Don’t buy any Samsung devices, got it.
But what options are there for non tech savvy people. Apple isn’t any better.
Fairphone or a Google Pixle (optional GraphenOS, ive had non-tech people install it with no issues)
Yah, thats why you slap GraphenOS on it before it leaves the lot. All phones spy on you of you dont gut the OS, because there is nothing left that hasent been enshitified.
Right now, GraphenOS requires a pixle due to hardware limitations. Some time next year they are planning on testing Snapdragon support which will greatly expand the number of phones that can use it.
I’ve got a Motorola, it probably still has spyware but at least it’s cheap, durable, and has a decent battery.
OnePlus, Pixel, Sony, Sharp.
Pixel? By google? I can’t imagine they aren’t collecting a ton of data on users. It’s thier whole business model. I don’t know about the others, but by including the pixel I am dubious if the others are any better than samsung.
Pixels are just bad hardware. 3 models got software updates that destroy battery life and more issues. No DAC ever worked properly on my 6a. They did gave me $100 for replacing the battery but I bought an s25. The Samsung has great hardware, software is less good than the pixel.
I hope that we someday have a Linux-based Steam Whistle from Valve, so that we have a phone that is actually ours.
I hope that one day we fix our bullshit and stop relying on corporations to save us. This should should be regulated to hell and back by representatives and their teams who are at worst just mediocre at their jobs.
While we’re dreaming and all that I’m gunna high ball it.
Let’s not wait. Let’s collectively ask Valve to make that next
I’d absolutely move to a steam machine in my pocket.
Gaben deserves a 14th yacht if he makes this ;)
This is Israeli spyware.
They own you.
The software in question, AppCloud, developed by the mobile analytics firm IronSource, has been embedded in devices sold primarily in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
So if you’re not in the Middle East. You’re good. Still not going to buy any Samsung devices.
Zionist Spyware
Funny how they never mention where this comes from… The bullshit propaganda is strong in this article.
Its always the Zionists they see land, life, freedom, and people as something to be bought and sold.
TIL Unity owns ironsource.
When my Graphene’d Pixel 7 goes out of support I’m switching to something Linux based even if I have to get a Raspberry Pi and a case and carry around a brick. My handbag’s big enough.
I found this. Its a Raspberry Pi in a brick case with a screen and a 4G modem.
Kinda funny that for all the downsides, the one that made me say oof was resistive touch.
Resistive pretty much requires a stylus to be usable with any accuracy. It’s like going back to '90s era PDAs.
I REALLY wanted to do a pi phone, and while it’s very possible to make a working phone/tablet out of one, their power consumption is absolutely awful. Most of the linux capable SBC’s can’t do low power.
I want an 8" linux touch screen with 18h of moderate usage batter life, I’m even willing to carry around a separate 4g access point.
Furi’s FLX1s seems like a valid alternative.
CM5s have 16GB of ram, some people might be building a postmarket os port for it too. Just need someone to design phone hardware for it.
Hello from GrapheneOS 👋
Tech savvy Lemmings don’t need SwapMyOS, but for more non-technical folk, it’s there just in case by demand.
AMA.
I wish I could install GrapheneOS on my Samsung… fuck it. I cannot wait for this shit to be paid off and I can get a GrapheneOS compatible phone.
Fuck Samsung to hell.
FWIW, GrapheneOS is in talks with phone manufacturers to also reduce/remove reliance on Google Pixels.
Also: You can technically put GOS on some non-Pixel devices, but it’s not officially supported (and thus not recommended). Just FYI.
I heard about Cape, a phone provider that is privacy focused and will soon be entering the consumer market. I will probably switch to them.
For one thing. Their geolocation is deliberately imprecise, meaning instead of pinning you down to a few meters (or even centimeters) they put you in a broad range around the towers, meaning your stated location could be far away from actual location.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but GrapheneOS is designed to prevent users from gaining root (admin) privileges. Consequently, even if the device is compromised, you will never be aware of it. I don’t care about the moronic reasons behind this; this is my device, and it should be under my control.
I really dont know what you mean. I rooted my samsung s23 and I can turn the sensors off.
With the past decades or so a phone has become a standard piece of equipment where it’s virtually used everywhere, anytime. It is a complete disaster that those standards are not applied to what’s deemed under the hood - all these companies are deemed to do anything they want to because nothing is standard.
Look where that got us - a duopoly where going against them is deemed “inescapable”. It is disappointing how we even let this happen in the first place, the capitalists and fascists basically own us because of it.
All that got us is a standard thing tacked together by mystery tape and glue - hardware & software. Open source software and standards have barely any say here just because the fascists in rule decided so.
I’ve tried living without a mobile phone.
It makes life needlessly difficult. Doing anything requires getting through layers of “why don’t you have a phone”
I looked into getting a landline installed in my home. The guy at the phone store said land lines aren’t a thing anymore and showed me the fucking modem they’d be using for my “land line”
Something is deeply wrong.
I mean here you can still get an LTE box and connect old phones to them. Or ooma which is voip
I hate galaxy phones, they’re build quality is so shitty and the prices are higher than a google pixel. Now they come with Israeli spyware? What other phones have spyware that I should know about?
I can’t imagine the pixel is much better. I think the question you have should be inverted. What doesn’t have spyware…
I believe the FairPhone is pretty solid.
Not as good, but Apple stuff is a big step up from Google and Samsung stuff wrt spying.
How is it on easy of use for the non-techies? And compatability of apps?
I have yet to purchase a Samsung mobile phone and I will do my best to keep it that way.
I made the mistake one time. Idk why people speak so highly of them. What is wrong with them?
It got forced updates at Random hours of the day with no even pretend consent of “Not right now. I’m literally on a phone call”. All the update was to install Candy crush or Facebook. Again
I literally lost out on a job because it shut off to update while I was on a phone interview. Called back and the guy was rude af.
Did you get the phone from a carrier? I’ve had 2 Samsung’s both bought unlocked from samsung and those come with no bloatware and for years I never had anything like that happen. My wife has an S23 from TMobile and has lots of unremovable apps and bloat.
I’ve heard that, and I did, but I’ve a google now from a carrier, and I do not have this issue on my google device. Not one update to put crap on it so far. Fingers crossed
It can’t just be a carrier issue.
It’s not only a carrier issue but it is an issue only with Samsung’s bought through carriers. Samsung obviously allows that or subsidizes them somehow. AFAIK with Samsung and carrier branded devices they have their own update schedules as well that is separate than just updates from Samsung.
We need new OEM’s made. Seriously we can’t keep going like this. Any other good alternatives?
Problem is that Samsung is like Apple- a shitton of people just blindly buy the latest Samsung whatever with zero research.
So you have a bunch of other companies trying to stand out in one way or another- Motorola for example just released a phone that brings back the 3.5mm headphone jack. And you have a ton of cheap Chinese companies that may or may not offer any software support after purchase but have interesting form factors.That makes it hard for the little guys to get the kind of sales volume needed to justify the development and tooling for a really cool flagship phone.
Personally while phones today are far more capable, I think phone designs peaked in the mid 2000s. Mainly because you had actual innovation in design– wildly different form factors. There were a few phones that flipped open like a laptop with a physical keyboard, a handful that slid open to reveal a blackberry-style keyboard, many had SDIO ports or other ability to clip on expansion modules, etc. Phones had fun features- there was one that could do an early ‘google pay’ type thing by pulsing a magnetic field to pretend to be a magnetic credit card stripe for a swipe reader. A lot of the early Samsung phones had IR blasters so you could turn TVs on and off. There were a couple designed for gaming that were laid out like a game pad. Manufacturers weren’t afraid to experiment and the result was some really cool stuff.
Sadly that’s all gone today. HTC (which made many of those cool phones) was driven out of the market by Apple and Samsung, so now virtually all phones are identical flat bricks.
I see a glimmer of hope with flip phones and foldables, but not much. They’re all just excuses toSo in a way its more educating people on better options rather than brand loyalty for an inferior product, hige various marketing to get smaller competitors to be seen, and those products sound awesome so innovations like that would pair well with marketing pushes (Community assistance would go a long way for marketimg).
Will look into the ones you suggested thanks
If you’re talking about “AppCloud” here, I already deleted that through Canta a while ago
Bad headline
Hey I’m from middle east and yes I know about this, ironSource is an Israeli company, I personally don’t mind where its from but the fact that it collects user data is not so nice. I use Galaxy A53 and I slapped a GSI on it, I am using a degoogled version of android 16 and away from Samsung stuff been daily driving it for 5 months now works great, calls working, SMS works, camera works, NFC works, bank apps do not work. Thats it
Remember when Apple was the bad guy?
There can be more than one bad guy.
if you really believe Tim Apple isn’t doing the same shit only a Little bit smarter so its les obvious then I’m sorry to wake you from your dream but:
All big tech is bad. Apple. Microsoft. Oracle. Meta. Snap. IBM. Digital Ocean. Amazon. Etc.
There are no good guys. Only bad and worse. Its not the good, the bad and the ugly. It’s the bad (Apple), the really bad (Microsoft and most of the rest) and the obnoxiously bad. (Special place in hell for Meta, TikTok and Google)
I’ll believe it when the proof is as strong as what Google is doing. I don’t base my anger on assumptions.
They stopped?
