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Nobody’s Cellphone Is Really That Secure

theatlantic.com

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Re: Nobody’s Cellphone Is Really That Secure

#62
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

three years of frequent updates is pretty much the best support you're going to get with any android phone. i personally love my pixel 2, but they sold about half as many pixels in 2017 as samsung sold phones in a week. [0][1] samsung does give monthly security updates to its flagship products, but it won't support anything for more than two years. i think it's clear that consumers don't actually give a shit about up…

> i think it's clear that consumers don't actually give a shit about updates when they choose their next phone, The people that do give a shit pick ios. Security and updates was the #1 reason I moved from Android to iOS.

Yup. I'm on iphone for this reason + privacy. The ecosystem integration with ipad is a nice bonus

Re: Nobody’s Cellphone Is Really That Secure

#63
post #46
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any stats/references to back that up? And does this extend to first party devices from Google as well?

It's in TFA

I was hoping to see if there are stats which show a variance in bounties for various Android phone manufacturers.

Re: Nobody’s Cellphone Is Really That Secure

#65
post #34

Nobody’s phone is really that secure... but an iPhone vulnerability costs more than an average Bay Area house, while an Android vulnerability is more like the cost of cleaning that house once. Edit: turns out the figure for an Android vulnerability is off by several orders of magnitude. What a garbage article!

Google also has a bug bounty program for Pixels, paying up to $200,000.

https://www.google.com/about/appsecurity/android-rewards/

Re: Nobody’s Cellphone Is Really That Secure

#66
post #2

> Google now has its own phone—Pixel—that gets security updates quickly and regularly. The Nexus 5 line used to have this until Google decided after three years to stop supporting it despite the hardware continuing to last well beyond that.

three years of frequent updates is pretty much the best support you're going to get with any android phone. i personally love my pixel 2, but they sold about half as many pixels in 2017 as samsung sold phones in a week. [0][1] samsung does give monthly security updates to its flagship products, but it won't support anything for more than two years. i think it's clear that consumers don't actually give a shit about up…

>>three years of frequent updates is pretty much the best support you're going to get with any android phone.

I have an HP computer with an OS from big, bad Microsoft and get updates even though my computer is 7 years old. I paid around $400 then (rebates and all.)

Re: Nobody’s Cellphone Is Really That Secure

#67
post #2

> Google now has its own phone—Pixel—that gets security updates quickly and regularly. The Nexus 5 line used to have this until Google decided after three years to stop supporting it despite the hardware continuing to last well beyond that.

You can get the latest Android on the Nexus 5. https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/hammerhead

Updated 2 days ago: https://download.lineageos.org/hammerhead/changes/

Re: Nobody’s Cellphone Is Really That Secure

#68

Nokia 6.1 (2018 model) costs $270 USD with Android One (at least 2 years of monthly security updates), metal body, fingerprint sensor (no notch), headphone jack and hardware-based remote attestation for tamper detection. https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/circuitbreaker/2018/5/...

The Xiaomi Mi A1[1] is much cheaper with similar specs. Even this year's update is cheaper[2].

[1]: https://www.amazon.com/Xiaomi-32GB-Factory-Unlocked-Compatib... [2]: https://www.amazon.com/Xiaomi-64GB-Camera-AndroidOne-Smartph...

Re: Nobody’s Cellphone Is Really That Secure

#69
post #2

> Google now has its own phone—Pixel—that gets security updates quickly and regularly. The Nexus 5 line used to have this until Google decided after three years to stop supporting it despite the hardware continuing to last well beyond that.

The problem was hardware manufacturers ie processor etc would not support newer versions of the OS and kernals. Thats why they have come up with project treble with that you would be able to install newer versions of android long after they themselves stop giving updates.

Wouldn't be a problem if hardware would have drivers in mainline kernel

Re: Nobody’s Cellphone Is Really That Secure

#70
post #2

> Google now has its own phone—Pixel—that gets security updates quickly and regularly. The Nexus 5 line used to have this until Google decided after three years to stop supporting it despite the hardware continuing to last well beyond that.

You can get the latest Android on the Nexus 5. https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/hammerhead Updated 2 days ago: https://download.lineageos.org/hammerhead/changes/

Lineage is great, but that's 14.1 (Android 7, not "the latest" 9) and Lineage can't patch vulnerabilities in binary driver blobs.

Still - much better than being left in the cold by your OEM

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