I've got my Linux smartphone running and ready to go. VWYF, folks. I'll take shitty software and poor battery life over digital authoritarianism every single time.
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
>VWYF, folks
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You can still run an Android build that doesn't require a Google signature for apps. You'll just lose access to Play Integrity APIs, which you wouldn't get from non-Android Linux phones either. A better technical solution is to set up a federated replacement for Play Integrity that third party ROM developers can opt into and a library that can use that or Play Integrity for app developers that want it to use.
Banking apps will not work then.
That's a bit overblown. Almost all banking apps work fine. You might be one of the unlucky few of course, but there's no need to scare others from running free software.
I think the "one smartphone for absolutely everything" era is over. Either switch banks (there are many who don't do this nonsense) or have a dedicated Android/iOS device for banking.
Which brand do you suggest ?
Google wants my apartment lease to let me distribute free games, so I just won't support their platform.
This is not about security, it's about control.
gonna say: the pinephone has been hell over the last few weeks. Phone auto-boots whenever power is applied (either by their keyboard case or via USB-C), then the battery dies very quickly, and you need a minimum charge to boot the phone, so that means you have to swap an SD card in there with JumpDrive just to charge the darn thing. There are some mitigating factors (larger battery, Tow-Boot + loading OS from SD card, potentially some SMT soldering shenanigans), but I genuinely feel like this is a fire hazard. I -do not- recommend inflicting this on others.
someone suggested (I can't lost the link) flipping the script with a GLiNet Mudi hotspot with SMS forwarding (to e-mail); I really like this idea. It would be suuuper neat to play around with the tethered model: make SIP calls with a hacked Switch with Android installed / dedicated ruggedized VoIP phone for emergencies, or justify making and carrying a cyberdeck.
Personally, I'm hoping to revive my 3DS because I fell in love with the darn thing again (and its near infinite battery life). I heard you can make calls on the original DS with SvSIP, so suuurely that can work on the 3DS too. As a fellow gamer and android dev I'm sure you'd appreciate the idea.
I don't want a phone owned and controlled and spied on by governments and mega corporations. I want a Gibson-Neuromancer style obelisk disk blob thing that does Internet, Telephony, and Computer stuff and uses whatever I tether it to as the human interface.
Wow, PinePhone is mess. So much for a consumer device... Do they even use their own product?
This is not about security, it's about control.
Of course we know, but they always spin it as being about security.
They are just careful not to say whose security.
It's not a lie if it is to secure their cashflow.
One man’s security is another man’s control.
Edit: and to be clear, I’m against this change by google. I think there is value in protecting grandma from sideloaded apps (if that even happens in the real world) but this isn’t about protection of consumers, it’s about centralised control of what you can and can’t do, in preparation for handing over the reigns to an authoritarian government. ‘Security’ either to protect you from scams, protecting YouTube from third party apps, or preventing nation state hacking or similar will inevitably be the driving narrative.
No, it's not security. It never was.
Weird micro-aggression without any argument to back it up.
My primary for the time being remains GrapheneOS, which, ironically enough, only runs on Pixel hardware for now (though the GOS team is working with an unnamed major Android OEM to produce a handset that meets GOS's strict platform requirements).
My Linux phone is a PinePhone pro, which I believe is no longer being sold. It's not great. Phosh could generously be described as "in progress" last time I used it. UIs for many applications aren't built for small touchscreens like that.
I'd have to review the hardware market again if I were going to make a fresh recommendation. Librem looks cool conceptually, but they're a bit pricey, and their framing of a "Made in USA" variant as a premium feature rather than a red flag, a reputation risk, and a supply chain risk make me skeptical of whether Librem is a trustworthy entity at all, or might just be controlled opposition. That could just be me erring on the side of paranoia, though.
i've had a positive experience with OnePlus 6 and Mobian, but if you want something more modern with a business behind it, check out https://furilabs.com/
This looks kind of cool, but it lacks a headphone jack...
Which you think would be the first thing you'd put on there since Bluetooth pairing is extremely difficult to get right when you're using custom operating systems.
If you're cheap like me a used Pixel3a is a grand device.
This works now, but good luck in 10 years time when the radio chip requires a digital signature from the host OS signed by google or apple and your current phone is deprecated by 6g or whatever.
when the radio chip requires a digital signature from the host OS signed by google or apple
China will never let that happen.
I remember, when DVD players were required to show mandatory, non-skippable sections of video, chinese players violated the standards and international agreements and allowed skipping those sections, and they also sometimes illegally ignored regional restrictions.
I think times were different back then. Modern times are more like China selling Playstation 5’s with mod shops: to my knowledge, they currently don’t. Even if it ever becomes a thing the PS6 is only a few years away and will be even harder to break.
5 eyes governments would be able to mandate this to stop against the ‘persistent evils of China’
Google, Apple, or CCP. Problem solved.
I mean, the actual implementation will be that CCP signs Google DragonFly Global Root CA cert, and Apple runs Google signed firmware, but those are just minor implementation details.
The irony, software freedom is now dependent on China.
Mobile hotspot with a wireguard tunnel wrapping all traffic. Different RF bands (e.g. Starlink). Unauthorized private autonomous mesh networks. I don't care how hard they make it. I am never going to stop uncompromisingly exercising my right to absolute control over hardware I bought and paid for.