this post was submitted on 09 May 2026
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me_irl
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you literally are forced to use AI in your home.
you literally cannot buy a smartphone without ai
What forces you to use AI in your home?
There are probably plenty more but 2 is already alot higher then "litteraly cannot buy"
https://pine64.com/product/pinephone-beta-edition-with-convergence-package/
https://commerce.jolla.com/products/jolla-phone-sep-ii-2026
Or if you simply want to flash
https://postmarketos.org/
https://lineageos.org/
Omg. Guys. 99.99999 of users can't use those.
I'm sure that atleast some of the 99.99999% are smart enough to unbox a phone, insert a sim card and press the "call" button.
You might be fastly overestimating the average persons tech-literacy...
Almost anyone I know gets a mild panic attack when a button slightly moves or their preferred app stops working. Recently had a conversation with someone flipping their shit that the apple 'Download' dropdown (dropup?) From the task bar, does not let you drag and drop any files, just open them.
I think expecting even 0.0001 of the world to be able to flash/boot a custom ROM nowadays is a high order. Even if its so much easier than it was a few years ago...
They would be scared shitless from a terminal window let alone '[Y]es/[N]o' '
That's, like, 8000 people. Dude your percentages are hyperbolic man
I don't disagree with anything you're saying, but I'm frustrated by trying to figure out how to respond to your last line without sounding pedantic.
Maybe I'm pedantic.
I'm not expecting people to flash custom roms, but both the pinephone and Jolla phone come pre-installed with open source os without AI.
If you don't want to switch you never have to see a terminal. As easy as any other phone.
So the statement "litteraly cannot buy a smartphone without AI" is false.
That's essentially the same issue just one level down. No reasonable 'tech noob' would willingly choose an OS for which they know that they will find reduced support for. 'Fix X on IOS' is quite a lot more likely to find results that. 'Fix X on murena /e/os'
Wild example for a custom os
Buy big tech, get big tech.
People get upset that apparently "it is litteraly impossible to buy a smartphone without AI" while there are plenty of alternatives, but instead of putting in the effort to learn they would rather blame an abstract technology and buy the next IPhone anyway.
Not saying youre wrong, but you are oversimplifying human priorities in life. I think it is similar to, when we tech nerds say, 'just switch to linux' People want stuff to just work. Mentally a few hundred Euros is easily worth the perceived simplicity of a product.
Advertisement and just general brainwashing does heavy lifting here as well. Apple still has a reputation for simplicity even though recently, I have only heard lifelong users have a LOT of trouble with it. Especially since the liquid Glas thing.
If I am in the middle of life, maybe kids, not a lot of time, job pressure. Chances are I want my free time to be outside the computer. Most people would rather chew Glas than sit down and read the arch wiki so setup (wild example) encrypted partitions. The bias on Lemmy is immense but it would be ignorant to say that normal people should 'stop being lazy and just switch'
Pedantry aside, the real question is if the important apps are supported. For example banking.
This definitely depends on the banking app
my bank's app worked fine using waydroid, but others may not.
Who TF still uses their phone for phonecalls?
Well atleast me, everyone at my job, the hospital, the government... probably most of the world?
My smartphone doesn't have AI.
what OS are you using?
Can you tell us who forced you to buy a smartphone? Do you need help? Blink twice if you’re in danger
Lol. C'mon man u can't be serious. U can't survive in society nowadays without smartphone. If you are retired maybe, but not living and functioning.