[nmglug] Fwd: Google Contacts (from Re: Will curiosity kill my cat? What is this?); Linux and Android 8.0

[Tom Ashcraft]

Thanks, Akkana,

You've provided me with some useful perspective.  Android appears to be 
a little more locked-down with each new version.

I probably should have mentioned earlier that the cat's mostly already 
out of the bag.

That is, after a ridiculous amount of time spent poking and fiddling 
around with prospective alternatives shortly after I received the new 
phone, I went ahead and input everything into Google Contacts.

Given that I could discover no way to download my old contacts from the 
ten-dollar dumb phone short of a fairly expensive ($45?) sim card reader 
with questionable/unmaintained linux support, the ability to just type 
everything in with a regular computer keyboard was just too much 
convenience and temptation to resist.

Also, there was my sense that the privacy ship has long since sailed.

Really, I think most of what I'm trying to do around Google Contacts is 
lodge some kind of protest against the way things are and have a little 
funeral for some of the things we've all lost.

But as to particulars and comparisons between versions of Android, my 
new Moto G6 is running Android 8.0 Oreo--in which the menus go 
Settings>Users & Accounts>Google my username at gmail.com>circular-arrows 
refresh icon titled 'Account Sync' OR, Settings>Users & 
Accounts>Automatically sync data (on/off slider).

That is, all apps *together* are either auto-sync, or not (whereupon a 
statement window indicates ach of 88 apps has to be individually updated 
if auto sync is off...).  But if the slider is on, contacts sync whether 
you want or not.

Plus somewhere in the Settings choices is a perfunctory statement that 
simply says contacts sync automatically.

In other words, under Android 8.0 Oreo, you can choose to sync as often 
as desired.  But if you choose not to sync, you will be punished.

Another annoyance is that between Kubuntu 18.04 laptop and Android 8,0 
phone, file transfers seem to go only one way, i.e. from the phone to 
the laptop but not from the laptop to the phone.

Android directories are visible to Kubuntu with KDE Connect app and 
Dolphin file manager, but you can't copy or transfer anything in to 
phone internal storage or USB card--though device mounting, file 
transfer mode settings (two or three choices depending on media, I 
think) , sync/charge cable, Bluetooth, and WiFi all appear to be 
features/possible options that seem to work properly.

There is an app called Airdroid that is reputed to work well. Web-based, 
privacy policy with holes, and an account required, of course.  This 
will be my last choice as anything web-based is exactly what I seek to 
avoid.

The remaining avenue is, hopefully, off-line transfer via a double-ended 
flash drive (USB 3.0 and mini C).  I have a similar gizmo (USB 2.0 and 
mini B) that works well for a tablet with Android 4.0.  Might be a waste 
of money, but I won't know till I try.

On the up side, Ghost Commander file manager app seems to continue to 
work really well on both Android 4 and 8.

On 1/11/19 5:01 PM, Akkana Peck wrote:

> Tom Ashcraft writes:
>> Though I've tried, I've yet figure out how to actually get the
>> local-contacts-only thing to work.  Perhaps you have something specific in
>> mind that due to lack of skill or experience I've yet to discover.
> It's not easy to find. I did it when I first got the phone, but it
> took a lot of tapping around just now to figure out what I did.
>
> On Marshmallow (of course every Android version's prefs are completely
> different, sigh):
>      Settings -> Accounts -> Google
> That gives you a bunch of checkboxes where you can turn off syncing.
> I have them all turned off. Then I use the normal Contacts app on
> the phone, and my contacts all stay on the phone and aren't synced
> with Google (I just logged into Google from Linux and verified that
> they say I have no contacts defined).
>
>> My concerns with Google Contacts are:
>>
>> 1) that everything that I could find and try from Google PlayStore,
>> including apps  returned when I placed 'F-Droid' in the search fields, all
>> linked back to requiring permissions to access Google Contacts
> Most of the apps I use don't require Contacts access. If one does,
> and shouldn't, I do without that app.
>
> There are a few exceptions. For instance, the only way I've found to
> set wallpaper/lockscreen on my Galaxy S5 to a custom image involves
> running Samsung's Gallery app, which insists on all sorts of
> permissions it shouldn't need. So when I want to change wallpaper,
> I grudgingly give it access, change the wallpaper, then go to Apps
> Settings and revoke the permissions. It's a pain in the tuchas.
>
>> 2) that other people who place my phone number in their own Google Contacts
>> (most people who use Android phones) are already building a map of all my
>> personal associations for Google without my knowledge or permission.
> Yep. That's a problem and there's nothing we can do about it.
>
>> So far, no functional app or strategy I can find *anywhere* (other than
>> memorizing phone numbers) provides a dialer that will work without a
>> Google-associated contacts list.
> I use the default dialer on the S5, which uses my local non-synced
> contacts.
>
> Of course Samsung or Google may be collecting my data without
> asking; I can't do anything about that. Some day I hope to find a
> phone that can run some open-source OS, work with Verizon, and not
> cost an arm and a leg. So far most of the open-source phone OSes are
> based in Europe and don't have to worry about people who live in the
> boonies where Verizon is the only option.
>
>          ...Akkana
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