From reading the article, the conclusion right now is that this isn’t a conscious act by Motorola.
My guess is they used an open source library in their Smart Feed app that has been poisoned with an affiliate link injection. Either that or someone working at Motorola slipped the code in and their quality control process missed it.
Neither one of those is a good look for Motorola. But it probably isn’t as bad as the headline makes it sounds.
On a side note, I ditched the increasingly shoddy Pixel a series for a mid-level Motorola phone a couple of years ago and haven’t looked back.
Seconded, though the sooner I’m able to get GrapheneOS on another phone, the better, as Google’s quality plunge after the Pixel 5 series was just inexcusable.
Edit: Actually, pretty much almost every Pixel phone has had some major hardware defect, including the ones before the 6 series.
The question is if the next gos phone will have a competitive camera quality in order to be a viable alternative for more people than only “high targets”
If you are running gos I am unaware of any issues, but I know that the stock os for the pixel 9 pro has a bug that stops the screen from responding, even across reboots. When I had to deal with it, I could only fix it via adb with a specific image from google that took me 5ish hours to find
I have a Pixel 7 from a couple years ago. Its simply an inferior product compared to other mobiles on the market. The higher price could be a more regional issue perhaps but mine still has problems with fingerprint scanner, sim issues, heating problems etc.
The only reason I bought it was for the unlocked boot loader and grapheneos.
Haven’t had any malfunctions on the pixel 9 at all, but I immediately installed grapheneOS and put it in a case. Maybe because I didn’t grab it at launch I dodged a bullet? Odd.
Maybe they fixed some of that in later iterations. Heating and 5g bands are more region dependent so that could be just me since I live near the equator.
My Pixel 8 Pro has been the best of the Pixel phones I’ve had, but Google’s phone hardware is rough. Contrary to my previous point, my Pixel 4 XL had the bloated battery issue, and I had to give that up for the 6 Pro, which had the shittiest Tensor chip leading to overheating and lack of reception in areas where I should have full bars. Gave that up for the 8 Pro, and it hasn’t had any significant hardware issues so far.
So yeah, Google hardware sucks, and I’m thrilled to potentially be moving to a new Moto phone that has a Snapdragon chip and improved hardware quality.
Thirded! Switched a few weeks back. Feels good to be able to fight in whatever little way that I can. Though one of my bank apps stopped working so that’s kind of a pain in the ass.
How awful was moving your data? I’ve been wanting to switch, but my big hesitation is all my 2fa apps cuz I really don’t want to have to reach out to all my clients to redo those…
I just moved from a Fold 4 (hinge broke or something, when I opened it the screens would go blank and only recover on a hard reboot) so I got a Pixel 10 Pro, flashed graphene and spent most of yesterday reinstalling apps more intentionally.
Authy refused to run, which is fine as I’ve been too lazy to swap from it even though I’ve been pissed since they got rid of the desktop app. Anyway I went through the 9 sites I had setup there and swapped it over to my vaultwarden.
Other apps that didn’t install were EBay and Coinbase, both I can live with using the mobile browser instead (don’t use them all that frequently anyway).
I haven’t needed to transfer much data. Three out if my banking apps worked with their proprietary token app required for living in our transferring money. Same with my stock trading app. But I’m thinking of moving those back to an older android again because, I dunno, I just don’t feel like having it on my fault driver anymore.
I dunno what to do about Microsoft authenticator. I need it to log into my Microsoft account for managing my kids’ screen time, I think, and for playing Minecraft.
I have Google’s authenticator app which I’ve needed to log into certain services.
Sorry, I like tinkering with my devices but I’m not a very technical person, so I’m not sure if I’ve answered your question correctly.
I can’t speak for the pro series. I had as Pixel 1 that was very good.
But then for cost and headphone jack reasons I switched to the a series when my Pixel 1 died. Both I and friends and family have had various Pixel ‘a’ series phones, and we’ve all seen the quality get progressively worse. Batteries, gyros, cameras, screens, you name it. I wouldn’t recommend that specific line of phones.
I said this in another comment, but the same app version being loaded on multiple phones and it doesn’t affect all of them, or side loading the app, or launching from a home screen all can bypass the issue, so it sounds more like malware than corporate fuckery.
It’s app level injection, so presumably if you install GrapheneOS or use a different “smart feed app” (some kind of launcher for Motorola? I haven’t used one before), it won’t affect the user. Although, I agree it’s a pretty bad look on the QA of preloaded apps.
Motorola is Lenovo, they are chinese. Of course they would try shenanigans like these to see if it sticks. Like I saw in my G23 with the Live Screen Locks shit, even we disabled it it would still change the screen lock wallpaper to a live one, had to remove the package from the user with adb.
Wao, what a narrow-minded way to look at it. Lenovo is Chinese, yeah, and only the largest laptop manufacturer in the world. The one manufacturer that has been historically Linux friendly. Are their CPUs Chinese developed? No, they are US made (Intel and AMD), which is arguably as bad, maybe even worse.
Lenovo used to bundle Israeli-made spyware with Windows for some of their laptops. Not exactly a trustworthy company tbh. Not necessarily politically aligned with the CCP on every decision but they’re not above spying on their customers clearly.
Yup, it was a very justified shitshow. That’s why, if I buy a Lenovo laptop (or any other mainstream brand from that matter) its with the intention of nuking Windows entirely (which I believe to be malware) and installing my choice of Linux distros. This is no different than my choice of Pixel phones (until the Motorola + GOS deal goes live) to install GrapheneOS immediately.
As for mainstream laptop manufacrurers spying on their customers or allowing others to do so from first boot, name one of them that doesn’t do this.
Isn’t Motorola the new msnufacturer for those GraphineOS phones? And now they do THIS???
Kinda makes them feel less trustworthy to install a security based rom on.
Ive been with Pixel for a while and was looking forward to my next phone being a Motorola but this is NOT a good look at all
From reading the article, the conclusion right now is that this isn’t a conscious act by Motorola.
My guess is they used an open source library in their Smart Feed app that has been poisoned with an affiliate link injection. Either that or someone working at Motorola slipped the code in and their quality control process missed it.
Neither one of those is a good look for Motorola. But it probably isn’t as bad as the headline makes it sounds.
On a side note, I ditched the increasingly shoddy Pixel a series for a mid-level Motorola phone a couple of years ago and haven’t looked back.
Ive got a Pixel 8 Pro with GOS and I love it
I’ve got a Pixel 9 and at the first opportunity this piece of shit is being skipped into the river like a flat stone.
Seconded, though the sooner I’m able to get GrapheneOS on another phone, the better, as Google’s quality plunge after the Pixel 5 series was just inexcusable.
Edit: Actually, pretty much almost every Pixel phone has had some major hardware defect, including the ones before the 6 series.
The question is if the next gos phone will have a competitive camera quality in order to be a viable alternative for more people than only “high targets”
I’ve had nothing but good experiences with my pixel 9, what stands out to you?
If you are running gos I am unaware of any issues, but I know that the stock os for the pixel 9 pro has a bug that stops the screen from responding, even across reboots. When I had to deal with it, I could only fix it via adb with a specific image from google that took me 5ish hours to find
I have a Pixel 7 from a couple years ago. Its simply an inferior product compared to other mobiles on the market. The higher price could be a more regional issue perhaps but mine still has problems with fingerprint scanner, sim issues, heating problems etc.
The only reason I bought it was for the unlocked boot loader and grapheneos.
Pixel 7 still had problems with fingerprint reader, Pixel 9 doesn’t
Haven’t had any malfunctions on the pixel 9 at all, but I immediately installed grapheneOS and put it in a case. Maybe because I didn’t grab it at launch I dodged a bullet? Odd.
Maybe they fixed some of that in later iterations. Heating and 5g bands are more region dependent so that could be just me since I live near the equator.
My Pixel 8 Pro has been the best of the Pixel phones I’ve had, but Google’s phone hardware is rough. Contrary to my previous point, my Pixel 4 XL had the bloated battery issue, and I had to give that up for the 6 Pro, which had the shittiest Tensor chip leading to overheating and lack of reception in areas where I should have full bars. Gave that up for the 8 Pro, and it hasn’t had any significant hardware issues so far.
So yeah, Google hardware sucks, and I’m thrilled to potentially be moving to a new Moto phone that has a Snapdragon chip and improved hardware quality.
Thirded! Switched a few weeks back. Feels good to be able to fight in whatever little way that I can. Though one of my bank apps stopped working so that’s kind of a pain in the ass.
How awful was moving your data? I’ve been wanting to switch, but my big hesitation is all my 2fa apps cuz I really don’t want to have to reach out to all my clients to redo those…
I just moved from a Fold 4 (hinge broke or something, when I opened it the screens would go blank and only recover on a hard reboot) so I got a Pixel 10 Pro, flashed graphene and spent most of yesterday reinstalling apps more intentionally.
Authy refused to run, which is fine as I’ve been too lazy to swap from it even though I’ve been pissed since they got rid of the desktop app. Anyway I went through the 9 sites I had setup there and swapped it over to my vaultwarden.
Other apps that didn’t install were EBay and Coinbase, both I can live with using the mobile browser instead (don’t use them all that frequently anyway).
Thanks for the heads up on authy, I’ll keep that in mind for when I swap!
I haven’t needed to transfer much data. Three out if my banking apps worked with their proprietary token app required for living in our transferring money. Same with my stock trading app. But I’m thinking of moving those back to an older android again because, I dunno, I just don’t feel like having it on my fault driver anymore.
I dunno what to do about Microsoft authenticator. I need it to log into my Microsoft account for managing my kids’ screen time, I think, and for playing Minecraft.
I have Google’s authenticator app which I’ve needed to log into certain services.
Sorry, I like tinkering with my devices but I’m not a very technical person, so I’m not sure if I’ve answered your question correctly.
Wait, why can’t you just export and import the TOTP data? You shouldn’t need to notify any of the providers…
I thought it didn’t let me, but this may just be PEBKAC…
Weird, which app are you using, and why is it not Aegis? lol jk (kinda… not really).
I can’t speak for the pro series. I had as Pixel 1 that was very good.
But then for cost and headphone jack reasons I switched to the a series when my Pixel 1 died. Both I and friends and family have had various Pixel ‘a’ series phones, and we’ve all seen the quality get progressively worse. Batteries, gyros, cameras, screens, you name it. I wouldn’t recommend that specific line of phones.
I would still shoot for that with graphene OS over other options without. I had a Pixel 6 with.no issues.
I said this in another comment, but the same app version being loaded on multiple phones and it doesn’t affect all of them, or side loading the app, or launching from a home screen all can bypass the issue, so it sounds more like malware than corporate fuckery.
It’s app level injection, so presumably if you install GrapheneOS or use a different “smart feed app” (some kind of launcher for Motorola? I haven’t used one before), it won’t affect the user. Although, I agree it’s a pretty bad look on the QA of preloaded apps.
Motorola is Lenovo, they are chinese. Of course they would try shenanigans like these to see if it sticks. Like I saw in my G23 with the Live Screen Locks shit, even we disabled it it would still change the screen lock wallpaper to a live one, had to remove the package from the user with adb.
the fact that they are chinese isn’t relevant here, since such fraudulent practices have been seen on Brave Browser too, for example.
Wao, what a narrow-minded way to look at it. Lenovo is Chinese, yeah, and only the largest laptop manufacturer in the world. The one manufacturer that has been historically Linux friendly. Are their CPUs Chinese developed? No, they are US made (Intel and AMD), which is arguably as bad, maybe even worse.
Lenovo used to bundle Israeli-made spyware with Windows for some of their laptops. Not exactly a trustworthy company tbh. Not necessarily politically aligned with the CCP on every decision but they’re not above spying on their customers clearly.
Yup, it was a very justified shitshow. That’s why, if I buy a Lenovo laptop (or any other mainstream brand from that matter) its with the intention of nuking Windows entirely (which I believe to be malware) and installing my choice of Linux distros. This is no different than my choice of Pixel phones (until the Motorola + GOS deal goes live) to install GrapheneOS immediately.
As for mainstream laptop manufacrurers spying on their customers or allowing others to do so from first boot, name one of them that doesn’t do this.