Best choice of mobile for not fully dedicated libre soft- and hardware users

8 Antworten [Letzter Beitrag]
GNUbahn
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Beigetreten: 02/18/2016

My wife has been using a Replicanted Samsung S2 for while now, but she will soon give up. It is simply too slow and though she is not very demanding (in this respect!), the lack of some functionalities is driving her mad (occasionally at me).

I have come to the conclusion that if I cannot supply her with a better option, she will start using her iphoney again, which I would go far to avoid. The 'best' solution I can think of is to get her a phone running lineageos. I suppose that on the hardware side, thet biggest problem with phones running lineageos is modem isolation.

Do you agree?

I have searched for some sort of list or test results of this but can only find what is described at Replicant.us.

Does some one know where to find such information? (if it even exists).

jxself
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Beigetreten: 09/13/2010

The Replicant people are the *only* ones that I know of that have looked into this matter.

nadebula.1984
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Beigetreten: 05/01/2018

Switching from Android to LineageOS is a major step toward freedom. Xiaomi Note 4X (up to 4 GiB RAM and 64 GB internal storage) is a good candidate that supports LineageOS. Please note that you have to "unlock" it before you can modify its operating system. I am not quite sure whether Xiaomi still allows users to unlock their phones. (Another Chinese manufacturer Huawei no longer allow users to unlock their phones. All Huawei devices become tyrants, just as bad as iPhone or Windows Phone.)

Stay as far away from iThings (iPhone, iPad, iMac, etc.) as you can, for freedom's sake. Convenience (consumer value) is never comparable to freedom (citizen right).

chaosmonk

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Beigetreten: 07/07/2017

> biggest problem with phones running lineageos is modem isolation.

As I understand it, modem isolation is a problem in all phones that currently exist. The neo900 and Purism phone will each have a kill switch to reliably disable the modem, but even them I'm not sure if this necessarily means that the phones will have good isolation while the modem is on. In the case of the neo900, they are going to release the schematics, from which it might be possible to determine how well the modem is isolated.

It is hard to prove a negative (that a phone doesn't have bad modem isolation). However, you can sometimes prove that a phone *does* bad modem isolation, and it is better to use a phone that might have bad modem isolation than a phone that definitely has bad modem isolation. I believe that the Replicant team test phones for bad modem isolation, but I would expect them to focus on phones that can support Replicant. I don't know much more than that, but you might read these[1] threads.[2]

In the case of LineageOS or Android, however, the biggest problem is not modem isolation but the inclusion of proprietary software. With Replicant, all software running on the CPU is free and obeys the user, and good modem isolation prevents this otherwise free system from being compromised by the proprietary software running on the modem. If there is already untrusted software running on the CPU, then even with good modem isolation you are not in control of your system.

From the second link:

"once there is proprietary software running the CPU, the modem becomes irrelevant as an attack vector, as any program can just spy and collect data on its own without the need of the modem. This is why the software running on the CPU is actually the most important attack vector, hence why we believe a fully free system such as Replicant is important for privacy/security."

That said, any phone running LineageOS is way better than a spiPhone.

[1] https://redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/wiki/ModemSharedMemory
[2] https://redmine.replicant.us/boards/33/topics/7383

freeatlast

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Beigetreten: 07/21/2018

running linage os would probably be better than running linux mint or ubuntu or there is this list or wikipedia i would recommend linageos over replacant at this point in time as replacant is just not redey unfortunately i dont believe you should worry about what phone your spouse uses linageos is better for freedom than spydroid and spyphone but i also recognize that there are probably far more important things to worry about in your marriage than smartphone operating systems and smartphones but the librem 5 would probably be your best option https://puri.sm/products/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_custom_Android_distributions

GrevenGull
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Beigetreten: 12/18/2017

There are some issues regarding the purism company though, just throwing it out there.

Personally I would much rather use Replicant or Lineage

onpon4
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Beigetreten: 05/30/2012

I'm actually going to suggest you not argue with your wife on this point. If she demands a faster Stalin's Dream, whatever. You can't change her mind by getting in the way.

What you should focus on is asserting yourself when it affects you. So first of all, don't own a cell phone yourself; if you already have one, get rid of it. No cell phone respects your privacy, and what's so nice about these garbage touch-screen phones, anyway? And second of all, argue against spending needless hundreds of dollars on useless apps, if she falls into that trap.

And if you want to go further, you could ask her not to bring her cell phone into the bedroom. Tell her you don't want Big Brother to watch.

chaosmonk

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Beigetreten: 07/07/2017

> what's so nice about these garbage touch-screen phones, anyway?

Very little. I never figured out how people type on those damn things, and everything about the manipulative notification system and interface was constantly distracting me from what I was doing, wasting time and focus. I don't know why I ever put up with the inconvenience of carrying a cell phone. Ditching the spiPhone was good for both my freedom and mental health.

traxter
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Beigetreten: 03/23/2018

> ... Replicanted Samsung S2 for while now, but she will soon give up. It is simply too slow

A Galaxy Note II with Replicant is much faster than an S2. Maybe this could be an option

> ... the lack of some functionalities

What functionalities exactly? The Galaxy Note II e.g. supports NFC, while the S2 does not. However, the Note II requires proprietary software for its front camera.