Phones

[iKorbinian]

Hello,

this is my first post in here. We can all agree that phones suck. But sometimes I need one for tethering or calls. I don't care about other applications, browsing or social media on my phone.

Is there any good one?

Yours
K

[LoadingXML]

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[qualia]

Hello,

this is my first post in here. We can all agree that phones suck. But sometimes I need one for tethering or calls. I don't care about other applications, browsing or social media on my phone.

Is there any good one?

Yours
K

from the tethering part im assuming you want a mobile phone, not an analog one (in case you can sacrifice that, an analog phone is your best option).

if you need a modern smartphone, your best bet at the moment is a google pixel model supported by grapheneos (https://grapheneos.org/) but google is doing everything to close android so it might not be long-term. grapheneos is a modification of android which is completely degoogled. there is also /e/os which im not familiar with (https://e.foundation/e-os/) but it also seems to be degoogled.

if you dont need the latest smartphone you could try some kind of a mobile linux system like postmarketos (https://postmarketos.org/) which im also not familiar with.

if you are a richard stallman fan you could try replicant (https://replicant.us/), it's a freetard version of android that supports a bunch of ancient (as in 10+ years old) smartphones. the development seems to be (generously speaking) very slow, last update was apparently released in 2022. the benefit is no proprietary blobs in the kernel, if you care about that.

do not use calyxos for now, the development has been stopped and the developers themselves advise not to use it.

if you are american (or can accept an american phone number despite living elsewhere), don't get a phone plan, receive calls/messages through xmpp with jmp (https://jmp.chat/). you can also get sim/mobile data with them.

[qualia]

if you can accept a "dumbphone" just go for that as loadingxml said.

[sirfessor]

If you're not extremely private person, you could buy any phone and use it only for calling and banking, don't store anything private on it and the things you do in your main computer. If you're too paranoid and bought cheap android device, install netguard and block unnecessary connections.

[BVLL]

Is there any good one?

A landline phone is probably the best option in this case. if you need a smartphone, some old chinkshit with a custom android ROM is good.
DO NOT get a regular android phone has GMS (pre loaded google's software backdoor with 400 permissions)

[iKorbinian]

Hello,

thank you for the advice. I not need a cable telephone, since I am on the move too often. I do search a mobile one. I was looking for a degoogled version of Android.

Maybe a cheap chimpphone will do the job best or some degoogled luxury toy.

[LarrySwinger]

I'm not familiar with @bvll's mention of a backdoor. A chinkphone may be enough and in that case I recommend the Redmi series, those are great budget devices. But do look into it, there might be a backdoor.

For degoogled, I recommend pixel 8a for the best balance between price and security update duration. You can even go for a 7a if you don't use it that much but keep in mind that it will lose support in a few years. For tethering and occasional use you're not going to run into any kind of issue even after support ends. But starting with the 8, support was increased to 7 years of software updates, that's it's appeal.

Others recommended a dumb phone but I'm not sure that lets you tether data, make sure to double check if you end up going that route. Really I recommend you to get a cheaper pixel.

[BVLL]

I'm not familiar with @bvll's mention of a backdoor. A chinkphone may be enough and in that case I recommend the Redmi series, those are great budget devices. But do look into it, there might be a backdoor.

Seems like there's some people who are unaware/not fully aware of how dangerous GMS is, so I'll explain it here

Google mobile services (also called google play services, GMS) is a proprietary pre-installed software package which has every single permission possible , that essentially makes it a backdoor. Here are very few of GMS's spying capabilities:

1. 24/7 location tracking
even if gps (not the package) is disabled, even if the phone is off, even if the the battery shows zero (its not zero in reality), AAAND even if the airplane mode is on, it still tracks you but instead saves up the location history during airplane mode on and sends it to google servers when its turned on again
2. Call log tracking
GMS has access to which numbers (with contact name if there is one) in what time did you call and it potentially can listen to the call's audio itself
3. Sessions tracking
GMS tracks for how long you use each apps, in what time do you use your phone ect.
4. Gallery scraping (probably darkest of them all)
GMS has access to EVERY photo/video in your gallery and sends it to google servers every 30 minutes (I checked)

Now keep in mind that it's barely a 1/100 of nearly 400 other permissions GMS has, see more here https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/e ... ermissions

[qualia]

true. that's why you should use a fully degoogled android distribution, or at the bare minimum one which implements google play services through microg (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MicroG). note that this breaks some apps, common big tech apps which are closely integrated with gms but also notably a lot of banking apps.

[qualia]

I'm not familiar with @bvll's mention of a backdoor. A chinkphone may be enough and in that case I recommend the Redmi series, those are great budget devices. But do look into it, there might be a backdoor.

For degoogled, I recommend pixel 8a for the best balance between price and security update duration. You can even go for a 7a if you don't use it that much but keep in mind that it will lose support in a few years. For tethering and occasional use you're not going to run into any kind of issue even after support ends. But starting with the 8, support was increased to 7 years of software updates, that's it's appeal.

Others recommended a dumb phone but I'm not sure that lets you tether data, make sure to double check if you end up going that route. Really I recommend you to get a cheaper pixel.

I use a pixel 8a, since at the moment i unfortunately need a slavephone. I can mostly recommend it, besides the poor battery life which is the only major issue with the phone.

[LarrySwinger]

I'm not familiar with @bvll's mention of a backdoor. A chinkphone may be enough and in that case I recommend the Redmi series, those are great budget devices. But do look into it, there might be a backdoor.

For degoogled, I recommend pixel 8a for the best balance between price and security update duration. You can even go for a 7a if you don't use it that much but keep in mind that it will lose support in a few years. For tethering and occasional use you're not going to run into any kind of issue even after support ends. But starting with the 8, support was increased to 7 years of software updates, that's it's appeal.

Others recommended a dumb phone but I'm not sure that lets you tether data, make sure to double check if you end up going that route. Really I recommend you to get a cheaper pixel.

I use a pixel 8a, since at the moment i unfortunately need a slavephone. I can mostly recommend it, besides the poor battery life which is the only major issue with the phone.

Personally I use the pixel 8 pro and the battery life is alright. But the 8a only has 500 mah less. With a smaller screen that should even things out more or less. So I'm not sure where the issue comes from or if you're used to these 7000 mAh chinkphones or something. All smartphones have a low battery life compared to old blackberries or Nokia's. The only option is to charge every day and not worry about it. I tether my phone's connection to my PC so it charges automatically, I don't need to think about it.

[LarrySwinger]

I just wanna add: I actually wish I'd got the 8a instead because the pro is heavy and uncomfortably large. And the device is flawed in that there is no 3.5mm port or microSD slot (let alone a replaceable battery, which we've stopped expecting by this point), so it's best to not spend too much on the device. Trolls are portrayed as evil people and they get shunned. At the same time, phones are designed by trolls that leave out essential features, and they get tolerated by the companies that employ them. This shows there are double standards. Their HR departments are failing. People get fired for non-issues such as 'transphobia' but in the meantime consumers get trolled and nothing is done.

[ironcastor]

Custom android ROMs apparently aren't very secure compared to the stock Android OS.
https://madaidans-insecurities.github.i ... ustom-roms

[TechLord]

Scum_-_Do_you_really_have_a_choice .png (50.48 KiB) Viewed 27676 times

[qualia]

Custom android ROMs apparently aren't very secure compared to the stock Android OS.
https://madaidans-insecurities.github.i ... ustom-roms

Yeah but most people in this thread discuss Pixels and (probably) run GrapheneOS which is the one notable exception mentioned in the post you linked.

[malformed_jill]

https://madaidans-insecurities.github.i ... ustom-roms

...i really don't wanna poison the well, but some of this guy's recommendations for privacy are... pretty bizarre, after checking his suggestions for security and privacy.
i get the disparagement against linux but i would NEVER tell someone to use windows 11 over it, considering the other fundamental problems with it.

[qualia]

https://madaidans-insecurities.github.i ... ustom-roms

...i really don't wanna poison the well, but some of this guy's recommendations for privacy are... pretty bizarre, after checking his suggestions for security and privacy.
i get the disparagement against linux but i would NEVER tell someone to use windows 11 over it, considering the other fundamental problems with it.

haven't even bothered to look through the website besides the post. skimming the articles this genuinely seems like a glownigger website:
discourages linux (shills win11/macos/chromeos on desktop and ios/stock android/graphenos (the only decent advice here) on mobile)
shills brave browser. claims firefox-based browsers are bad except he shills the trash that is tor browser as allegedly the best option against fingerprinting/tracking (no mention of umatrix or any other useful tracker blocking extensions anywhere)
shills known honeypot emails like protonmail and tuta. says you should stay away from email web apps (based) but in the same paragraph claims that web apps can be sometimes more secure
thinks you shouldn't use encrypted dns because it provides no real benefits
shills signal as the best private messenger (says that you should use it with a voip/burner phone number while ignoring the fact that it requires your phone number to use at all, thus rendering it a joke, not a privacy service)

i guess his linux hardening guide seems decent? he even advocates avoiding systemd distros

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[moeloli]

He was aruging for security not privacy or anonymity, and I see his arguments are mostly valid, Windows 11 is indeed (by default) more secure and harder to hack than linux.

Yes, that's why we seldom hear of Windows users getting hacked or getting viruses, yet constantly hear of Linux users getting hacked and getting viruses, right?

the fact that govs are banning it [1] showcases its effectiveness.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=what+is+controlled+opposition

[LoadingXML]

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[ironcastor]

https://madaidans-insecurities.github.i ... ustom-roms

...i really don't wanna poison the well, but some of this guy's recommendations for privacy are... pretty bizarre, after checking his suggestions for security and privacy.
i get the disparagement against linux but i would NEVER tell someone to use windows 11 over it, considering the other fundamental problems with it.

haven't even bothered to look through the website besides the post. skimming the articles this genuinely seems like a glownigger website:
discourages linux (shills win11/macos/chromeos on desktop and ios/stock android/graphenos (the only decent advice here) on mobile)
shills brave browser. claims firefox-based browsers are bad except he shills the trash that is tor browser as allegedly the best option against fingerprinting/tracking (no mention of umatrix or any other useful tracker blocking extensions anywhere)
shills known honeypot emails like protonmail and tuta. says you should stay away from email web apps (based) but in the same paragraph claims that web apps can be sometimes more secure
thinks you shouldn't use encrypted dns because it provides no real benefits
shills signal as the best private messenger (says that you should use it with a voip/burner phone number while ignoring the fact that it requires your phone number to use at all, thus rendering it a joke, not a privacy service)

i guess his linux hardening guide seems decent? he even advocates avoiding systemd distros

Don't have to agree with everything he writes. He's a sec researcher tho, and his posts on security seem pretty legit, so.

[BVLL]

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=what+is+controlled+opposition

Kinda funny to see DuckDuckGoy (obvious controlled opposition) say what is controlled opposition and what's not

[moeloli]

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=what+is+controlled+opposition

Kinda funny to see DuckDuckGoy (obvious controlled opposition) say what is controlled opposition and what's not

I very well know that FuckFuckJew is gay and controlled op (how could it not be when it's one of the most mainstream "privacy" services/products?), but I used it for a long time just because it got out of my way and didn't block me/ask for cuckptchas on Tor and wasn't constantly down/broken (particularly common for Searx instances), but recently I've been using an open source search engine instance hosted as a hidden service and it generally works fine enough (not being abused by clearnet Indian bots helps), but I wouldn't use an obscure onion link for this illustrative example.
>100th post

[mocheryl]

I was a big fan of Symbian before Nokia’s management went full retard. Eventually they discontinued it so naturally I went into a market for a new phone. Keep in mind that that was an era when mobile phone industry was already going downhill. In the end the choices boiled down to picking the least bad product. The options were iPhone (featureless, locked-down garden for tech illiterates. Also fuck Apple), Android (bloated mess. Also fuck Google) or Windows Phone (LOL. Also DOA. Also fuck Bill Gates). I would probably pick Android, but by coincidence I read an article about how some new phone manufacturer emerged on the market. The company was called Jolla and was comprised of people who were members of one of the Nokia’s teams that got disbanded. “Sweet”, I thought to myself. Nokia without being Nokia and sort of local too (Europe/Finland as opposed to aforementioned three companies who are USA-based). I got it soon after launch and it’s been a love/hate relationship ever since.

The device (Jolla, or just J1) runs Sailfish. It’s an in-house operating system designed for mobile devices and built on top of a standard-issued Linux. On one hand, it’s open enough and the gesture-based UX felt revolutionary to me. It made iOS look wooden in comparison. On the other hand, it’s riddled with bugs. The version that came with the phone was practically unusable. Lacked options and constantly crashed. Even after many updates there are still glitches and I can’t update any further because they dropped support for old devices (yes, I’m still using a >10 year old phone). This really sucks because they also dropped out of the hardware market so I can’t get a new phone with the latest version. To remedy this they offer the possibility of installing the system on one of the supported third party devices. This is done by buying (?!) a SF license, getting your hands on a legacy Sony device (good luck finding a 2 year old Xperia) and then perform some Voodoo to get it installed there. Yeah… fuck that. I can understand if you provide a service that is geared more towards a tech-savvy crowd, but this is just absurd.

I was going to get a Pixel (if you’re getting crap, might as well be first party crap) when a second coincidence occurred regarding this matter. They have announced they’re reentering the hardware market. Considering the situation in the mobile phone area hasn’t improved (if anything, it has gotten worse) I’m going to give them another chance with the J2. Hopefully after of more than a decade of development we’re getting a really polished experience.

I was going to write a lengthy review of Sailfish, but changed my mind as this post has already become tl;dr. It also wouldn’t be fair as it would be based on an outdated version. I’ll reconsider writing another opinion on it once I have a better insight on what they’re giving us now.

[molly]

I was going to write a lengthy review of Sailfish, but changed my mind as this post has already become tl;dr. It also wouldn’t be fair as it would be based on an outdated version. I’ll reconsider writing another opinion on it once I have a better insight on what they’re giving us now.

I would be interested in hearing your review of the newer version, if you ever use it and what hardware you use. Please start a new thread for it and share your insights.

[mocheryl]

I was going to write a lengthy review of Sailfish, but changed my mind as this post has already become tl;dr. It also wouldn’t be fair as it would be based on an outdated version. I’ll reconsider writing another opinion on it once I have a better insight on what they’re giving us now.

I would be interested in hearing your review of the newer version, if you ever use it and what hardware you use. Please start a new thread for it and share your insights.

The website says my batch ships end of September so I hope I can get a meaningful experience out of it by the end of the year.

On a related note, I was also looking at GrapheneOS as everyone kept talking about it, but lost interest in it as I heard some sketchy stuff about it lately. For now my focus is exclusively back on Sailfish.

[molly]

On a related note, I was also looking at GrapheneOS as everyone kept talking about it, but lost interest in it as I heard some sketchy stuff about it lately. For now my focus is exclusively back on Sailfish.

Can you share the GrapheneOS sketchy stuff? A lot of people here use it, so any info is good. If it's major start a new thread.

[!!deleted!!]

I have to agree with the original post here in that phones suck. Smartphones especially because of all the proprietary firmware they need. Of course there are Android ROMs but I feel like anything that depends on some upstream project, that is being managed by a greedy corporation, is just asking to include their next backdoor or being shutdown due to not wanting to include said back door. Then a government only needs to come in and say they have to either use the latest version provided by the company for security purposes or they will get sued.

I really tried finding some kind of compromise on smartphones but there is either lacking firmware support or Google controls a large part of the OS through their AOSP. I went for some Chinese dumb phone but even that isn't really ideal. Currently thinking of just using VoIP on my PC and ditching a phone all together, but not sure how else I am supposed to keep in contact with normies.

Sadly, I feel like this doesn't only concern phones but almost anything tech related. Everything is just a illusion of choice, but every single one is compromised due to their dependence on some corporate product (Browser forks depend on certain engines, Metasearchengines depend on existing search engines etc.).

[mia2ndpassword]

I have to agree with the original post here in that phones suck. Smartphones especially because of all the proprietary firmware they need. Of course there are Android ROMs but I feel like anything that depends on some upstream project, that is being managed by a greedy corporation, is just asking to include their next backdoor or being shutdown due to not wanting to include said back door. Then a government only needs to come in and say they have to either use the latest version provided by the company for security purposes or they will get sued.

I really tried finding some kind of compromise on smartphones but there is either lacking firmware support or Google controls a large part of the OS through their AOSP. I went for some Chinese dumb phone but even that isn't really ideal. Currently thinking of just using VoIP on my PC and ditching a phone all together, but not sure how else I am supposed to keep in contact with normies.

Sadly, I feel like this doesn't only concern phones but almost anything tech related. Everything is just a illusion of choice, but every single one is compromised due to their dependence on some corporate product (Browser forks depend on certain engines, Metasearchengines depend on existing search engines etc.).

Tablet PCs used to exist and i believe some even came with SIM slots, i miss them