Stop using smart phones as your primary computer. As radio transmitting devices you will never be allowed to control them. You don't have the license, the telco does. It seems crazy to me that, apparently, you have to have high technology knowledge to install arbitrary software. Isn't that the primary thing you do on a computer?
The mega-corporations will not change. It is up to you to change your behavior.
It’s far far too late for this kind of finger wagging. In developing countries, a smartphone is the only device many people have. You see stories of people learning to code on a $100 android phone and Bluetooth keyboard.
This trend will not reverse ever. What can happen is governments can force the companies to open things up. They don’t even have to regulate. They can just dangle the threat of regulation and companies will move first. Apple has been doing a whole lot to open up repairs and the OS. It’s not far enough but it’s moving in the right direction.
That's exactly what I said. It will not reverse, ever. The only thing you can do is the only thing anyone has ever been able to do: change their own behavior. And that is very easily possible.
I am not suggesting that everyone will change. I am suggesting that you, reading this text, chose to change. Or not, but I figure people on HN definitely have the positive liberty to be able to.
> As radio transmitting devices you will never be allowed to control them.
There are actually two parts in a smartphone: the baseband/radio processor and the app processor. They are both complete systems, with their own CPU and software, sometimes, each have their own chip. The baseband controls the radio as well as a few other devices, it runs proprietary code, usually an encrypted, signed blob. It is only accessible through a well defined interface and doesn't run arbitrary code. This is the part you can't control.
The app processor is the thing that runs your main OS (ex: Android) and all your apps. It can run arbitrary code and that's the "computer", the part you can control.
In a traditional PC, the baseband could take the form of a PCIe card, and in fact, it is often exactly that. For example, a lot of laptops have a separate WiFi module slotted into the main board.
The mega-corporations will not change. It is up to you to change your behavior.