[Arm-netbook] Cell phone question

[Bluey]

> On 24 Jul 2017, at 4:03 AM, Joseph Lira <saitdude at hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hello
> 
> So I read in one of your updates about the raspberry zero phone, it sound really cool and for some time i wanted to get a smartphone but i see that they all have sort shelf lives meaning you buy the lastest samsung and it will get maybe updates for 2 years which at that point its viewed as obsolete, not to mention all the lock downs from the vendor/manufacture. I have looked at copperhead os but they still have the issue with shelf life 3 years tops, so im wondering what phone do you guys use? I just want a phone that let me listen to my music, use the gps without any ties, control the camera, some apps, that i can keep updating and patching until its truelly obsolete and all will still respecting my privacy, does such a phone exist?
> 

Hi Joseph,

to my knowledge, your best option might be to purchase a second-hand 
Samsung Galaxy II, III, or Note 2 and install Replicant OS (http://www.replicant.us/) on it.

Unfortunately, that won’t completely cover your requirements, as GPS won’t be available 
unless you use non-libre software.

Also, if you want to use WiFi then you will need to use an external USB adaptor such as:

https://tehnoetic.com/tehnoetic-wireless-adapter-gnu-linux-libre-tet-n150
https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/penguin-wireless-n-usb-adapter-gnu-linux-tpe-n150usb

Protection of privacy is another completely different question.  How you view the privacy offered 
by a phone and the system it interacts with (advertisers, nation-state actors, etc.) depends on your 
threat modelling as well as the information you have available to you about that system.

Libre software and hardware allows for a higher degree of trustworthiness but does not specifically
provide any additional security or privacy advantages over proprietary systems.  Although the 
more eyes on something principle generally valid (greater opportunities to find flaws), the
nature of security and privacy engineering is such that they are a highly specialised disciplines and
just having information available in the public domain does not necessarily mean that the few
specialists capable of improving libre systems to make them more secure or more private are
free, able, and willing to do so.    

- Bluey