On the podcast, [Tom] and I were talking about the new generation of smartphones which are, at least in terms of RAM and CPU speed, on par with a decent laptop computer. If so, why not just add on a screen, keyboard, and mouse and use it as your daily driver? That was the question posed by [ETA Prime] in a video essay and attempt to do so.
Our consensus was that it’s the Android operating system h...
The article operates within a familiar pattern of lamenting the “loss” of genuine computing – a recurring motif in tech circles centered around a romanticized past of tinkering and open systems. The core manipulation at play here is a “motte-and-bailey” strategy, presenting a relatively minor inconvenience (Android’s restrictions) as a fundamental barrier to the smartphone’s potential. The author effectively frames Android as a deliberately “walled garden,” leveraging the familiar distrust of ce...