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Essential Phone, available now

essential.com

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Re: Essential Phone, available now

#571

Post by pasta »

throwaway613834 wrote: post #328
zeograd wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

security ones...

What kind of security updates actually worry you though? Not trying to sound snarky, but do you install sketchy apps regularly? What are examples of actual threats are you trying to protect against? If you install untrusted apps regularly I could see why, but if not then what attack vector are you worried about? Are you worried about a WiFi attack in a coffee shop for example?

An update of trusted certificate parties would be nice once in a while.

Or fixes that close doors left open.

Re: Essential Phone, available now

#572

Post by mathgenius »

zanny wrote: post #483

Since no one else has, I'll take the piss out of this "hollier than thou" bullshit. > Devices are your personal property. We won’t force you to have anything you don’t want. Devices are your personal property. The SoC is still a proprietary trade secret, the baseband is still spying on you for the NSA, the GPU is still a closed blob piece of shit. No mainline driver support, bootloader is closed source, firmware is c…

And this:

> we’re working around the clock

Why are they working around the clock? It sounds like they are running late and/or don't know what they are doing.

Re: Essential Phone, available now

#573

Post by ndesaulniers »

boondaburrah wrote: post #138
nicpottier wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty sure they used Sharp as a partner, so it isn't like they started from scratch. That guess is based on this Sharp phone looking mighty familiar ( http://www.gsmarena.com/sharp_aquos_s2_taken_apart_a_bezelle... ) and Rubin having worked with Sharp extensively during the Danger days. (most of the Sidekicks were made by Sharp) I'm kinda sort interested in this device, but honestly I'm in the sit and wait given tha…

Sharp for some reason refuses to sell their smartphones outside of Japan. When I lived there I had a Sharp phone - and it was amazing. Smoothest non-stock android experience I've had. Recently they were selling [did this finally happen?] off their phone business to foxconn because it was falling behind. Man, if you actually tried to sell your phones, Sharp, they might have sold? Funny concept. If this phone is indeed…

> Sharp for some reason refuses to sell their smartphones outside of Japan.

Patents and different cellular bands (meaning radical antennae design).

Re: Essential Phone, available now

#575

Post by piyush_soni »

froo wrote: post #506
zanny wrote: post #483

Since no one else has, I'll take the piss out of this "hollier than thou" bullshit. > Devices are your personal property. We won’t force you to have anything you don’t want. Devices are your personal property. The SoC is still a proprietary trade secret, the baseband is still spying on you for the NSA, the GPU is still a closed blob piece of shit. No mainline driver support, bootloader is closed source, firmware is c…

>> Devices shouldn’t become outdated every year. They should evolve with you. I really don't understand this sentiment. I've still got my iPhone 6 Plus. I haven't seen the need to upgrade yet. It does absolutely everything I want. At this rate, the only reason I'm going to upgrade is if I destroy my phone somehow (I've yet to even put a major scratch on any of my smartphones over the years) or if a vendor comes out w…

Besides, they don't give any more software update guarantee then Google's flagships are giving (previously Nexus phones, and now Pixel) - i.e. 2 years.

Re: Essential Phone, available now

#577

Post by erlend_sh »

zanny wrote: post #483

Since no one else has, I'll take the piss out of this "hollier than thou" bullshit. > Devices are your personal property. We won’t force you to have anything you don’t want. Devices are your personal property. The SoC is still a proprietary trade secret, the baseband is still spying on you for the NSA, the GPU is still a closed blob piece of shit. No mainline driver support, bootloader is closed source, firmware is c…

> The first actually open platform phone is the one that will have longevity

FairPhone is trying to do that, in software, hardware and way beyond: https://shop.fairphone.com/en/

Re: Essential Phone, available now

#578

Post by neltnerb »

exikyut wrote: post #552
trapperkeeper74 wrote: post #531

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Open ASIC IP cores and firmwares are a must-have. Without independently-verifiable silicon, there's no telling was is or isn't there.

Totally agree. My question is, how do you verify the fabs are trustworthy? Genuinely curious - I'm actually trying to answer this myself at the moment. The best I've come up with is, go to >2 fabs, have them deliver wafers but not saw them, scan and compare the wafers using trusted equipment, then take the wafers back to the fab for sawing. The last step is the biggest issue; you could be bait-and-switched. Sawing do…

Trustworthy in what sense? That they are delivering on spec, or that they aren't stealing your IP?

For the prior, I imagine going there and observing QC procedures is the only hope. For the latter, I imagine it involves keeping discrete critical components isolated -- firmware from silicon (and beyond), using different factories so that neither independently has a functional device.

Re: Essential Phone, available now

#580

Post by Kliment »

aeorgnoieang wrote: post #367
maxaf wrote: post #25

Why would I spend $700+ on a phone with a dubious fate when I can spend $230 on a Moto G5 Plus and have Lineage OS running on it in no time, for a long time?

What exactly is Lineage OS? Their website is pretty hostile towards anyone trying to answer that question easily. The about page consists solely of two definitions of 'lineage', neither of which is a cutesy reference to the project.

It's the continuation of cyanogen, which is a more open build of android
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