ok, i'm sick to death of android. not for any technical reason, just because i want a phone that doubles as a handheld computer, not an individually targeted, always-on billboard
i try to only use apps from F-Droid because of that, but when even the system apps are full of ads *glares hard at Xiaomi* it's just soul-destroying
it's a damn shame too, because otherwise the Redmi 9 is the most capable phone i have - but there are aspects of it that really suck
@millihertz Try one of the alternative ROMs. I'm using ArrowOS on my POCO (subbrand of Xiaomi) X3 Pro. Just put F-Driod and Aurora Store (for the few apps not on F-Ddroid) and it's solid — no ads, no bloatware.
And if you're really sick of Android, try SailfishOS or Ubuntu Touch, Redmi Note 9 Pro was very well supported, maybe yours will work too.
@m0xee well, it falls at the first hurdle. turning on OEM Unlocking doesn't actually enable unlocking on my phone - so it's stuck as a MIUI device forever more :-(
@millihertz Oh, yes, it's not that easy with Xiaomi, single OEM unlock command doesn't cut it, you have to got through rather lenghty procedure. You have to register a Xiaomi account, AFAIR it involved giving your e-mail address (I had one I use rarely) and entering a code sent to your phone — again, I had a spare SIM,didn't have to use my main one.Then you have to initiate the unlock with stock ROM, it should be somewhere in settings. Wait for 10 days(!) and then finally unlock it with their SW
@millihertz Which of course is Windows only, but I had a Windows machine at hand, wasn't a problem for me, I think you can use a VM. AND you have to use a particular version of that SW, older and newer builds didn't work for me 😩
Yeah, I know, humiliation isn't my kink either, but you only have to do it once and your phone stays unlocked forever.
I might have used burner SIM and e-mail, but I chose not to in case I consider re-locking it later.
@millihertz
Here is a great step-by-step guide for your phone (if I picked your model correctly), but it's in Polish🤪: https://morfikov.github.io/post/jak-odblokowac-bootloader-w-xiaomi-redmi-9-galahad-lancelot/#xiaomi-procedure-failed-getservicetoken-missing-servicetoken-cookie
Looks like there is a Linux version of the unlock tool. In fact all this tool does is issues the fastboot unlock command with the unlock code which is retrieved from Xiaomi's server. URL changed and you have to patch the Linux tool to make it work — doesn't make things much easier than using the Windows one😩
@m0xee ...well, that all looks dreadful :-( i think, all told, it's probably just easier to sell the damn thing on and let someone else solve that problem (or not care about being advertised at by everything)
@millihertz It is! Now I look back at this and have a laugh, but you can imagine how frustrated I was when I was going through that. Had I known that I have to jump through all the hoops just to use this phone with clean ROM beforehand, I might have reconsidered buying it.
@millihertz Ads are bad too, I got this phone exclusively to check out community port of Ubuntu Touch and custom ROMS so I've never used stock ROM, but I've seen my friend do and ads are were even in the image viewer and I was like: "Is it _always_ like that, man?" 🤣
Hardware itself is more than capable and build quality of Xiaomi phones is top notch, it's a shame it gets ruined by software like that.
@m0xee it really is. i avoid using the Xiaomi apps wherever possible, but even the fucking system management app chucks adds at you! it's just ridiculous! i would never ever buy a MIUI device again, off the back of this
@millihertz My phone can run both. Both OSes are a little lacking in terms of apps, having up to
modern standards browser being the main problem, but it's solvable with WayDroid as a way to run Android apps in
a containter.
Of course having unlocked bootloader makes your phone less secure — anyone can steal your data over USB connection with little effort. But I'm least concerned about it. If I lose it, it's compromised anyway, but at least no one can mess with it remotely.