Hi there, developer here. Can you please elaborate? Actually I would very much appreciate a really open smart phone with the same customization capabilities that the PC platform provides. However I believe (maybe wrongly?) most customers do not need to have a rooted phone, so I am really interested in the type of application?
I hope that we get an open phone soon (I want to `pkg install $foo`), but unfortunately most endeavors seemed to have failed (Ubuntu Phone, etc.) I always wonder why that's the case.
Edit: "However I believe (maybe wrongly?) most customers do not need to have a rooted phone, so I am really interested in the type of application?"
EDS for mounting encrypted volumes only works with root, since it needs elevated access to the kernel to mount stuff. That's probably the only app I use that requires root, but there are other customizations that I couldn't do on stock. For example, on my moto x pure the onscreen buttons were in the "wrong" places, and I needed the aicp (it's a ROM) ability to customize which button does what and icons. Mainly I wanted the back button to be on the right and not the left, and the other buttons to be the same as my previous phone.
If it's a custom rom, I expect others to have the same issues I'll have and someone will have developed a workaround or fix. On stock, this won't always be the case.
Then there's the whole "tethering" thing, which can be a big deal when traveling with a phone and laptop. Stock won't let you tether unless your plan allows it, while cyanogenmod or aicp doesn't care.
(Still annoyed that moto x pure, aicp, and ringplus 4g don't seem to mix, and I can only get 3g on anything besides for stock.)
I hope that we get an open phone soon (I want to `pkg install $foo`), but unfortunately most endeavors seemed to have failed (Ubuntu Phone, etc.) I always wonder why that's the case.