Comment by benjaminoakes
3 months ago
No problem. Honestly, I have this on my mind a lot these days. It feels like I'm being forced out of an apartment and I'm wondering where I'm going to put all my stuff. First I left the iPhone for what I thought was greener pastures on Android and now I'm finding that there's not a lot of great options that don't give Google or Apple complete control. What little trust I still had in Google has basically disappeared. We need open phones and I'm more willing than ever to buy one. And if that doesn't work with how carriers operate, I guess a dumber phone or a cheap smartphone just to do phone calls and data is what I'll do.
Anyway, for navigation, try out Organic Maps. It's not as good as Google Maps in some ways, but in other ways it's better. I'm honestly very impressed with it as an open source project. I think you have to use a Google signed version of it to run it on Android Auto though, but honestly, maybe it's better just to have a phone holder instead of the finicky Android Auto experience that at least I go through.
I never used Android Auto, always navigated my car with phone on a phone holder :)) thanks for Organic Maps suggestion! I always felt Google did very god work on Google Maps and felt alternatives like Osmand are not as good... until recently- seeing gmaps picking weird routes for no reason, but maybe it' just my bubble.. I'll definitely give Organic Maps a try!
Also observing new apps showing up on my phone after Android update without me ever installing them made me so angry that I stopped updating my phone, you know- apps that cannot be removed or disabled.. it constantly makes me wonder what really is running in the background- I don't even have a way to reliably list those things. I'm going to sit through the list you provided and push myself to go through the last mile to actually make the move.
I'm happy to see this comment. Best of luck!