My smartphone is dying. It gave a honorable battle. I'll probably save and buy myself a dumb phone for Christmas! My company mostly offers Iphones and Samsungs. I have a lot of points, as i didn't got a new phone in years. But i rather use a break phone than an iphone or a samsung even if it only cost me like 150 euros.
I used them both in the past and they felt like toys instead of pieces of hardware to run daily.
I need an smartphone, not a toy.
I don't want 4 useless cameras.
I don't want huge screen that contradict the point of a smartphone.
i don't want extremely new and expensive hardware that i will never use.
Interestingly, the last phone i had that felt like it had a serious team behind was the Nokia Lumia running windows mobile. By far the best mobile OS ever made.
Smartphones should be robust as a rock and always prioritize longevity over anything else. It is the tool i need if i need to call an ambulance. It can not be make with shiny fragile materials, it can not ask me to log in to use it, it can not install things i didn't told it to install.
And the new Linux phones have this problems too. They try so hard to look modern that they are not bringing any advantage over what is already available.
The "Libre phones" are not so libre if they cost what i earn in a year.
I also have a problem with people saying that Linux phones are secure. I don't know if is ignorance or what, but this people seem to forget that most of the things that escape your control are made in your SIM card, not in your phone system.
You can literally remove your phones software, it can still track you just by having the SIM connected.
Maybe we should be reverse engineering that. But that does look as cool.
@kkarhan I think we fully agree on this one.
And honestly, i think that really known Linux figures talking about how secure Linux phones supposedly are, without even mentioning the SIM card, which is a self autonomous computer attach to it, is problematic. Folks in all kind of places undergoing war or oppression could rely on this tools thinking they are safe when they are not.
@YoSoyFreeman A #SIM and #GSM baseband is to be considered #hostile at all times, and even if people were to tunnel everything via @torproject / #Tor that won't avoid the #tracking and "#LawfulInterception" aspect.
Ideally we'd have stuff like the #PocketCrypto1 & #Cryptofon 2 ready to #DIY, but sadly I've to still work on getting the necessary #Firmware done based upon @OS1337 / #OS1337 3.
Granted, the best thing one can do is to bounce public WiFis with anonymized MAC addresses...
That works okay with Tor Bridges, but won't work in like #NorthKorea where you only have a national intranet and the only options you have to get any #Internet access is through smuggled SIMs at the Chinese and Russian Border...
@kkarhan
Indeed. My daily battle is fighting against the forced use of mobile phones. Europeans are being forced to use a mobile phone for many quite basic tasks like banking. Public #libraries are pushing captive portals that require SMS verification, so people without phones are denied access to a public service.
What I find more alarming is no one gives a shit if people without phones are excluded. We need a #rightToBeAnalog more than anything.
I expect my mobile network tracking it. That does not mean that folks who are not aware of how certain stuff works expect it too.
Not everyone has the privilege of knowing or having common access to certain tech, so, is part of our responsibility to make sure that people understand their tools.
In my experience, the vast majority of people does not know what "tracking", "file system" or "file paths" are. Especially young people.
@YoSoyFreeman I was excited about them Librem 5 phones until I saw they had a special "freedom edition" which boasts a "no china allowed" as the main feature, complete with the whole US flag branding all over and this whole nonsense put me right off the entire company
I dunno, I still remember that the NSA actually bullied people into using crypto they explicitly knew how to break
That was an unexpected unfolding of the events xD
@YoSoyFreeman I stand corrected, it's the "liberty phone"
I wonder if that'll just randomly attempt a coup in my house if it ever sees my finances in order...
@YoSoyFreeman Consider the more practical inverse: instead of removing all the phone’s software (rendering it useless), consider removing the #GSM SIM chip and keeping the phone permanently in airplane mode. It makes sense to have control over the platform, which entails running FOSS. IIUC you apparently favor a Microsoft-based platform, which disempowers you to the full extent possible.
Don’t let the #tyrannyOfConvenience stop you from carrying both a neutered FOSS smartphone & a feature phone
Oh, no, i hate Microsoft to the core. Not only ideologically, i do think they do create awful software. What i liked about Windows phone was the simplicity and UX, nothing more.
I agree with you! Linux phones are important! My point is more than we need to explain better how this stuff works, because mobile is made on purpose to be difficult.
The problem is Whatsapp. I hate whatsapp. But is THE way to talk to people in here. Nobody calls, nobody sms, nobody signal or telegram
@YoSoyFreeman What I did, a few years ago, was buying some used smart phone (a Google Nexus 5 from ~2016 for €50), and install UBports on it.
You have to carefully check if you can live without all the apps companies try to shove down your throat (banking apps, unlock-your-bike apps, etc etc).
And check which phones are well supported by the mobile Linux OS. Beside UBports there is also Plasma Mobile, but I think UBports is most mature and has the bigger app store.
@YoSoyFreeman I disagree re: #WindowsPhone but maybe that's just me who saw it and knew it's gonna be #DoA like #Maemo, #MeeGo, #OpenMoko and #FirefoxOS...
More [self-]sabotaged than anything...
TBH, if I had to get a new Smartphone that I can actually use I'd be stuck with another #Fairphone3plus, a #ShiftPhone or a #PinePhone...
My first smartphone was a Windows phone amd I loved the UI. It was so clean and simple, android and iphones all seem too busy, too noisy, too much stuff going on. With the way Windows went I think the Windows phone would have become the worst, most invasive phone OS but it was the best at the time.
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