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GrapheneOS is the only Android OS providing full security patches

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Re: GrapheneOS is the only Android OS providing full security patches

#301

Post by Xss3 »

palata wrote: post #277
Telaneo wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huawei has a whole-ass Chinese government behind it with quite a lot of incentives to move away from Google. Samsung does not. Heck, China's making its own GPUs and x86 CPUs. They're not great, but when the incentives over there are that strong, the market forces are clearly in a whole different universe compared to the rest of the world. Bada lasted, what, 3 years? So it did better than Firefox OS (unless you want t…

> Huawei has a whole-ass Chinese government behind it I don't like how Chinese companies systematically get reduced to "it's because the government can help them". The US TooBigTech get a ton of help from the US government, starting with political pressures when other countries want to regulate them. Huawei have really good technology and very competent engineers. It's not the Chinese government that does the enginee…

Equally lets not forget that china sees this as a key strategic necessity for a forced reunification attempt on taiwan, both for national security and the ability to produce chips solo.

Two things can be true. They can have great engineers and government money. Theyre not mutually exclusive.

Re: GrapheneOS is the only Android OS providing full security patches

#302

Post by Xss3 »

worldsavior wrote: post #251
joelthelion wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now that their market is established, I don't think open-source is a requirement anymore. They would of course share with hardware vendors strategically.

What would they gain from making it closed source? There isn't any distribution of AOSP that competes with Android. If they would close-source it, the community for sure will pick up the pieces.

GrapheneOS is the community picking up the pieces.

Re: GrapheneOS is the only Android OS providing full security patches

#303

Post by Xss3 »

Mond_ wrote: post #269
czernobog wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Damn, I just got a Pixel 10 pro XL for installing GrapheneOS. I hate how below average Pixel's hardware is and I wouldn't have minded waiting a couple of more years for this.

Pixel hardware is below average? Since when? That sounds like a flagship phone to me.

In raw cpu and gpu performance terms it is quite weak compared to other flagships.

You dont notice unless youre gaming or encoding video or doing other heavy workloads. The daily driver experience is very smooth.

The cameras and camera software is in the top 5 consistently though, the screens are also really good, so its a mixed bag hardware wise.

Re: GrapheneOS is the only Android OS providing full security patches

#305

Post by toni »

abustamam wrote: post #242
SubiculumCode wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but lots of phones you can't get ROMs for from a reputable source, and I sure as heck don't have the know how or time to build one, even if possible, which a lot of times is not due to locking down bootloaders, drivers, etc.

Years ago I used to love playing around with roms on my phone on XDA and it worked OK. I don't know what folks use these days. But as recently as a few years ago I merely rooted my phone and I couldn't use a lot of apps, not just banking, but even some games. It's crazy how locked down the ecosystem is.

There are tools to make your device appear to every app as running in a non-rooted environment. Here[1] is a tutorial on how to bypass Google/Samsung Wallet detections. There are threads for different apps and it will quickly turn into a cat and mouse play when Playstore app itself updates, but as the phone is rooted, someone will continue to find a way to bypass attestations and will post a comment on Reddit or XDA explaining how to do it.

[1] https://old.reddit.com/r/Magisk/comments/1lxbdpw/tutorial_ge...

Re: GrapheneOS is the only Android OS providing full security patches

#306

Post by aspenmayer »

garbagewoman wrote: post #252
aspenmayer wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well actually, it isn’t for individuals and certain groups, technically. Rooting/jailbreaking have had exemptions for many years now, on a three year basis which has seemingly been continually renewed, by the Librarian of Congress. Exemption to Prohibition on Circumvention of Copyright Protection Systems for Access Control Technologies (2024) https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/10/28/2024-24... https://www…

You’re breaking the TOS which is a felony according to the CFAA

Sounds like FUD to me. All of the cases I’m familiar with actually say that violating TOS isn’t against CFAA.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Fraud_and_Abuse_Act

Re: GrapheneOS is the only Android OS providing full security patches

#307

Post by embedding-shape »

Klonoar wrote: post #84
embedding-shape wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Stateside - being in, going to, coming from, or characteristic of the 48 conterminous states of the U.S. In case others, like me, weren't aware.

I admit to being shocked that such a common phrase isn’t widely understood, but this site has plenty of international traffic so I can only say thanks for the context comment. :)

Yeah, it's funny how our contexts shapes what we believe to be universal :) I had the same experience with "ground floor" and "first floor", where seemingly every country has a different understanding and way they use those. Or even what "Caravan" actually is seems to differ too. Language is fun :)

Re: GrapheneOS is the only Android OS providing full security patches

#308

Post by amelius »

zdc1 wrote: post #90
immibis wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any one of us here could learn the skills to design a smartphone. It won't necessarily be good, but I remember that years ago, someone made one with a touchscreen hat and GSM hat atop a Raspberry Pi, rubber-banded to a power bank. I'm sure any one of us HN users could do this. And it worked. Quality only goes up from there. The problem is it won't run any apps, so you'll need to carry this open-source secure phone in…

Or use everything via the web browser; but yes, I think apps are the main reason we can't just have a generic Linux phone OS on an open hardware platform

Isn't there an emulator that can run Android apps inside any Linux distro?

Re: GrapheneOS is the only Android OS providing full security patches

#309

Post by kQq9oHeAz6wLLS »

palata wrote: post #162
jazzyjackson wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has no one mentioned not using a smartphone as an option?

How do you run WhatsApp or Signal without a smartphone? Pretty hard. If your answer is "don't use them", then you're not living in a country where the vast majority of communications are done on WhatsApp or Signal, good for you I guess.

> then you're not living in a country where the vast majority of communications are done on WhatsApp or Signal

I live in the USA and use Signal for, like, 3 friends that I also can call or text, and I've never used WhatsApp in my life.

So, if you live in the USA, you can absolutely get by without those two.

But there are likely other apps that would be more difficult to do without. Not impossible, mind you, just more effort.

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