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StephenG1CMZ · (This post was last modified: 05-20-2019 04:39 PM by StephenG1CMZ.)

i have just seen a news report pushed on Android's new service, saying that Reuter's report that Google has blocked Huawei from its services (although open-source components can still be used).
Aparrently this will impact availability of Google Play Store on new Huawei devices - It is not yet clear what impact this will have on existing devices.

Will my Huawei be bricked by Google?
If this report is true, is there any risk that I would be unable to use Google Play Apps that I have already purchased - or just prevented from acquiring updates or using it on new devices?

Note: news report I saw suggested that this action was primarily because of Huawei being placed on an American blacklist, rather than a specific decision by Google - implying that simply switching to an alternative American supplier of Apps might not help.

(I was intending to cut and paste a link to the TNW news report, but Android says that site has a problem with its security certificate).
Update: BBC news report indicates existing devices are [currently] unaffected.

grsbanks · 05-20-2019, 08:16 AM

This article (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48330310) seems to imply that existing phones that get an Android update could be affected.

I currently have a P20 Pro running Android 9 but if it get Android 10 one day then it could be restricted.

StephenG1CMZ · 05-20-2019, 10:30 AM

I have the Huawei Y7 2018 and had been hoping to upgrade to a Huawei P20 Lite.
I am now reconsidering my reliance on Google Android.

EugeneNine · 05-20-2019, 11:45 AM

You can run Android just fine without google. Use services such as f-droid for apps, other sync tools such as foldersync and/or owncloud/nextcloud.

I don't really use any Google services myself.

burkhard · (This post was last modified: 05-20-2019 01:51 PM by burkhard.)

(05-20-2019 10:30 AM)StephenG1CMZ Wrote: I am now reconsidering my reliance on Google Android.

Just curious if you are also re-considering your reliance on Huawei....
It's pretty well established by multiple worldwide intelligence agencies that the brand is a conduit that provides backdoor entry for Chinese government espionage as well as intellectual property theft.

It's your data of course, but even if you think you have nothing worth stealing (doubtful these days) on your phone, I would reconsider supporting them by sending your £ there... So many phone suppliers out there, why finance these weasels?

StephenG1CMZ · (This post was last modified: 05-20-2019 04:51 PM by StephenG1CMZ.)

Firstly, I am wholly reliant on Google for all my apps and my Gmail. I am not wholly reliant on Huawei - I have older Android's that in theory might still work, although with only 500 MB free they are unreliable.

Well, apart from the fact that the phones are about half the price and have better cameras, there is the philosophical argument that as far as I can tell, Huawei are doing what they can to keep the phones working.
Google, by contrast, seem to be doing their best to delete Google Play and brick the phone, whether by choice or neccessity. From the perspective of a mobile user, the main difference between that and ransom ware is that one is legal.

And today Huawei - which mobile manufacturer will Google target tomorrow? As you say, there are lots of alternatives... Which all need to be risk-assessed.

As for the security and cost, the phone is primarily for personal use... I'm only a software engineer.

EugeneNine · 05-20-2019, 05:06 PM

You cold run into those issues with anyone.

Set up your own domain for e-mail so you own it and therefore google or anyone else can't mess with it (though these was the one big issue a few years ago where Microsoft went to icann and borked a bunch of the internet, but hopefully icann learned their lesson from that one).

StephenG1CMZ · 05-20-2019, 05:21 PM

(05-20-2019 11:45 AM)EugeneNine Wrote: You can run Android just fine without google. Use services such as f-droid for apps, other sync tools such as foldersync and/or owncloud/nextcloud.

I don't really use any Google services myself.

F-droid has no HP-Prime App that I can see.

cdmackay · (This post was last modified: 05-20-2019 05:27 PM by cdmackay.)

(05-20-2019 11:45 AM)EugeneNine Wrote: You can run Android just fine without google. Use services such as f-droid for apps, other sync tools such as foldersync and/or owncloud/nextcloud.

I don't really use any Google services myself.

Note that many third-party apps use google services in the background to provide functionality, e.g push notifications, wakeups.

That's a good example, since of course push notify can be done in lots of ways, without any reliance on Google. But for them to work efficiently, e.g. in conjunction with sleep modes, etc, they need to use google services, and so many apps will choose do it that way.

Those apps won't work properly (e.g. no push notify, or worse), in that case.

There seems to be confusion over what it will mean for existing phones; I've seen comments saying "no change".

Maximilian Hohmann · 05-20-2019, 08:15 PM

Hello!

Honestly I can not understand the fuss that is made about this. Google itself has been "spying" on us since decades, allegedly they can identify every living person after his/her third search query. My Apple devices know more about me than I do myself (and report everything to big brother unless I find the hidden sub-sub-submenu where I can disable (part of) the calling-home stuff) and even our own government (Germany) has contracted the development of a trojan software to spy out suspect citizens (i.e. all of us).

Regards
Max

cdmackay · 05-20-2019, 11:08 PM

I read a similar comment in Private Eye, which mentioned that Cisco products have also been alleged to include CIA backdoors.

So it came down to: who would you prefer to be snooping on you, Donald Trump or Xi Jinping? Smile

Thomas Okken · 05-20-2019, 11:14 PM

If one wants to make sure there are no back doors, it should be a straightforward matter of requiring equipment manufacturers to disclose the source code to a vetting agency, make sure the code actually builds the binaries in question, and have security experts check it. Totally doable, if the whole exercise is actually done in good faith, and the issues aren't just being played up in order to distract people from domestic problems by scaring them with some enemy, in time-honored fashion. I suspect in the case at hand, there is a fair bit of both going on.

cdmackay · 05-21-2019, 12:26 AM

and it can't possibly be in any way related to the ongoing US-China trade dispute, of course.

Dan · 05-21-2019, 05:37 AM

(05-21-2019 12:26 AM)cdmackay Wrote: and it can't possibly be in any way related to the ongoing US-China trade dispute, of course.

Oh no, nothing to do with that at all.

Interesting how there was no mention of security threats or intellectual property theft before Chinese companies started to compete with Western ones. Back then everyone was happy to exploit China for its cheap labour.

And what about the theft of Chinese intellectual property? These include the Four Great Inventions:

*Papermaking
*Compass
*Gunpowder
*Printing

and many, many more.