the year of the Linux phone.”
This is my fourth comment shilling SFOS here, but it just might be what you're looking for. It is my daily driver.
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Google’s Gemini team is apparently sending out emails about an upcoming change to how Gemini interacts with apps on Android devices. The email informs users that, come July 7, 2025, Gemini will be able to “help you use Phone, Messages, WhatsApp, and Utilities on your phone, whether your Gemini Apps Activity is on or off.” Naturally, this has raised some privacy concerns among those who’ve received the email and those using the AI assistant on their Android devices.
What about LineageOS?
My guess is the problematic parts here aren't open source so they should never show up in Lineage OS?
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Google’s Gemini team is apparently sending out emails about an upcoming change to how Gemini interacts with apps on Android devices. The email informs users that, come July 7, 2025, Gemini will be able to “help you use Phone, Messages, WhatsApp, and Utilities on your phone, whether your Gemini Apps Activity is on or off.” Naturally, this has raised some privacy concerns among those who’ve received the email and those using the AI assistant on their Android devices.
Dear tech bros,
We, the people, don't want to use your AI shit. Please stop shoving it down our throats. Thank you.
Sincerely,
-The people
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Dear tech bros,
We, the people, don't want to use your AI shit. Please stop shoving it down our throats. Thank you.
Sincerely,
-The people
Hahahahhshahahahhahahahhahahahahahahahaha.
Sincerely,
Tech bros.
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You might be thinking of the normal Google Assistant
Didn't Google replace the normal Google Assistant with Gemini on newer phones?
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Same. My only use is accidental.
Guess I'm should get around to disabling it.
I thought I had disabled it, and I don't have the app, but I can't see any way to remove it from any of the settings mentioned in the email
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Dear tech bros,
We, the people, don't want to use your AI shit. Please stop shoving it down our throats. Thank you.
Sincerely,
-The people
You don't want to use it.
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Dear tech bros,
We, the people, don't want to use your AI shit. Please stop shoving it down our throats. Thank you.
Sincerely,
-The people
yes but what if a company has the ability to create billions of close friends who can recommend sponsored products to you? why would it care about whether you want that or not?
also bard was a way better name for google's LLM. it has its origins in an isaac asimov story about a robot who is programmed to tell random stories.
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X is blocked on network level here, could you please copy&paste?
Same entire thread on Mastodon: https://grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/114670995130379882
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Google’s Gemini team is apparently sending out emails about an upcoming change to how Gemini interacts with apps on Android devices. The email informs users that, come July 7, 2025, Gemini will be able to “help you use Phone, Messages, WhatsApp, and Utilities on your phone, whether your Gemini Apps Activity is on or off.” Naturally, this has raised some privacy concerns among those who’ve received the email and those using the AI assistant on their Android devices.
Pls break Google up. Kthx
