5 ms·

This is a bummer. If there was ever a time this sort of device was needed, it's now / in the near future when Google (probably) starts requiring all Android app

This is a bummer. If there was ever a time this sort of device was needed, it's now / in the near future when Google (probably) starts requiring all Android apps to be signed by approved developers and further locks down the Android platform. I kind of regret not buying one of these instead of a Pixel 7 but, unfortunately, I'm pretty tethered to the Android ecosystem at the moment.

fellowniusmonk 1y ago
The situation with RCS means Google and Apple have a complete douopoly on the texting market.
- CharlesW 1y ago
  SMS will outlive us all.
  - const_cast 1y ago
    The problem is SMS sucks major ass and it's, by far, the least secure channel for... well just about anything, but especially for private, personal conversations.
    - 1718627440 1y ago
      Nothing stops you from encrypting the message you send over SMS.
      - const_cast 1y ago
        Nothing stops me from running 150 miles too. That's just hard and I don't want to do it.
      - port11 1y ago
        This is somewhat of a silly take. With SMS size restriction and their limited amount in many people's mobile plan, it's somewhat of a nonstarter. We already have better infrastructure. Nothing stops you from being more considerate of other people's reality.
jraph 1y ago
I'm monitoring support for PostmarketOS on Fairphone models, with a mainline Linux kernel. They actually have someone working on upstreaming stuff to mainline, which is quite nice. The FP6 doesn't seem there yet [1], but the FP5 is close! [2] The FP5 is a comfortable device. With call support completely figured out, Mobile Linux would probably be enjoyable on it. [1] https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Fairphone_(Gen._6)_(fairphone-fp6) https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Fairphone_(Gen._6)_(fairp... [2] https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Fairphone_5_(fairphone-fp5) https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Fairphone_5_(fairphone-fp...
nrdgrrrl 1y ago
You say that, but they're discontinuing it because they didn't sell enough of them. It may be the device we need, but it's not the device we're buying.
- dotancohen 1y ago
  It's that "we" are too small a market. And I'm not convinced that most of us actually buy these niche devices, even though we say we will.
  - kristopolous 1y ago
    nah it's that the work delta is too great. So if you come out with a typical android phone, you have to do X amount of work yourself and some Y amount you can just buy. If you are doing something like a PinePhone, there's a multiplier on the X of work you have to do yourself ... a significant multiplier and that's the problem. That's why if you have a something like a Pine phone that has the sales of say something like this: https://www.bluproducts.com/android-phones/ https://www.bluproducts.com/android-phones/ you're going to bleed money - you won't survive - it's too much of a lift. That's also why almost all phones (that are financially viable) look and feel almost the same.
- reorder9695 1y ago
  I'll buy them once I can access all of my banks on it, that is literally the only thing holding me to IOS or Anroid at the minute
  - tmtvl 1y ago
    Then tell your banks they have to support the PinePhone or they'll lose you as a customer. The PinePhone folks don't have access to the source code of whatever interface your banks provide on Android/iOS, so they can't do anything about it.
  - AnthonyMouse 1y ago
    NB: Attestation has no security value here because if the phone isn't compromised then the owner having root isn't a security problem and if the phone is compromised then the user is entering their bank login into a fake scam app that doesn't require attestation regardless of what the real one does. But because the banks that require this are cargo culting some nonsense, they require iOS or Google Android but don't really care how old the phone is. Which means you can transfer your cellular plan to the phone you actually want to use and then just keep your existing phone indefinitely to run the bank app over WiFi or tethering.

fellowniusmonk 1y ago

The situation with RCS means Google and Apple have a complete douopoly on the texting market.

CharlesW 1y ago
SMS will outlive us all.
- const_cast 1y ago
  The problem is SMS sucks major ass and it's, by far, the least secure channel for... well just about anything, but especially for private, personal conversations.
  - 1718627440 1y ago
    Nothing stops you from encrypting the message you send over SMS.
    - const_cast 1y ago
      Nothing stops me from running 150 miles too. That's just hard and I don't want to do it.
    - port11 1y ago
      This is somewhat of a silly take. With SMS size restriction and their limited amount in many people's mobile plan, it's somewhat of a nonstarter. We already have better infrastructure. Nothing stops you from being more considerate of other people's reality.

jraph 1y ago

I'm monitoring support for PostmarketOS on Fairphone models, with a mainline Linux kernel. They actually have someone working on upstreaming stuff to mainline, which is quite nice. The FP6 doesn't seem there yet [1], but the FP5 is close! [2] The FP5 is a comfortable device. With call support completely figured out, Mobile Linux would probably be enjoyable on it. [1] https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Fairphone_(Gen._6)_(fairphone-fp6) https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Fairphone_(Gen._6)_(fairp... [2] https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Fairphone_5_(fairphone-fp5) https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Fairphone_5_(fairphone-fp...

nrdgrrrl 1y ago

You say that, but they're discontinuing it because they didn't sell enough of them. It may be the device we need, but it's not the device we're buying.

dotancohen 1y ago
It's that "we" are too small a market. And I'm not convinced that most of us actually buy these niche devices, even though we say we will.
- kristopolous 1y ago
  nah it's that the work delta is too great. So if you come out with a typical android phone, you have to do X amount of work yourself and some Y amount you can just buy. If you are doing something like a PinePhone, there's a multiplier on the X of work you have to do yourself ... a significant multiplier and that's the problem. That's why if you have a something like a Pine phone that has the sales of say something like this: https://www.bluproducts.com/android-phones/ https://www.bluproducts.com/android-phones/ you're going to bleed money - you won't survive - it's too much of a lift. That's also why almost all phones (that are financially viable) look and feel almost the same.
reorder9695 1y ago
I'll buy them once I can access all of my banks on it, that is literally the only thing holding me to IOS or Anroid at the minute
- tmtvl 1y ago
  Then tell your banks they have to support the PinePhone or they'll lose you as a customer. The PinePhone folks don't have access to the source code of whatever interface your banks provide on Android/iOS, so they can't do anything about it.
- AnthonyMouse 1y ago
  NB: Attestation has no security value here because if the phone isn't compromised then the owner having root isn't a security problem and if the phone is compromised then the user is entering their bank login into a fake scam app that doesn't require attestation regardless of what the real one does. But because the banks that require this are cargo culting some nonsense, they require iOS or Google Android but don't really care how old the phone is. Which means you can transfer your cellular plan to the phone you actually want to use and then just keep your existing phone indefinitely to run the bank app over WiFi or tethering.