Comment by tester457
3 hours ago
There's a powerlessness to using Android.
It's difficult to just do things. Even windows feels more "free." Phone OSes are built like prisons.
Ideally Android would let you drop into a real shell, without having to deal with android sandboxing.
Regardless, I use termux and tasker to get my automations done.
Probably because carriers don't want a bunch of poorly secured devices on their networks.
Can't you get USB modems and cram a SIM inside? Are carrier networks really more scary than the internet at large?
They don't seem to put much effort in proactively blocking residential VPNs though?
Counter-evidence: the Google Play Store, which is a wretched hive of scum and villainy.
And also malware.
What are the main things you can do in a real shell versus termux for instance?
It's a pretty big sandbox in my experience.
If something bothers me with my phone's UI or if I want to change the behavior of some system service, I can do e.g. "apt source phosh", patch it and then "apt build-dep .", "dpkg-buildpackage -b" and "apt install" it right on the phone. I can even send the patch for upstreaming from there.
How easy it is to do an equivalent thing on Android?
You can root it if you really want (and if the bootloader is unlocked)