3 ms·

MAGA World’s ‘Freedom Phone’ Actually Budget Chinese Phone

22 points by amadeuspagel 5y ago

cf100clunk 5y ago
So it turns out that the "Freedom Phone" is nothing more than a low-budget "Umidigi A9 Pro" preloaded with apps that some folks will love. The grift is endless.
- sergiomattei 5y ago
  And who knows what Chinese backdoor pre-installed. These cheap phones always come with no updates and shady OS programming.
  - hakfoo 5y ago
    As someone who's been using a Umidigi phone (F1 Play) for like two years, I think the real corner cut was the camera. The software was pretty vanilla, as best I could tell. It seemed far closer to a stock Android than, say, a Samsung product. It had one obvious nonstandard app-- a clumsy "wireless update" tool that would suddenly and immediately demand a reboot for the grand total of three times it actually had an OS update available (zll within the first 6 months or so). But I didn't see any obvious adware, at least. Honestly, I've liked the device enough (big battery, 3.5mm and MicroSD) that I would have considered another of their devices. This, OTOH, makes me a little concerned: should I reject them due to their affiliation with the Maga Patrol, or should I appreciate their ability to mark up and sell rubbish to fools?
- cyanydeez 5y ago
  it is fascinating because almost everything in the neorepublican universe is 99% branding.
readflaggedcomm 5y ago
It's a shame none of the information he was willing to tell about its origin was on his site. And where does the software come from? Sad that isn't the first thing to answer.
rektide 5y ago
beautiful grift. I didn't click the promo video for full schadenfreude but wow I want to. I feel bad for users that phones are such black boxes, that it's not easy to differentiate snake oil from not, to understand what you have, what the system does. that we have consumerized devices to such a point that trust is awarded or removed based primarily on feel rather than evidence or knowledge is a stunning state for tech to have fallen to.
csilverman 5y ago
Damn, this is a good one. I wish I'd thought of it. Not sure if anybody smart has officially defined "ragestyle" as a term for products where the primary selling point is fury, but I think this category is going to be huge, and if I were more entrepreneurial—and inclined towards grifting—I'd be taking advantage of it. Because all one has to do, apparently, is smack a flag on an app/gadget, stock it up with right-wing shovelware, and proclaim it as a stand against left-wing repression. No worries about being exposed by the failing fake-news tech writers—they're only whining about "foreign malware" and "security holes" because they hate anything that's unapologetically conservative. Too bad this wasn't a standard desktop/laptop computer. Erik could have called it the "UnPC" and he'd have likely won multi-million-dollar contracts from several state governments.

22 points by amadeuspagel 5y ago

So it turns out that the "Freedom Phone" is nothing more than a low-budget "Umidigi A9 Pro" preloaded with apps that some folks will love. The grift is endless.

sergiomattei 5y ago
And who knows what Chinese backdoor pre-installed. These cheap phones always come with no updates and shady OS programming.
- hakfoo 5y ago
  As someone who's been using a Umidigi phone (F1 Play) for like two years, I think the real corner cut was the camera. The software was pretty vanilla, as best I could tell. It seemed far closer to a stock Android than, say, a Samsung product. It had one obvious nonstandard app-- a clumsy "wireless update" tool that would suddenly and immediately demand a reboot for the grand total of three times it actually had an OS update available (zll within the first 6 months or so). But I didn't see any obvious adware, at least. Honestly, I've liked the device enough (big battery, 3.5mm and MicroSD) that I would have considered another of their devices. This, OTOH, makes me a little concerned: should I reject them due to their affiliation with the Maga Patrol, or should I appreciate their ability to mark up and sell rubbish to fools?
cyanydeez 5y ago
it is fascinating because almost everything in the neorepublican universe is 99% branding.

readflaggedcomm 5y ago

It's a shame none of the information he was willing to tell about its origin was on his site. And where does the software come from? Sad that isn't the first thing to answer.

rektide 5y ago

beautiful grift. I didn't click the promo video for full schadenfreude but wow I want to. I feel bad for users that phones are such black boxes, that it's not easy to differentiate snake oil from not, to understand what you have, what the system does. that we have consumerized devices to such a point that trust is awarded or removed based primarily on feel rather than evidence or knowledge is a stunning state for tech to have fallen to.

csilverman 5y ago

Damn, this is a good one. I wish I'd thought of it. Not sure if anybody smart has officially defined "ragestyle" as a term for products where the primary selling point is fury, but I think this category is going to be huge, and if I were more entrepreneurial—and inclined towards grifting—I'd be taking advantage of it. Because all one has to do, apparently, is smack a flag on an app/gadget, stock it up with right-wing shovelware, and proclaim it as a stand against left-wing repression. No worries about being exposed by the failing fake-news tech writers—they're only whining about "foreign malware" and "security holes" because they hate anything that's unapologetically conservative. Too bad this wasn't a standard desktop/laptop computer. Erik could have called it the "UnPC" and he'd have likely won multi-million-dollar contracts from several state governments.