Pinephone and Librem 5 are fringe devices, some carriers don’t even allow them.

I mean, they can still send the code to F-Droid and F-Droid can sign it under their banner. F-Droid doesn’t have to do ID verification.

So the way hotspots work, is if you want to transfer (without going through the internet) files between device A and device B, you need a device C to host the hotspot, then have A, B connect to it. If you use A to host the hotspot, then B connects to A’s hotspot, A still wouldn’t be “on the same local network” as B. Its weird.

Hmm, this one seems like you need to both be connected to the same wifi. Not exactly a Quickshare replacement. I was thinking WifiDirect

Unless the arriving country’s customs decide to inspect it and seize it. You should be able to buy it anywhere.

😁

I have 2 cheap options I could recommend for Custom ROMS:

1. Moto G 5G 2024 $140 runs Lineage OS (I have this)
2. CMF Phone 1 $290 runs e/OS, has OLED display, overall a better phone than the cheap moto.

I’m not sure about “Linux” atm, there are still more apps for Custom Roms than you’d find for Linux that’s optimized for mobile use.

All the “Western” Empires are in decline.

Its why I’m slowly losing my will to live.

We then have RISC-V computer by Pine64 running Libre-ICEBlock

For me, that’s not really fun either.

I’m a former PRC citizen and they probably think of me as a “traitor” for leaving. The have been PRC nationals accused and convicted of running a “illegal police station” to harass dissidents. The only thing worse than being harassed by one government is being harassed by two governments.

Edit: Also I have a phone with LineageOS now, zero spying :D

So, everything seems to work. I got GPS working, camera and recording functions work, fingerprint works, I check settings and encryption seems to be enabled, Fennec with uBlock Origin works great and videos play; downloaded a bunch of apps lile food delibery apps, rideshares, money transfer apps (most of them I don’t even use, just testing it), they all seem to open, but I’m not gonna create accounts to test them.

Lyft requires Google Play Services, so it doesn’t launch, so that sucks. I think mobile site probably works if you need Lyft.

Some apps refuse to download from Aurora for some reason. ID.me and TD just wouldn’t download, but every other app works, not network issue, because I tapped download on TD (I don’t even use TD bank btw, but its a common bank some people use so I’d figure to test it), I get error message, it refused to download., then I go randomly download Wells Fargo, and it downloads just fine. Idk why that’s happening.

I tried an “unofficial” CyanogenMod back in 2015, device encryption wasn’t even on, everything was broken.

Is there apps you want me to test?

Chase’s app works fine, btw.

Its worth noting you also need to go to the Motorola website to “request” an unlock key. You do some fastboot commands to the phone and then pasting those results to the website (its like 5 lines of hexadecimal stuff that is unique to each device, you paste it to the website as one single string of text). The website seems to be automatic, there doesn’t seem to be any humans involved. You also need to create a Mototola Account to get the unlock key, but those account don’t need a phone number so you could just create a throwaway. I got the unlock key on day 0, but the developer settings toggle thing needed 6 days for me.

Because when you get a new device and go to Developer options, the “Allow OEM Unlocking” is greyed out, you can’t toggle the setting, I looked it up and its some weird Motorola BS that their server have to “verify” your device or something, and can take a week, for me it was about 6 days.

No, it usually doesn’t work on any carrier variants, doesn’t matter if the SIM-lock is gone, motorola doesn’t do it. Regardless, according to Lineage’s site, in the case of the Moto G 5G 2024, only the XT2417-1 model is supported. Carrier variants have a different model number.

Idk what that is, but the official one is this: https://en-us.support.motorola.com/app/standalone/bootloader/unlock-your-device-a

(TLD ending in motorola.com/ is official site)

Yes you have to agree to give up the warranty. But I never remember ever having to file a warranty claim anyways, and I value the freedom more.

Edit: And you don’t need any weird binaries, at least on linux. Its from the official repository that the distro uses.

For the platform tools, I used:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install android-tools-adb android-tools-fastboot

Doubt it.

Most of those on a Google ROM isn’t moving to GNU/Linux, its either Lineage, Graphene, etc…, or just give up on these non-google apps. “Linux” is so broken and dysfunctional compared to Android ROMs.

I just got my Moto G 5G 2024 unlocked 😁 Its only like $140

DOWN WITH GOOGLE

DOWN WITH GOOGLE

DOWN WITH GOOGLE

…

GrapheneOS didn’t exist back then lol

They like Digital BDSM. Don’t kink shame.

Google be like: “Please Upload Government ID To Enable Sideloading”

Lol I haven’t used a PC in years mostly because of money problems, because Android mostly functions as a computer, I mean torrenting, VLC, uBlock Origin… I didn’t even need a PC, and again money issues, so i only had a phone as my main “computer”. Only recently got a SteamDeck and its my only PC.

I’m saying this as a general strategy for everyone. Roms basically require a PC, and a lot of people nowadays do not have one.

Also: Unlocked Moto G 5g 2024 is around $140 (so that you can skip the whole “wait 60 days for unlock” thing), the unlocked version supports bootloader unlocking (you need a code from the moto website) so you can use Lineage OS and Calyx OS

Eh, you can get a tracfone on Amazon that includes an free plan as promotion. Anywhere from $20 to $80.

I think there’s like a Samsung Galaxy A15 or a Moto G 5G 2024 for less than $80 that you can get with a promotion, you just go to the website, type in imei (the SIM should already inside the phone and its tied to the imei), activate, wait 60 days and it should auto unlock.

You might have to be inside the US for the activation and perhaps for the auto-unlock too.

You don’t need a 60 day plan, just 30 days (which if you have a promotion, they include a free 30 day plan), then let it expire and wait another 30 days.

Sorry, I don’t make the app.

Your options are:

1. Check if there is Lineage OS that has at least Android 5 or newer

2. Get a very cheap new phone. You can find a prepaid phone in the US at like less than $50 (lock to carrier, but unlockable in 60 days after activation).

(Used phones are also an option)

You mean you want a secure communications app on an insecure OS?

Sorry no.

Check if there’s a Lineage OS being made for the device that is equivalent to a newer Android version

Battlefield and CoD are responsible for war?

Oh jeez, I glad they didn’t have video games in 1914, otherwise they might have killed a bunch of people!

But then you’re supporting google itself 👀

Also, they closed source pixel-specific code, making it much more difficult to do future securitu updates. If I’m gonna spend $500+, I rather spend it on a Fairphone.

Used market can mitigate the “google makes money from you” part, but there are so many carrier variants that are “unlocked” but not bootloader unlocked, and I don’t like playing lootboxes with real money, like okay I buy a phone, oh shit its a verizon and can’t unlock bootloader, and the seller refuses return, and platform sides with seller because its technically “unlocked” because the sim unlock is all the normies care about.

Well, I’m gonna try anyways, if the unlock doesn’t work for me, I’m gonna have to pray to Mr. Mangione again, wish me luck? 👀

The list of phones I was thinking off:

-Pinephone (but it’s slow, buggy, and laggy tho :/)
-Fairphones (easy bootloader unlock, compatible with Lineage, e/OS/, CalyxOS (Calyx temporarily paused development), expensive because it has to be imported… US tariffs :/)
-Moto G 5G 2024 (supposed to be unlockable, but apparantly requires internet and requesting unlock codes from Motorola, I’m not feeling too happy about that)

So yea idk, leaning towards the Moto, its the cheaper options, and its better than pinephone. Haven’t gotten it yet, but planning for it, I’ll have to figure out how android SDK and terminals work first. And I’m not sure if it would actually unlock, I’ll have to see if Moto’s unlock servers want to play nice, if not, I’d have to return it and start looking for, idk, maybe those phones made by the company “Nothing”, but only Nothing 2 is supported by Custom ROMs and idk if I can even find a Nothing 2.

Edit: Formatting

Moto G 5G 2024 is supported by Lineage OS anf CalyxOS (Calyx temporarily paused development for now), it’s around $200 USD ($140 on discount right now) is supposedly unlockable, although you need an internet connection and request unlock codes from Motorola, which is… not exactly comforting because they could turn off the unlock servers at any time. (And carrier variants aren’t unlockable afaik). Disclaimer: Haven’t tried it yet… probably getting one soon to try unlocking (if unlocking fails, I’m just gonna return it)

In my opinion: Android used to be a 7/10, iOS at 3/10, now after Google’s announcement, its a 4/10.

For now at least, Google still allows Torrent clients and Firefox with extensions (like uBlock Origin), and this has been the case for the past decade. Google only requires a $25 one time fee for a developer account, Apple requires a recurring $99 per year payment. So Android is still better even with the restriction in mind.

Just pay $25, download apks from anywhere, sign the apps yourself. Supposedly they aren’t checking the contents (I mean, they have like tons of malware on Google Play and they never check those either, I doubt they are inspecting every single app), so just don’t distribute the apps to anyone other than yourself or some trusted friends and that’ll probably keep it under Google’s radar.

I’m currently planning on getting a Moto G 5G 2024 (about $140 right now on discount) for Lineage OS (CalyxOS was also supported, but they recently paused development so I’ll have to wait for that to be resolved). I was also considering a Pixel for Graphene, but its too expensive, and I don’t wanna deal with used market because a lot of then are ambiguous about if its a carrier variant and I just am too depressed to deal with the headache of that.

Even after 2027, Android will still be slightly better than iOS (in my opinion). Android still would (probably) have torrent apps, Firefox uBlock Origin (I can’t guarantee they won’t change it in 2028 or something). And iOS also seems to alway kill apps in the background from my experience, I could never get an app to synching data in the background, but Android is less aggressive with killing apps. Like I literally tried to plug in a USB flash drive and they said I had to install the Sandisk app then I have to keep the app on the foreground to finish transfer, but Android is doesn’t even need any apps, and transfers work in the background. Also, I don’t think iPhones have multitasking with 2 apps on at the same time yet.

it won’t match the developers signature

Couldn’t an attacker just make an OS image that tells the system to disregard any signature mismatch?

I think you are mixing up the two terms.

Lineage OS is way less secure than Graphene OS. Lineage OS doesn’t even officially support Re-Locking of bootloader under custom keys, so it could be easily tampered with, and they also lack all the hardening that Graphene OS have.

Banned from selling, but its not illegal to possess one (at least for the time being), so you could still import it (and hope that customs doesn’t make up excuses to consfiscate it upon the package’s arrival).

Because the thing is, phones are not PCs. You can connect almost anything to a wifi network (cuz otherwise, many of those cheap wifi smart gadgets wouldn’t work, I highly doubt they are gonna police wifi networks any time soon), but with cell towers, the carriers control which devices they allow to connect to their towers.

Example: In Australia, the have a phone whitelist system, where older phones are banned from connecting to cell networks, including for emergency calls. Something like a fairphone, pinephone, librem 5, would definitely not be on the whitelist, and thus would not be able to connect.

Now, the US, where I live, hasn’t done this yet, but the writing is on the wall, might as well get used to it, and have a, sort of, “Standard Operating Procedure” developed for it so that when they do start doing the whitelisting thing, I would already be prepared for it.

Hence, TLDR:

Banking, Government stuff, SIM Card, all goes on the “Normie” phone.

Everything else, on my actual private Phone (or Pocket PC) that I watch youtube videos on, torrent tv shows/movies, write a journal, browse the dark web, Lemmy, etc…

At least that’s the plan, I have to change a lot of my habits and get used to this new way of using tech.

Super old stock phone

for banking

🧐