[tor-talk] [OT] Smartphone purchase advice?

[G]

Not really knowledgeable with other than readily available phones 
(android and apple) but there is only so much you can do. Decent custom 
firmwares tend to be available for the more popular android phones. 
Custom recovery and of course rooting usually are necessities.

Apple is of course closed and you pretty much are forced into os 
upgrades to run most apps. They keep a tighter rein on apps and app 
security. There has been discussion about battery draining/killing 
methodologies on older hardware trying to force hardware upgrades. We 
experienced premature battery deaths. Gone are all Apple products in our 
quiver.

Choices for Android phones range from products that most telcos 
use/support to models unknown anywhere that are available online from 
China. Considering China is probably the world leader in AI technologies 
(three main state 'associated' companies) and are aggressively building 
not only physical infrastructure (roads/bridges) but electronic and 
technological infrastructure throughout the world through partnerships 
it is not a far reach to connect the dots.

As others have mentioned it is very difficult to get away from the 
closed hardware/embedded firmware that is present in say 'all' phones. 
Almost have to settle for just control over the os firmware and 
overlying apps. There can be an amazing number of different firmwares 
for some models. Often it is a tradeoff between price and what is 
available. I usually start with the firmware (requirements/privacy) and 
purchase the phone based on that.

Some devs try their best to remove all google related processes but I 
have a feeling that is next to impossible when using android - but they 
get close.

As for apps google playstore is quite a dangerous place. There are apps 
like OpenAPPs and others that include or 'emulate' partial google 
services/apps.

As mentioned fdroid and others like guardian try to keep privacy a 
priority. Most everday use apps can be found at sites like these. 
Android allows 'system-wide' vpn so firewall-like apps can block or 
route most traffic and give you an idea of the horrendous amount of 
undesireable traffic. Those include Orbot, Netguard, Tor Browser and the 
likes. Gets tricky stacking some of these together.

In all I guess I'm trying to say that perfect privacy is still a fallicy 
for most but you are probably aware of that. It does take a lot of 
digging to find something that will work for you and be somewhat happy 
with ;-/





On 2019-03-21 2:22 a.m., tortalk at humilis.net wrote:
> muc4dollol at secmail.pro wrote (ao):
>> Interesting about hardware advice but also concerned for O/S. Are
>> people excited for puri.sm Librem phone or skeptikal?
> I am very exicted about the upcoming Librem 5 for several reasons:
>
> o Purism has a proven track record with both hardware (their laptops)
>    and software.
> o The NXP i.MX 8M family of cpu's is apparently relatively open.
> o The expected hardware is powerfull: four core cpu, at least 3GB
>    of memory, 32GB storage, 5.5" 720×1440 display:
>    https://puri.sm/faq/what-are-the-phone-specs/
>
> And on a more personal note:
>
> o I'm quite done with Google and their hunger for information.
> o My Android phone is eol software wise (4,4.2), (but not hardware,
>    which makes me sad from an environmental perspective).
> o I've owned an Openmoko GTA02 years ago so I already know this will not
>    be a smooth ride.
>
> It seems the timing for a new Linux phone is spot on.
>
> FTR: I've ordered a Librem 5.
>
>      Sander