SimonWoods
SimonWoods

Home Screen: August, 2019

As part of my move away from Google, I’m now trying (and enjoying) the following:

  • Nova Launcher: removes the clutter of the Pixel Launcher
  • Firefox Focus: lightweight browsing FTW
  • DuckDuckGo: results I want
  • Protonmail: accessible privacy

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In reply to
AndyNicolaides
AndyNicolaides

@simonwoods Great looking Homescreen. I’m curious, if you don’t mind me asking, why do you use an Android device if you’re leaning towards a more privacy focused app / service usage? Have you considered iOS?

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Ron
Ron

@andynicolaides Ohhhh, this should be interesting. I hope you reserved quite a bit of time for reading the reply, which could be quite illuminating!

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AndyNicolaides
AndyNicolaides

@Ron I’m genuinely interested, so hit me! :)

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Gabz
Gabz

@simonwoods I like wallpaper, quite a lot 😁

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SimonWoods
SimonWoods

@andynicolaides @Ron Thanks!

When I had the opportunity to get a new device I was in the mindset of going all-Google, all-cloud, etc. We had just moved into our new home and the basic idea was to just have the best, most convenient tech so that I could focus on all of our important goals. So I tried that, using all of Google's services, plus stuff like Spotify.

Unfortunately over time the services, software, and even hardware (Pixel 2 XL, which was the best at the time) have proven to both be not that good and obviously err on the side of privacy-invasive dystopian nonsense. My contract is almost finished so I'll soon have the chance to upgrade for free, at which point I'll be going back to the iPhone (my phone before the Pixel was a 5S which I adored). We're also looking to move over to more Apple hardware -- I've been using the cheapest iPad and AirPods for several months now and they're both brilliant -- so in preparation for all of that migration I am now finally moving away from Google with much more certainty, having given it a good all-in effort.

(that was... a lot more than I intended. Sorry!)

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SimonWoods
SimonWoods

@Gabz Thanks! It's one of the built-in selections on the Pixel 2, "Windy, Midnight" from the "Living universe" collection. Those are local wind patterns, updated in real-time.

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AndyNicolaides
AndyNicolaides

@simonwoods oh, very interesting, thanks for sharing!

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