Ironically, a large number of privacy minded individuals are using Google Pixels flashed with custom roms (Calyx, Graphene, Lineage, etc)

If not designed specifically for privacy, these Android forks are at the very least not stock Android, and stripped of many anti-privacy features.

This can be accomplished due to the Pixel’s (mostly) unique attribute - a bootloader that can be unlocked and relocked.

I don’t know why Google have allowed their bootloaders this freedom, but I can’t imagine that a company with a reputation for killing anything they touch would allow it to continue for much longer.

If/when the day comes that the Pixel is fully locked down, what options are there for privacy enthusiasts to continue using a smartphone, an inherently unprivate device?

Does anyone know of development going into looking at how to unlock bootloaders on any device, opening the door for custom rom flashing to continue?

Are the pinephones, fairphones, etc going to have to ramp up production?

Anything going on in the iphone department allowing for detachment from the Apple ecosystem?

What happens next, really?

  • CookieJarObserver@feddit.de
    17·
    2 years ago

    I think Google knows that many people use their phones for that reason, and i don’t see a monetisabil reason why they shouldn’t allow it, they buy it, Google makes money, they give the people freedom to do what they want with it.

    I don’t think Google taking away their usp will happen and if they probably die, their phones aren’t the best from a technical perspective and people will just find a new brand that doesn’t fuck up the bootloader.

    • PeterPoopshit@lemmy.ml
      7·
      2 years ago

      people will just find a new brand that doesn’t fuck up the bootloader

      Yep, and right now, the Google pixels are the ones that have an unlockable bootloader and have the most features. Some of the pixels have microphone jacks, making them the only phone I know of that can be used in North America that has both a microphone jack and unlockable bootloader.

      We used to be able to use the Exynos Samsungs. It was great. Unlockable bootloader, microphone jack and sdcard. Carriers then fucked us by changing the frequencies so the European Samsungs don’t work anymore. Now you can’t get a phone that has an unlockable bootloader, an sdcard and a microphone jack and also have it work on North America. Shit sucks.

        • PeterPoopshit@lemmy.ml
          3·
          2 years ago

          No. When they changed the 4G bands and dropped the older ones, they changed them to the only 2 or 3 bands that non North American phones don’t have. I’ve never heard of anyone hacking this through software but you never know.

          • jmp242
            2·
            2 years ago

            I think it’s hardware antenna specific.