> I paid for the phone and they are still collecting my data.

You paid for the phone, not for the google services.

You're free to use non-google services on android. Moreover open street map, and numerous other email clients, exist - it's even a practical choice.

> For me this is not free.

No comment on this portion

You paid for a phone with Google.

That was your decision. There are other options.

And while you mind, billions are really happy to have a very secure and relativity cheap phone.

We've just gone from "they're not evil" to "okay so maybe they are evil but that was your choice, and they're cheap" in the span of a single comment.

Where?

I don't think Google is evil because they get money through ads.

I'm fine with that.

There is also a huge difference on how Google collects, stores and analysis your data vs. companies like Facebook.

I'm pretty sure Google actually knows we're your data is in comparison to Facebook

How can you determine it is cheap when Google is anticompetitively subsidizing the cost with advertising and data collection? You could be getting hosed and never know it.

Because android itself is free but I'm not seeing a lot of companies or you taking the time and effort to make an ad free Android phone for the same price or cheaper.

A competitor can’t enter the market to compete on price because Google subsidizes their product with ads. Thats the very picture of predatory, anticompetitive behavior. You can’t know what the market would be if Android were forced to compete fairly.

Microsoft did not leave the market because of googles ad revenue.

Apple is playing the game without ads as well.

Nokia could have forked android.

Google just continue to care enough.

The other companies could replicate it. The just don't mind