Use of Smartphones

Day by Day I see Smartphone market becoming more and more saturated , a price range will have 30 different options which are clones of each other in some way. I am not a consoomer and I am genuinely questioning the use of smartphone when my Laptop does basically everything that my smartphone does but better. I use my smartphone for 1. Reading Manga 2. Listening to Music 3. Call / Whatsapp 4. Payments. Is paying for new smartphone even worth it when you barely use it. I need some recommendations on what should I do?

>>61541 It depends on how normal person you are and if you need a smartphone to function in society. I don't need a phone. Nobody really needs a phone, with enough work you can put yourself in a position in life where you don't need one. If you have no use for the phone I would say you should destroy it, all phones are evil NSA TEMPEST spying devices, there is no good phone they are all compromised at the hardware level and are unmitigable.

>>61541 I use my smartphone only for > Music > Call and SMS/MMS > Wasting time through web browsing But, I can get rid of fuarrrking browsing web though. I'd been used LG Wine(LG Folder) long time before it gets broken. I'm currently using my old android smartphone, Samsung S5 with LineageOS. I'll move to a dumbphone asap. I can't hold my paranoia and autism things from using smartphones as daily driver. However, I'll throw away phone when I finally quit from society; wage slave.

You have two options - buy something that seems to have long term support or keep what you got. The former is hard because you can't see into the future. If you want to avoid investing money in something you don't see as useful, buy something used with custom ROM support and continue to use it for as long as you can. The Nexus 5, 9 years old, still has current security-patched ROMs available. If you don't care about security patches (and you're therefore fine with everything on your phone being either publicized or destroyed at any moment) you can just keep using the one you have until it physically does not work anymore. It's easy to replace batteries on many devices too so you've got maybe 20 years of use until the flash wears out, or however long until the network technology it uses gets shut off.

I personally use my smartphone mostly to keep contact with people and job. Other than that, there's a few guilty pleasures like a game or two here and there on my phone that I really like. and if I remove contacts and games, I use my phone for purely utility purpose. reading files on the field for job, using the sensors on them in some shape or form to analyse something, internet, etc... I could use a laptop for all of this, but a "smart" phone is more convenient to transport. >Is paying for new smartphone even worth it when you barely use it. No. Absolutely not. I still have the same old 2016 samsung galaxy s7 and it still works like a charm. I may need to upgrade simply so I can have android 10 for a certain app, but it's not important nor pressing. I would switch if something catastrophic happens and I still need my phone for job convenience.

>>61550 What's really offputting about using old smartphones is that they don't get security updates. What you (and I) are doing is running a web server on windows xp exposed to the internet in terms of security. And smartphones only get security updates for like 2/3 years unless it's apple. Google is leading in this with Pixel 6 and its.... 5 years of security updates.

I really only use my phone to talk to the people in my life. none of them use email or discord or skype or anything just phone and snapchat, so I have to as well. still I don't see any use in getting the newest fanciest phone. idk what model my phone is but it's some old motorola and it's a tracphone.

>>61541 >Is paying for new smartphone even worth it when you barely use it. Only for 2 reasons I'd say: 1. the previous one broke 2. you absolutely need a program that only works on newer os versions, versions that are not supported on your current device. This is what happened to, I upgraded just to be able to run my banking apps but that's about it. Nowadays I use my phone only for calls (barely any sms, I hate typing on a touch screen), music, web on the go, banking on the go and temporary ftp server when I need to share something with a pc.

>>61555 That's a fair comparison that I never really thought of. I think it's important to model your threats in that case. If you go on public open wifis often like in a cafe, then there will be serious concern about security. Personally I don't feel comfortable enough to go on any public hotspots / wifis with my phone. I try to avoid them but for reasons closely related, but not directly related to this issue. If I do connect to one, I always try to mitigate potential damages using a vm for example, but that's not very feasible with my phone. So instead I try to keep my phone off of wifi and stay on data most of the time. It still leaves me vulnerable to internet stuff while browsing, receiving fishy msgs or compromised apps, which are way more common than a man in the middle on wifi. at that point it's all about safe browsing practice. (If you do browse the internet alot on unknown sites) Thanks for bringing that up! I never actually thought to of it before. I'm sure I'm missing a thing or two more. I'm still not too bothered by the fact but it's good to know and think of.

Smartphone is basically my wallet. I still carry some banknotes/coins with me but realistically mobile payment has become so ubiquitous the last few years that you can give up on using debit cards and, for the most part, cash. The folks at farmers' market won't take a card because obviously, they don't have visa/mastercard terminal but mobile payment? No problem. I had this feeling of future shock when I first noticed it. There's this woman in her 70s selling some flowers from her garden or whatever and another older lady comes over and asks her, "I can't pay with a phone, right?" and she's like "Sure you can!" and whips out her Samsung. And I'm standing there, thinking to myself, what in the sweet cyberpunk is this? I also use my smartphone to do things I do on my computer, just when I'm on the go or lounging around - browsing, email, maps etc and as a replacement for devices like camera, mp3 player and so on. Oh and I make phone calls too.

>>61565 Exactly, so used to digital payments that it is my wallet at this point. I have been using my current phone for 4 years, I mainly use it for digital payments.

>>61544 Smartphones *are* useful in that SMS/MMS isn't the only messaging option available. You can get more secure and private calls and messages with Signal, Session, Element, Briar, etc. So many options to choose from, though. I've found it's helpful to just uninstall the web browser (you can use a custom ROM for this).

If you do payments on the phone you want to keep it up to date. This does not have to be a new phone all the time just something where updates are still supported at least through custom roms. Just keep in mind if you go custom rom route it will potentially degrade camera quality so dont bother getting a good camera on it. Also support could drop unexpectedly because some custom roms are potentially reliant on just one person to update. >>61555 Not surprising considering the Pixel is basically the only phone Google makes isnt it? So following this logic any new phone manifacturer may also offer such upgrades. I dont know of any though.

>>61565 Joining the botnet isnt punk. Using money in resistance is. >>61555 How do you envision getting hacked? Personally i didnt even use the provided updates and had zero issues so far (didnt want update to slow down phone), i am using scriptblocker on browser though.

>>61565 > sweet cyberpunk more like bitter dystopian cyberpunk. >>61609 >Using money in resistance is this to be honest. who wants any entity tracking each and every money transaction you make? >>61555 >What's really offputting about using old smartphones is that they don't get security updates. my low-end 2017 Redmi 4x just got android 12L the other day (custom roms). not that anything changed security-wise on android since android 10 anyways. >>61541 I use my smarthphone only for - Calls / sending messages - Listening to music while excercising. And That's it. This one i am using right now is a random low-end 2018 phone and the battery lasts around 2.5 days because of how little i use it normally

I think humans are inclined towards convenience. We'll take usability and convenience over security and ethics any day. Even if you resist on an individual level, you'll just be frozen out by modernity given enough time. Laziness is part of it, using a phone on an auto-checkout is seconds quicker than performing a cash transaction with a real person. So some laziness built into the human brain compels us to the quickest, easiest approach. The scary thing is, I think my brain has become kind of hooked up to my smartphone. I couldn't imagine not having one. This makes me want to give it up, but I use it for so much I'd almost have to strategize it. Then again, I wouldn't want to stop using Signal. I moved to the other side of the country so that's the main way for me to stay in touch with friends.

I still don't understand why smartphones can't be like PC's where you can just install whatever OS you want by changing a few settings in BIOS and plugging in a usb drive? Yes, I know some devices have open bootloaders but why can't they all be like this?

>>61633 >I still don't understand why smartphones can't be like PC's where you can just install whatever OS you want by changing a few settings in BIOS and plugging in a usb drive? Because "security" its more "secure" to have a bootloader locked down then to have everything open, this gives them the excuse needed to keep everything locked down, since the average Joe dosen't even care about installing different apps then the ones provided, let alone a whole os. >>61632 >The scary thing is, I think my brain has become kind of hooked up to my smartphone. I couldn't imagine not having one. Find a hobby, something you like doing, it really helps, with just about everything, as long as you got something to do and you're not bored the entire day, you cajn too escape the grasps of modernity and the industrial society.

>>61632 This is true to a point. I for instance have always preferred to pay with cash, and sometimes i go to great lengths to avoid installing spyware on my computer/phone. This is all despite me generally being a lazy person. Typically the "solutions" we get sold aren't even really that much more convenient, they just slowly become mandatory (like smartphones did)

>>61633 they are exactly like pcs. linux on pc was held back by windows only software people needed. alternative mobile OS are held back lacking support for android appstore. All the value of a smartphone is in the apps not the OS.

It's funny how it was a cyberpunk dream to have a really powerful portable computer capable of anything. And now that we basically have those I feel disgusting using one. A commercialised, locked down, bundle of spyware that I don't actually own.

I used to be a mobile phone enthusiast (old Siemens Mobile phones and patching them; later Android, rooting, XDA, and so on). Now, I have a dirt-cheap, 9 year old Samsung S4 mini, with DivestOS installed (Android 11). I use it to send&receive messages, to calculate things, and as an alarm clock. Everything else, I do it on PC.

>>61646 How about DivestOS? I'd installed it on my Razer 1, but It's kinda weird. >Mull is installed as default, but doesn't appear in launcher >Official F-droid client is pre-installed, but it shows warning -- "This app is 32bit" -- even though it's default application >They said deleted some proprietary applications and some codes but "e-speak" which is useless is pre-installed. I think I should go back to Lineage. Of course those issues are not really big. But I prefer Lineage OS' plained environment after installed, but it has some soykaf settings like google dns, google ntpd as default.

A reminder of just how bad things are now: https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/new-records-detail-dhs-purchase-and-use-of-vast-quantities-of-cell-phone-location-data

>>61541 I do 30... Maybe 40 something different things on my phone, ya' know... Because it's a computer... Their useful like that. If the hardware still performs how you like then I don't see a reason to "upgrade".

I primarily use my phone casually. I tried to switch to a dumbphone (Nokia 225 4g) awhile back as a sort of "digital detox" idea I had but it turns out everything in that market is either laughably overpriced or just a piece of soykaf running poorly optimized spins of KaiOS or Android. Older phones hold up well physically, but of course carriers are dropping 3g support so it's not a viable plan in the long run. Anyway, after that little experiment I got a secondhand 2016 iPhone SE for about $70, swapped in an expanded capacity battery, and it works like a charm. Don't see the point of paying $400 for a phone (supposedly a budget price nowadays?!?) when this is already more than I'll ever need. Apple is dropping support for it with the next major release, so I may be jumping ship to something else in the near future if any lainons have recommendations. Tried a Pixel 4a recently but Android 12's interface was garbage, don't know what they were thinking. As for my use case, the only things I do on it that couldn't be readily replaced with my laptop or other commodity device are phone calls and GPS navigation. >run tracker Stop watch on my Casio for time, planned routes for distance (+ wouldn't have to lug phone around while running) >texts Signal, Telegram, etc on desktop >photos Actual camera (+ quality would be better) >music Actual music player >calculator Actual calculator >notes (shopping list) Actual notepad ...you get the picture.

>>61544 same situation for me >>61603 most people I know contact me through sms/calls. Other protocols could be done on a computer (So perhaps dumbphone for the former and computer for the latter until I convince everyone to use xmpp or get phone number on computer without need for portability) >>62051 Isn't a smartphone still botnet, even if old? And I hear that 2G will still exist in the US for some time

>>61541 If you're using it for payments, you should keep up with knowing when support for your phone's firmware ends, at which point you should either upgrade to whatever mid-tier phone is out at the time or find some custom image that's still supported. Phones are used more often than desktops nowadays for personal computing, so you're more likely to have bad dudes trying to break into it, so security is important.

>>62079 but most phones are botnet too. dumbphones just make it lesser. However I'm pretty sure smartphones are okay if you don't use internet or wireless-networks like cellurar or wifi.

>>62265 yes as of today I am thinking I will perhaps seek to not use a phone, and to use offline devices to replace functionality, maybe with a computer software to receive calls/sms as needed. but I think I may need a phone/portable communication in some capacity. maybe not. maybe I can try just replacement devices for a bit to see if I can go without. if I *need*, maybe I will submit to the dumbphone

>>62079 >And I hear that 2G will still exist in the US for some time Dunno where you heard that, but those whole reason I was forced to "upgrade" my phone recently was because my provider is retiring their 3G network. 2G is long dead at this point.

Nobody should need a smartphone but it's required now for many things because of apps and soykaf that they want you to use. I'm sick of not being able to use my browser and having to download dozens of apps none of which are on F-Droid, having to use my phone for 2FA and messaging. Only use your smartphone for calling, texting (pref. via an encrypted instant messenger like Signal), and optionally 2FA (pref. Aegis). Use the desktop for everything else. As for your question, paying for a smartphone if you barely use it isn't really worth it unless you absolutely "need" it. I hate how phones are treated as disposable products that you must replace every few years once it reaches EOL. DivestOS sort of makes this less harmful and more safe to use an older phone until it breaks, but you should still buy a new but affordable phone (Google Pixels aren't affordable enough), but don't take my word for it.

>>62297 My samsung s5 keeps getting messages from my carrier to upgrade, but I still have reception, and skimming google told me it's 5g capable. I'm just going to keep using it til service drops then get the cheapest thing that can run graphine os.

>>62079 I used an old 2g nokia brick up until they shut down the 2g service in my area (US). Then used a 3g nokia brick till that service was shutdown. I now use a punk mp02, as my "dumb phone" being able to use 4g tethering is cool when out and about with my laptop.

I couldn't find a good thread for this. PINE64 (the company behind PineBook and PinePhone) is anti-user. Why I left PINE64 https://blog.brixit.nl/why-i-left-pine64/ PINE64 has let its community down https://drewdevault.com/2022/08/18/PINE64-let-us-down.html

>>62657 could be some CIA op for control over free devices

>>62658 you don't need CIA when you deal with Manjaro people

>>61633 It's because vendor lock-in is more profitable. There's really nothing else to it.

>>61565 Spotted the glowie. Do I win?

anybody use the unihertz titan/titan pocket? my current phone is dying and im thinking about switching to one with a keyboard & headphone jack

is there even a good normal person friendly messaging app? i can get some people to use jabber, but what about a simpler one? >signal whats the point of a smartphone if you still have to depend on the gsm?

>>62962 The weird haired phone man did a review on them https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpQff_8R7es They seem pretty good but still not an actual blackberry >>63088 Signal is the best of your options if you want non technical people to actually use it when you aren't hovering over them trying to convince them its a good idea. >whats the point of a smartphone if you still have to depend on the gsm? >Smart >Phone Its a phone, you have a sim in it anyway, what's the problem? If you're wondering about the phone number requirement yeah its unfortunate from a privacy standpoint but practically its a non issue for most people as they end up using signal for sms as well anyway

>>61968 As for this mysterious issue: >Mull is installed as default, but doesn't appear in launcher Here's an explanation by the DivestOS' developer: >DivestOS doesn't even come with a browser out of the box, it uses a shim to have F-Droid prompt to install Mull on first run Source: https://old.reddit.com/r/DivestOS/comments/vhgzv3/suggestion_fdroid_doesnt_need_to_be_a_system_app/id8x89o/

Being honest with you I only use my phone to access the cellular network

>>61541 I think I'd like a thick tablet to serve as like a PDA. I don't frequently use my phone outside of rare texts. tablets are superior in every way.

How long do you guys think I could get by with just a Galaxy S5? It seems to be the only good option that has a removable battery. I doubt it'll be receiving Android 12 (that version is 64-bit only and the poor Galaxy has only 2GB of RAM). I can't just buy a fairphone or something because I live in the US.

>>64239 By Android 12 I'm talking about LineageOS' version of Android 12, just to clarify.

Just degoogle your phone and localize every service to your browser as much as you can. There really isn't much you can do with your phone to get out of the botnet.

>>64239 It will work as a phone for at least a few more years but its going to be a piece of soykaf to live with compared to something newer. If swappable batteries are an absolute must have you're right you aren't getting much newer. You might look at the S10e, its unlocked, a reasonable size and gets Lineage updates, its also readily available in like new condition on ebay Or get a pixel and put graphene on it, just don't give google any fuarrrking money for it. I was annoyed losing removable batteries initially but to be honest a powerbank is more practical at least for me.

>>64264 if you do banking on your phone 9 won't be supported long. my bank requires 8+ for the app.

>>63512 >You might look at the S10e, its unlocked, a reasonable size and gets Lineage updates, its also readily available in like new condition on ebay How easy is it to install Lineage on an S10? I did it once on my old Motorola and I don't want to brick this S10.

>>64277 1st check that its even possible, you need a specific version of the handset because Samsung don't let most of the models unlock the bootloader, after that, as hard as any other phone. I only mentioned that one because that person mentioned the S5, I went from Lineage on a Redmi phone to Graphene personally, I bought phones specifically because I knew there was good aftermarket support form them, much harder to luck into having a device with the right features to actually make it usable unfortunately.

>>62962 I have the Titan Pocket Pros: Nobody's gonna steal it. Dual sim, decent storage, very low cost. Android 11. Easy to type one handed or blind. One red reprogrammable key but every key can be programmed to do something, which I personally really like but get little use out of. Also has an infrared transmitter, nfc. Very physically durable. If apps break because of the resolution, there's an easily toggled 'mini mode' that changes resolution to something more normal. Cons: Very buggy - no matter what music player I use, it crashes at least once a day. I think this is tied to the red key, which I use for media right now. Lately the camera has been doing this for me too, but only when I double-press the power button to open it. Also, a lot of apps break when forced into a 4:3 resolution. Everything is Google by default. I think there's a reddit thread where somebody rooted a Titan but given how buggy they already are I wouldn't recommend it. The camera is terrible quality. It was advertised as 5G but only has 4G capability. The built in speaker is bad. For the price it's decent quality. I bought one for the keyboard and the very small screen, to break a social media addiction. Would recommend.

>>64239 do you need android 12? from what i've seen there hasn't been any major /sec/ improvements on android since version 9 (correct me if i'm wrong pls). check android 12 release notes, not a single mention to anything remotely related to security. they just slap a new and slower UI on every new release flood detected, yada yada

>>64280 something like postmarketos should put all their energies into pwning a phone like this as the preferred device. It's a nice body. I'd get get one if it was open. thanks for the review anon.

my phone cost $100 for the phone and the first month's payment, my bill is $30 a month for unlimited everything. it's a Motorola tracphone. I would have gotten something cheaper but that's the worst phone they had in the store, I asked for the phone most people would spit on in those words. I'll buy a new one when this one dies but it's going on a year strong. even if you need a new phone there's no reason to spend excess.