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Just had to post to hear thoughts from you guys... Motorola has struck a deal to use Bing on Android phones in China (and maybe other markets, I guess)... Sounds whack.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62A0BB20100311?type=technologyNews
It's hard for me to say it but I kind of what Google to pull a Apple and stop this crap
There weren't supposed to be Android phones in China in the first place. They didn't have Google till recently if I remember correctly.
I think it is pretty rude to take an open platform, android, who's existence remains free due to the advertising revenue gained from users searching with google and using their apps, then chucking on a competitor's search engine on there. These guys are double dipping by using a free platform and using a business deal with other search engines to gain extra revenue from it.
Google does not do android out of love, Google is like any business, android is designed to make them money. These guys are cheating the system here.
AT&T and Motorola seem to try their outermost to f up the Android experience for their customers. Choosing Yahoo isn't really that bad, but Bing!? Come on.
Google needs to take better control over the Android mods the manufacturers and service providers can do, or we will be facing the dreaded software fragmentation everyone fears. There is actually something to be learnt from Apple, and that is to keep the OS as unified as possible to make development of applications easier. In no way do I condone Apple's total control scheme. I'm just saying Google should try not to let others pull the OS contents in all kinds of directions.
As bad as it looks,Google can't do anything,this is Android aka open source.
Thats the way it should be, No Lock ins, complete freedom.
Its a shame they have to do this for a little extra revenue...but thats what all PC makers do anyway.
Anyone who wants Google search can/will easily revert it back.
I agree it is a bit of dirt in the face, but honestly they just need to sell phones at this pt. The google integration runs deep, so ppl will still be enticed to get on the google bandwagon in general. Not to mention ppl can simply choose to use google search instead.
Microsoft is probably paying $$$ per phone to have their search engine as the first choice, but you guys need to think BIGGER.
AdMob for example in Apps. Advertising goes beyond pure www searching and this trend will grow.
I'll admit that I'm a Google fanboy... why? Because almost everything they do is done right and they're the anti-Apple. That being said, I want to think that Google left this "customization" possibility open for carriers and manufacturers intentionally, and that's one of the reasons it chose to establish its own online store. Any phone that is sold there will be all Google...
seanowns said:
I agree it is a bit of dirt in the face, but honestly they just need to sell phones at this pt. The google integration runs deep, so ppl will still be enticed to get on the google bandwagon in general. Not to mention ppl can simply choose to use google search instead.
Microsoft is probably paying $$$ per phone to have their search engine as the first choice, but you guys need to think BIGGER.
AdMob for example in Apps. Advertising goes beyond pure www searching and this trend will grow.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
are you sure that google it's not paying also for being the default search engine in the current devices that have it? I don't think so, I'm pretty confident that they have a revenue sharing mode like they have with firefox. Maybe in this case the bid from bing it's bigger.
wow not good for android.
Google, yahoo & bing?
First an issue with multiple rom versions on different phones. Now
search engines?
Hate to say it but google needs to lock it somehow.
Open source while wonderful in business is a double edge sword.
Look at the whole tivo vs echostar scenario. Tivo opened their system echostar
ran with it.
DEFRAGMENTATION IS A MUST. Turn chrome os into the one and only google O.S for their devices and leave android open for everybody.
They should know how open source is not a profound business move.
I irony of using android and then locking it up is delicious.
GNOve said:
wow not good for android.
Google, yahoo & bing?
First an issue with multiple rom versions on different phones. Now
search engines?
Hate to say it but google needs to lock it somehow.
Open source while wonderful in business is a double edge sword.
Look at the whole tivo vs echostar scenario. Tivo opened their system echostar
ran with it.
DEFRAGMENTATION IS A MUST. Turn chrome os into the one and only google O.S for their devices and leave android open for everybody.
They should know how open source is not a profound business move.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
seanowns said:
I agree it is a bit of dirt in the face, but honestly they just need to sell phones at this pt. The google integration runs deep, so ppl will still be enticed to get on the google bandwagon in general. Not to mention ppl can simply choose to use google search instead.
Microsoft is probably paying $$$ per phone to have their search engine as the first choice, but you guys need to think BIGGER.
AdMob for example in Apps. Advertising goes beyond pure www searching and this trend will grow.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google apps don't show up on android phones unless google says they can.
Android > Manufacturer > Cell Provider
At any point, anyone can infuse whatever they want into android. in the case of the Nexus One, they squeeze in right before cell provider or instead of.
In the case of the Moto Backflip, Motorola would have to ask google to put in google apps. So moto is taking the vanilla android, adding their own stuff and whatever stuff the cell provider wants to add as well (yahoo/bing).
An adroid phone doesn't have to have google apps on it. If they choose to however they have to concede to google's rules, one of which is to not put any apps on it for the phone to have the "Google Experience".
The problem is these same people who choose default search engines will be the first to whine and complain when Googles "own" phones (N1) will get preferential treatment.
I think theres a fine line between open source and just creating watered down rip offs.
Android name will go through the mud with this specific level of fragmentation. OS updates are one thing this is changing the structure of day to day phone use entirely.
I also think theres a difference between letting the end user and community make changes to the phone OS , and letting a company lock in something entirely different.
Being open source doesnt necessarily mean you let someone else lock it down and turn the other cheek.
IMO Google should at least make it mandatory that all Android phones have that "Google" option when first starting up and ability to change later on. Let the end user decide not my ****in telco or country.
I heard on a podcast that on the motorola phones, the option to set the default search engine has been removed. So you are given bing whether you like it or not, you can search bing, or you can navigate to google then search. I know what most people will do, the easiest one.
I keep reading that bing gets more users every month, but it may seem that it is not necessarily people choosing to use bing, but bing is buying more users by doing deals like this.
the current one on android is almost unusable, let's just be honest about that first and foremost. Siri, on the other hand looks amazing. From what I understand it is pretty much AI, correct me if I'm wrong though.
the question is, can Google implement AI like in a similar voice command way and not get sued up the ass?
looks like a killer feature and I WANT IT
If you read up on it ....apple did not invent Siri...it was around before..they bought it and implemented it into their OS...the innovators they are
There's an app for android called Vlingo...it does the basics of siri as far as giving u answers "within the app" example: "how many days til" -haloween-
Unlike google, which most of the time when you ask a question it will throw you into your browser and "google" (hehe) it for you...
I'm sure Google will come up with something soon tho...siri seems to be the biggest draw to the new phone. Gotta admit it's pretty damn impressive.
Am I the only one who thinks Siri and Google voice are practically the same thing? I can say to my phone "weather forecast" and within seconds it opens up Google search with my weather as the main thing. Or I can say "convert 34 euros to dollars" and boom it is right there.
I see no difference other than Siri just giving you a "prettier" response. I bet you Siri is using Google underneath to use as its search engine.
By the way, if you think Google voice command is unusable you are probably using it when you have a bad data connection or when on edge. Google voice command uses data connection for some reason, and to run fast on real time you should be on 3g or wifi.
When I have a good data connection, Google Voice command is practically 100 percent reliable, 100 percent accurate, fast and practically instantaneous.
Anyone know why Google voice command requires a fast data connection? I shouldn't need a data connection to say "dial steve." I never understood that.
You have to speak casually. Don't enunciate your words, just speak as though you were talking to a friend. If you usually say runnin' instead of "running," keep doing that. Your omission of that "g" is present in other words as well because it is your regional accent, and trying to change your speech makes it difficult for Google Voice Search to learn how you speak.
This is what makes Siri a little better, because it also continues to employ an older method of trying to interpret each word in American English after it has made an attempt to learn how you speak. It will reference what it thinks YOU are saying, then it checks with what it thinks an American English SPEAKER is saying. Thus, when you speak casually, both should give you equivalent results. When you speak into the phone like there's a Dell CSR on the other line, then Siri should give you better results because–over time–GVS becomes much more reliant on how it thinks you speak.
Moral of the story: Google Voice Search is smart and understands English. You don't have to speak to it like it's 5 or foreign. Speak naturally and consistently with your normal speech.
I've used Google voice for a while. Am I the only one that knows it tunes to your specific accent. It has a built in voice recognition feature that if checked makes the app better (with you) over time with use.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Get Google Voice actions or Vlingo. It does everything Siri does and more. And it works on every Android phone with Android 2.0 and up (which is 95% of all Androids out there). The Siri on the other hand does NOT work with ANY iPhone out there but the iphone4Sux...
Here is what Forrester analyst Charles Golvin had to say about Siri:
Forrester believes that consumers will be much more slow to adopt this new interface than they did Apple's revolutionary touchscreen of its first iPhone.
If everyone who purchased an iPhone 4S used Siri for most of the interactions it was intended, we would have a cacophony of queries uttered in homes, streets and offices.
Who are you talking to on the phone, grandma asks? Siri! You shout back. Who's she? Wonders grandma. You get the idea. This is no surefire solution; it will take a lot of getting used to at a time when people are still typing on their phones more than speaking into them for anything but voice calls.
Apple bought Siri. Microsoft bought TellMe.
Who cares.
What matters is that Google's Voice Recognitions now lags behind Android and iOS (on a 4S, at least), and people want to know if it will be improved.
God. When will people answer questions instead of going on fanboi rants about how innovative one company or another is. No one cares. They only care about how well their device works.
---------- Post added at 02:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:16 PM ----------
Hung0702 said:
You have to speak casually. Don't enunciate your words, just speak as though you were talking to a friend. If you usually say runnin' instead of "running," keep doing that. Your omission of that "g" is present in other words as well because it is your regional accent, and trying to change your speech makes it difficult for Google Voice Search to learn how you speak.
This is what makes Siri a little better, because it also continues to employ an older method of trying to interpret each word in American English after it has made an attempt to learn how you speak. It will reference what it thinks YOU are saying, then it checks with what it thinks an American English SPEAKER is saying. Thus, when you speak casually, both should give you equivalent results. When you speak into the phone like there's a Dell CSR on the other line, then Siri should give you better results because–over time–GVS becomes much more reliant on how it thinks you speak.
Moral of the story: Google Voice Search is smart and understands English. You don't have to speak to it like it's 5 or foreign. Speak naturally and consistently with your normal speech.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They don't give equivalent results all the time. I have Android (FroYo) and WP7 (Mango). Google's Voice Recognition is behind TellMe (what Mango uses), and if Siri works as well as Apple says it does, it will be better than Microsoft's implementation. From what I've seen, Gingerbread didn't make any huge inroads there and both employ the Cloud for their Voice Recognition services, IIRC. The competition is just catching up and surpassing them in some ways, and the ridiculously good Voice Recognition and GPS accuracy is one of the best things about Mango.
If you haven't used a Mango phone and used the Voice Recognition on it, then you have no decent basis for comparison, TBQH. No one has used Siri yet - at least not anyone on this forum so we have to go on speculation as far as that's concerned.
N8ter said:
God. When will people answer questions instead of going on fanboi rants about how innovative one company or another is. No one cares. They only care about how well their device works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, yes, yes....
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Applicatio...le-Speech-Recognition-in-Catchup-Mode-426413/
Google is concerned enough about Siri's potential that is has shifted a key speech recognition engineer, Dave Burke, from the U.K. to join the Android team at Google's Mountain View. Calif. headquarters, according to Mobile India. Burke developed Google's mobile voice search app, among other tools.
With Burke and Mike Cohen, Google's director of speech technology, who created the T9 predictive text technology when he founded Nuance Communications, Google has more than enough engineering forepower to accept the gauntlet Apple has thrown down with Siri.
You know whats funny. With Android you have a Widget right on your homescreen to always tell you the current weather, with clouds/sun animation and all. Apple think siri is so cool "ohh look I can talk to my phone and ask it the weather." Stupid, Android widgets are better, the weather is constantly there, no need to take the extra thirty seconds to talk to your phone and wait for a response.
Google voice action/commands is the same thing as Suri. Nothing special about suri other than a pretty interface.
This is just more unnecessary technology from ANY company. I don't want to ask my phone a question. That's why I have thumbs. Its the same as motion controlled gaming. Totally pointless.
Sent from my SGH-T959
i just tested the google voice search. i spoke completely normal and asked 'what's the weather like tomorrow' and it brought up monday's forecast (in part of a google search). however, if i ask 'what's on my calendar tomorrow' it googles that, which is useless. asking it to 'play slayer' brought up slayer in my google music beta, but did not start playing it.
so, it's not bad/unusable, but still has a ways to go. as for siri, when i was watching the demo video i couldn't stop laughing when the phone said 'let me think'. wtf? i won't put up with my phone telling me to let it think. it made me think of the invader zim episode where his computer is coughing.
as for needing a good internet connection, i'm sure siri works the same way. there is no way your phone can process voice commands like their servers can, so it offloads the work. natural language processing is pretty intensive.
funeralthirst said:
i just tested the google voice search. i spoke completely normal and asked 'what's the weather like tomorrow' and it brought up monday's forecast (in part of a google search). however, if i ask 'what's on my calendar tomorrow' it googles that, which is useless. asking it to 'play slayer' brought up slayer in my google music beta, but did not start playing it.
so, it's not bad/unusable, but still has a ways to go. as for siri, when i was watching the demo video i couldn't stop laughing when the phone said 'let me think'. wtf? i won't put up with my phone telling me to let it think. it made me think of the invader zim episode where his computer is coughing.
as for needing a good internet connection, i'm sure siri works the same way. there is no way your phone can process voice commands like their servers can, so it offloads the work. natural language processing is pretty intensive.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the "let me think" is a loading distraction.
When you start your phone, do you want it to say the VIBRANT, and then the bootscreen, or do you want it to be black during the whole thing and not let you know the phone's even being turned on?
It would be so retarded saying "whats the weather tomorrow" -long motherf'ing pause- "Good."
LOL
SamsungVibrant said:
Am I the only one who thinks Siri and Google voice are practically the same thing? I can say to my phone "weather forecast" and within seconds it opens up Google search with my weather as the main thing. Or I can say "convert 34 euros to dollars" and boom it is right there.
I see no difference other than Siri just giving you a "prettier" response. I bet you Siri is using Google underneath to use as its search engine.
By the way, if you think Google voice command is unusable you are probably using it when you have a bad data connection or when on edge. Google voice command uses data connection for some reason, and to run fast on real time you should be on 3g or wifi.
When I have a good data connection, Google Voice command is practically 100 percent reliable, 100 percent accurate, fast and practically instantaneous.
Anyone know why Google voice command requires a fast data connection? I shouldn't need a data connection to say "dial steve." I never understood that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here. Never got why the hell it needs data for simple commands.
My MORE than 5 YEARS old pocket pc had a program called voice command and it didn't need any stupid data connection to do anything. And funnily enough, it was/is far more reliable than Google voice. Really frustrating.
xriderx66 said:
the "let me think" is a loading distraction.
When you start your phone, do you want it to say the VIBRANT, and then the bootscreen, or do you want it to be black during the whole thing and not let you know the phone's even being turned on?
It would be so retarded saying "whats the weather tomorrow" -long motherf'ing pause- "Good."
LOL
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i know the purpose, i just think it's a very bad choice.... 'checking', 'loading', etc. are much better, but really, what it should do is repeat what you said giving you an auditory confirmation that it got it right (if it's going to take a min, otherwise just spit out the answer). anthropomorphization of technology like this is annoying; and possibly even frightening/eerie to some people.
as for the loading, sure the screen could be blank, or it could show what it's doing (like fedora used to do, showing each check and the result). either way, it's not an animated face saying 'yo, bro, i'll have your home screen for you in a minute, i just gotta eat first'.
technology doesn't 'think'. yet.
funeralthirst said:
i know the purpose, i just think it's a very bad choice.... 'checking', 'loading', etc. are much better, but really, what it should do is repeat what you said giving you an auditory confirmation that it got it right (if it's going to take a min, otherwise just spit out the answer). anthropomorphization of technology like this is annoying; and possibly even frightening/eerie to some people.
as for the loading, sure the screen could be blank, or it could show what it's doing (like fedora used to do, showing each check and the result). either way, it's not an animated face saying 'yo, bro, i'll have your home screen for you in a minute, i just gotta eat first'.
technology doesn't 'think'. yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure it does.
When you "think" your brain is basically "searching" something thats already been stored there before and bringing it back.
Google basically does the same thing, you type something, it "thinks" or "searches" for that answer.
xriderx66 said:
Sure it does.
When you "think" your brain is basically "searching" something thats already been stored there before and bringing it back.
Google basically does the same thing, you type something, it "thinks" or "searches" for that answer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have to disagree with this quite a bit. If all your brain ever did when thinking it so to look back and pre-stored information then there would never be any new discoveries, no new thought, no new ideas and hence void the need for conversation except to give unknown information from one being to the next.
Remembrance could be described as nothing but pulling out old information but the creation of new ideas and thoughts are far more complex than that. Because of this fact, computer does not think. It cannot take information from 2 different streams and come up with a new idea or concept. It cannot add 2 and 2 without us telling it the rules.
As someone that works in IT, I loathe the statement that the computer is "thinking" while it is loading or while the user is waiting on it. It is processing, loading or writing, it does nothing else.
End Rant.
Didn't IBM come up with a new kind of processor that is revolutionary in the sense that it evolves due to environmental stimuli? I don't think they're using anymore transistor like processors, even on the quantum level.
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dardani89 said:
Didn't IBM come up with a new kind of processor that is revolutionary in the sense that it evolves due to environmental stimuli? I don't think they're using anymore transistor like processors, even on the quantum level.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
someone implemented an artificial neural network in hardware. don't remember who, though.
I used vlingo and t9 keyboard with dragon for about 2 minutes each and then deleted it... like someone else said i went back to thumbs. It's cool but I don't see many using it often once the new wears off.
Sent from my Google Nexus S 4G using xda premium
Am I the only lonely, lonely person that wishes to be able to talk to Cleverbot?
Anything changed besides the name?
Sent from my HTC Inspire 4G using Tapatalk
I flashed Civato's R6 Flexreaper, it still has Market as of right now, but it wants me to update to 'Google Play Music' from Google Music, so I think it's a new gimmick to make the old android/google apps sound new and fresh, following the decrease in Google Music users.
Drewwilliams2011 said:
I flashed Civato's R6 Flexreaper, it still has Market as of right now, but it wants me to update to 'Google Play Music' from Google Music, so I think it's a new gimmick to make the old android/google apps sound new and fresh, following the decrease in Google Music users.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahh well as soon as u update there is no more market just google play lol it just was odd didn't read anything abouth this..
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Stupid name, google play. Is this only a game/music device now?
Seems a little faster opening the app though. old market took forever for me. yes, stupid name.
I hate the new name and icon.. doesn't fit I miss Android market with its green little shopping bag lol the new one reminds me of something that Sony would do
Sent from my HTC Inspire 4G using Tapatalk
With the name change it is going to unification all services (market, videos, music etc.) in one. It's hard to say it, but it is.... like itunes.
I live in Poland. Services like google music aren't avaliable in here right now. So for me it is just market with new name. Another oportunity to buy some apps cheaper.
The minute I read about this in the news. I was outraged. What the hell google?
First you kill the Menu button...now you change the name of the Android Market to GOOGLE PLAY? It's like they are trying to make me leave Android. :/
Come on google, get your head on straight!
I'd sure like to use it! When I open it, it crashes immediately. Tried clearing the data and reinstalling it. No joy. Any suggestions?
Google is just trying to keep things fresh. Not a big deal, same thing, different name. If that's enough to upset someone, they most likely have some other underlying psychological issues that haven't been dealt with. Be thankful!
What a gay name, Android Market 4 Life! ****ING LOOSERS!!!
What is really happening is that google is trying to gain terrain over the other companies; and thus, google is reinventing itself to get rid of the bad reputation it had from the mainstreem customer it is traying to attract because they are the ones that buy everything(apps, movies, books, devices and other things). If you want an example of the bad reputation just get an old device with 2.1 or 1.6 and dont flash it; i bet even a blackberry would kick ass agains that(even x8 is terrible with the factory´s rom, and it is not that old)
Srry bros, but people like us that like everything free even if it is a bit more difficult to use, or flash, or do it ourselfs is not what google is targeting to.
Brace yourselfs, google mainstreem is coming
*only if it succeds to transform the company and attract new customers with new style(ics), new services(google play), and other stuff, which i think it is doing pretty well with.
Does anyone else thing that magazines are just becoming obsolete when the magazine websites seem to contain the same information? Does anyone plan on subscribing to magazines found in the play store?
I buy magazines a lot. I was kinda hoping this is one thing I could use my '7 for but being in the UK we're not getting that (at least not yet...)
I'd like to be able to use existing paper subs to get digital versions without paying extra of course
jmbillings said:
I buy magazines a lot. I was kinda hoping this is one thing I could use my '7 for but being in the UK we're not getting that (at least not yet...)
I'd like to be able to use existing paper subs to get digital versions without paying extra of course
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
YES.
i think it's stupid that i already pay for a paper subscription and have to pay again for digital.
personally unless there was a lot of interactive content, i would not move to digital. the paper magazines are larger and easier to read IMO than on a tablet, especially on a 7"
I don't want to have to zoom in to read an article.
Some do have interactive content. Popular mechanics does from the play store. I use an app called "Next Issue" in order to receive entertainment weekly, and it has interactive content which I love.
Noticed Google Magazines on my Xoom....searched Penthouse....nothing found.... FU Google....then thought, maybe a little classier Google may work with, searched Playboy, no dice. RAAAAAAGGGGEEEEE lol
I may buy a subscription or two. Can you download the whole magazine each month so you don't have to worry about having a connection to view?
The trend for me is that any tech magazine I pick up to find out if I like or not, it's all the same:
Articles related to the tech industry that I've already read 12 different opinions on from my Google Reader two weeks ago! on Pages 6 through 12
Ads for hardware that you can no doubt find cheaper online! Pages 13 to 15
Guides on how to do stuff any power user already knows! Pages 16 to the end of the book.
To me, magazines are a terrible way to communicate news and information related to the tech world because it's just so darn slow. It's like trying to mail someone across the country that your house is on fire.
got556 said:
Noticed Google Magazines on my Xoom....searched Penthouse....nothing found.... FU Google....then thought, maybe a little classier Google may work with, searched Playboy, no dice. RAAAAAAGGGGEEEEE lol
I may buy a subscription or two. Can you download the whole magazine each month so you don't have to worry about having a connection to view?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, you download the magazines
Sent from my Triumph using xda premium
well ill be getting next issue for my magazines when iget my nexus 7!
New to 6T. Is it confirmed that there's no way to "Ok, Google" with no history?
I don't care about Assistant functionality but being able to say "Ok, Google" and have answers is nice. As I understand, unfortunately, that is now "force linked" to activating browsing and voice history. Am I correct?
If that was the case, it's another nail in my personal coffin for Google. It's perfectly capable to recognize my voice flawlessly while using Google keyboard, as it's perfectly capable to do it when I activate manually the Google app (long press on home button). Feeling forced to have Google snooping on my web and voice history just to be able to activate it with "Ok, Google" irks me to no end.
Please, tell me I've got it wrong.
I'm not sure why you have an Android phone if you don't want Google knowing anything about you.
The assistant does store your queries, it does so to help it learn context about how you use it. It also allows you phone and Google Home devices to work together and work smarter for you. Yes, it's an invasion of privacy, but that is the trade off for using the Google Ecosystem.
yep, Android phone, gmail account, play store account, google has assigned a Russian operative to monitor every porn site you go to..
relax, just keep your tin foil helmet firmly in place and you'll be just fine..
There are several options to have privacy on smartphones. Both big os (Apple and Google) and even windows on computers are collecting many things about you. The only way to get rid of it is either no to use a smartphone, or on Google phones to run a modified Android ROM running without any Google framework and able to run microG project.
But there is none yet on our phone
All projects based on other types of Linux distro are dead or non usable except for a few phones.
So... Use your phone and don't bother, Android is free so you're the product, Apple too, windows too, Facebook too, Instagram too....
... sorry to see "tinfoil hat" accusations. I asked a simple question. Up to a certain point the "Ok Google" activation command did not require web history and voice history activation. Is it now mandatory or am I missing something?
If I wanted to discuss privacy implications I would have opened a discussion somewhere else. As I said, there is no technical reason for the change, if the change indeed happened. So the question is: did it happen? Yes or no? If I have Assistant deactivated (as I do), do I still need to activate those two options just to be able to activate the Google app with my voice?
Because you either think Google is lying about it (in which case I would not speak about tinfoil hats if I were you) or you accept that with web history and voice history deactivated Google knows far less about you. I do not want Assistant but I liked to be able to ask simple questions without typing. And I still can do that, by simply long pressing the home button. It's just the "Ok, Google" voice command that is deactivated. Something that would have been easily recognizable fifteen years ago by Dragon Dictate, with pretty much no error possible. If I manually activate the Google app, my speech is flawlessly recognized every single time, same for Google Maps when I dictate an address. But I need to touch the screen, whereas before I could say "Ok Google" and start speaking.
Striatum_bdr said:
Android is free so you're the product, Apple too, windows too, Facebook too, Instagram too....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perfectly said...
Striatum_bdr said:
Android is free so you're the product, Apple too, windows too, Facebook too, Instagram too....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A phone that costs 700 USD should not include an OS that follows every move of its user. It's already bad enough that Microsoft is going the same way with Windows. That being said, there simply is no alternative so I don't really agree with the fact that we have to take whatever they throw at us.
Still looking for a solution to block web & app access as well. "Google Now" worked without any of those. What's more, Google now even makes it impossible to enter an address in Android Auto while driving because I cannot use voice without giving these permissions and they simply block typing while driving.
Instead of improving car safety, they are making it worse because I'm back to typing on my tiny phone screen instead of using voice to navigate. Well done Google.
ljo13 said:
A phone that costs 700 USD should not include an OS that follows every move of its user. It's already bad enough that Microsoft is going the same way with Windows. That being said, there simply is no alternative so I don't really agree with the fact that we have to take whatever they throw at us.
Still looking for a solution to block web & app access as well. "Google Now" worked without any of those. What's more, Google now even makes it impossible to enter an address in Android Auto while driving because I cannot use voice without giving these permissions and they simply block typing while driving.
Instead of improving car safety, they are making it worse because I'm back to typing on my tiny phone screen instead of using voice to navigate. Well done Google.
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What exactly are you doing that you don't want Google knowing anything about you? I think we all wish these companies were less intrusive, and a lot of us know the reasoning they give for some of the breaches of privacy are ridiculous, but you don't HAVE to use a smartphone, and this is part of the price for doing so at this point.
Get a flip phone and a standalone GPS and call it there.
xgerryx said:
What exactly are you doing that you don't want Google knowing anything about you? I think we all wish these companies were less intrusive, and a lot of us know the reasoning they give for some of the breaches of privacy are ridiculous, but you don't HAVE to use a smartphone, and this is part of the price for doing so at this point.
Get a flip phone and a standalone GPS and call it there.
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Not OP, but this argument is so bad that I can't help but respond. Living life is what I'm doing that I don't want Google knowing about me. People don't need extraneous reasons to justify wanting privacy, the fact that they want privacy is reason enough.
These companies are not losing money on these phones, we are paying more than the cost to build these devices. They do not need to suck up all of our data to make money from these phones. Yet they still do so, and for whatever reason have people like you arguing against their own self interest. Its truly genius how these companies have worked this out for themselves.
Of course you don't HAVE to have a smartphone, but your life will be seriously inconvenienced without it. A flip phone is not a viable alternative to a smart phone, and I know you know that.
everything in life comes with trade offs; if you dont want a flip phone, and want all the other stuff that smart phones provide, then, unfortunately, there is a price to pay, even more than the cost of these phones..And, your remark about paying more than the phone costs to make is strange; do you expect companies with shareholders to NOT make as much of a profit as they can?
society, for the most part has decided to deal with the privacy intrusion that so many of these devices inflict on us, so, as someone else said, if you cant accept that or deal with it, the Moto Razr is going to be released again soon, so you may want to go that route..
adobrakic said:
Not OP, but this argument is so bad that I can't help but respond. Living life is what I'm doing that I don't want Google knowing about me. People don't need extraneous reasons to justify wanting privacy, the fact that they want privacy is reason enough.
These companies are not losing money on these phones, we are paying more than the cost to build these devices. They do not need to suck up all of our data to make money from these phones. Yet they still do so, and for whatever reason have people like you arguing against their own self interest. Its truly genius how these companies have worked this out for themselves.
Of course you don't HAVE to have a smartphone, but your life will be seriously inconvenienced without it. A flip phone is not a viable alternative to a smart phone, and I know you know that.
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My point was that it's a battle you aren't going to win. So deal, or don't use it, thats about it.
Use MicroG, use search sites that don't keep data, don't use Gmail, Facebook, Insta, Snap, but use Protonmail, Telegram, sms and... no social media.
And you'll be ok. But you'll have to convince friends / buddies / family to use the same tools to communicate with you.
Your data are interesting, not you. No human will track and look into a specific individual. All those data are only interesting for the computers (or more precisely IA) that can help you, assist you, sell you things etc. You can refuse that, but you can't stop it. Far too late. And you'll be anyway in a data set anyway, by other means.
So at an individual level you can try to be as little exposed as possible, but it will require time, limitation of possibilities, and perhaps an adaptation of social life
xgerryx said:
What exactly are you doing that you don't want Google knowing anything about you? I think we all wish these companies were less intrusive, and a lot of us know the reasoning they give for some of the breaches of privacy are ridiculous, but you don't HAVE to use a smartphone, and this is part of the price for doing so at this point.
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It's not that I'm doing anything wrong. I'm probably one of the most boring people in the world to follow and I absolutely believe that there's nothing wrong with giving up SOME privacy but Google is taking it way too far. There simply is no alternative. There are literally zero smartphones I can buy that offer decent privacy coupled with decent functionality.
I really hate to explain this to people but privacy really IS something valuable. Or do we all want to end up with a social score like in China? Where ignoring a red light at a crosswalk lowers your score and thus your chances to get a bank loan, decent job, etc. ? It's not about what these organizations or by extension governments are doing with all that data today. It's about what they are going to do with it tomorrow.