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]

Hello,

sup.

this is my first post in here.

Noob.

We can all agree that phones suck.

No we don't.

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?

Any dumb phone and portable modem should do the job.

Yours

eXcUsE mE, who are you?

[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 22731 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

[LoadingXML]

discourages linux (shills win11/macos/chromeos on desktop

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.

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)

He goes for blending method of anonymity, thus using umatrix or any addon but out of the box tor is going to render this method useless, the key is to blend, adding anything will make you standout.

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

same as point one, he argues for security, rarely privacy or anonymity.

thinks you shouldn't use encrypted dns because it provides no real benefits

he listed all possible methods to overcome encrypted dns, any counter-argument?

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)

for layman, signal is way better alternative for all reasons, the fact that govs are banning it [1] showcases its effectiveness.

if you want some terrorist tier stuff then go for: [spoiler]well I won't recommend you the solution, why would I help a terrorist like you? [/spoiler]

----------------------

anyhow I rarely see the guy giving wrong claims, some just misunderstand his intent, thinking he aims for privacy/anonymity while he seeks security, for those who don't know, here is the definitions of each:

Privacy: I know who you are, but don't know what you are doing
Anonymity: I know what you are doing, but I don't know who you are
Security: I know who you are, but can't do anything about it

[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]

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?

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=statistical+a ... or+dummies

[some cringe]

So we conclude anything that anything govs ban is a controlled opposition and just acting even if the thing does what it says and no one proved otherwise, thanks my WI peasant, but i have a brain.

[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