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Show HN: DivestOS – Long-term support for end-of-life Android devices

divestos.org

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Re: Show HN: DivestOS – Long-term support for end-of-life Android devices

#141

Post by gpvos »

grishka wrote: post #96
strenholme wrote: post #37

The problem with long term support for my Android phones has actually not been the fact that Android devices have incredibly short security update windows. That issue has been somewhat mitigated with the newer Google Pixel phones which have five years of security updates. The biggest issue for long term cell phone support is, even if we get an OS with a 10-year security update timeline like Rocky Linux, will the phon…

Must be a US problem. Where I'm from we still have 2G and no plans to turn it off, but we also don't have any plans to introduce 5G it seems (though tbh 5G isn't much of an improvement over 4G for most people's use cases).

At least the Netherlands is phasing out 2G and 3G, although you can still use them until 2025 depending on your provider. I suppose this is the same in at least several other European countries.

Re: Show HN: DivestOS – Long-term support for end-of-life Android devices

#142

Post by _rdvw »

palata wrote: post #136
_rdvw wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please see my list of issues with /e/OS: https://divestos.org/misc/e.txt

Nice to have a list, though many points there are debatable. It's always a question of threat model. The /e/OS experience is perfect for me, and I am convinced it is much more likely to reach my friends than e.g. GrapheneOS, which is much more into security (at the cost of UX). In the end it's good to have the alternative, and to realise that they target different profiles.

I cannot fathom how a browser/WebView from 7 months ago with 244 known security issues including multiple zero-days and a PDF reader from 6 years ago with 55 known security issues is in anyone's threat model.

Do realize that combined with their Advanced Privacy app which routes users over Tor, it can very well result in HTTP only connections being MiTM'ed.

I've seen it with some of my own users recently and their RSS feeds being hijacked.

I ask /e/ team every month to do something about it and they don't, yet users keep trumpeting them and buying devices from them. It is downright negligent of them.

Re: Show HN: DivestOS – Long-term support for end-of-life Android devices

#143

Post by graymatters »

kelnos wrote: post #83
phh wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I run latest Android version on my 6 years old Pixel 1. The only reason it isn't provided by Google is that Google doesn't want to.

More like Qualcomm doesn't want to spend the money to do it. Google can't update the binary drivers and firmware that Qualcomm gives them. And Google only has so much leverage in order to get Qualcomm to provide updates to older hardware. Sure, Google could release newer Android versions (assuming they'll run under whatever last kernel version Qualcomm provided support for, which isn't always the case), or at least r…

Actually, it is Google’s fault. Had it insisted that all OEM vendors upstream the drivers it’d have happened long ago. Especially because of Google’s monopoly on Android. The thing is - it’s in Google’s interest to obsolete these devices so that people buy newer devices with more Google “features” (which in turn are designed to collect more and more data about the user, the whole Google Android being the 2nd largest advertising platform for Google, after the “search” engine)..

Re: Show HN: DivestOS – Long-term support for end-of-life Android devices

#144

Post by wizzwizz4 »

alexchantavy wrote: post #75
wizzwizz4 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They? This is my project, it is just me. "They" has been an acceptable default third-person singular pronoun since at least the 1400s. If there's something you'd prefer, it might be wise to list it on one of your user profile pages.

I don't think the maintainer has a problem with pronoun choice in the sense you're implying - rather it seems that they are trying to emphasize that they are just one person and have limited time/resources

Yeah, that's clear given the context of who replied to whom. I somehow missed that summm was replying to SubzeroCarnage; in light of the context, what was meant to be me being lightheartedly pedantic comes across as a weird and preachy derail. (Shame Hacker News doesn't let one delete things.)

Re: Show HN: DivestOS – Long-term support for end-of-life Android devices

#145

Post by wizzwizz4 »

kikokikokiko wrote: post #79
wizzwizz4 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They? This is my project, it is just me. "They" has been an acceptable default third-person singular pronoun since at least the 1400s. If there's something you'd prefer, it might be wise to list it on one of your user profile pages.

Since the 1400s my arse. It's just an annoying trend among woke evangelists, and makes the english language uglier while conveying less information about the subject in question.

No, this is a matter of historical fact. If you disagree, bring it up with the editors of the Oxford English Dictionary.[0] Or, if you prefer, the editors of the First Folio, a 1623 compilation of Shakespeare's works;[1] not quite as early, but easier for us mere mortals to verify.

> For your sake (Iewell) // I am glad at soule, I haue no other Child; // For thy escape would teach me Tirranie // To hang clogges on them.

[0]: https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/200700#eid1288185420

[1]: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Shakespeare_-_First_Folio_fac...

Re: Show HN: DivestOS – Long-term support for end-of-life Android devices

#146

Post by tssva »

noduerme wrote: post #89
jkepler wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lineage OS can often do WiFi only on old Androids. But unless I'm mistaken, if a device only has 3G, and you want to travel with it away from WiFi, you can't even get 3G data on the device, as they shut off the 3G networks in the USA. Best you're gonna find in some rural areas may be 2G or 2.5G.

I'm not sure. In some rural areas in Oregon I seem to still get 3G (on Verizon). Unless my Android device is mislabeling 2.5G.

December 31st, 2022 is the last day for the Verizon 3G network.

Re: Show HN: DivestOS – Long-term support for end-of-life Android devices

#147

Post by palata »

_rdvw wrote: post #142
palata wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nice to have a list, though many points there are debatable. It's always a question of threat model. The /e/OS experience is perfect for me, and I am convinced it is much more likely to reach my friends than e.g. GrapheneOS, which is much more into security (at the cost of UX). In the end it's good to have the alternative, and to realise that they target different profiles.

I cannot fathom how a browser/WebView from 7 months ago with 244 known security issues including multiple zero-days and a PDF reader from 6 years ago with 55 known security issues is in anyone's threat model. Do realize that combined with their Advanced Privacy app which routes users over Tor, it can very well result in HTTP only connections being MiTM'ed. I've seen it with some of my own users recently and their RSS…

> I cannot fathom how a browser/WebView from 7 months ago with 244 known security issues including multiple zero-days and a PDF reader from 6 years ago with 55 known security issues is in anyone's threat model.

I use Firefox, not their chromium-based browser. I can't mention an app that I use that is using a WebView though... I remember there was one, but I could set it up to use my browser. I use their PDF reader, I'll have to check that.

> Do realize that combined with their Advanced Privacy app which routes users over Tor, it can very well result in HTTP only connections being MiTM'ed.

I don't route over Tor.

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