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goodbye iOS. hello Android. :)

IOS was my best friend, but then she took up with NSA.  She didn't tell me but I found out.

iOS, Android, Windows, Ubuntu phones, Firefox Mobile; same boss: NSA

If privacy is a major concern the black phone looks to hold some promise..
www.blackphone.ch

I had iPhone 3s when it came out, at 1st i was happy, but then problems started, so after some time I throw it in the garbage ( it worked to some degree ) and bought Note one, never even had a slightest regret, now I have Note 3 and I'm even more happy :)

I've had my battered iPhone 3s for nearly three years, but once it dies I wont be going back to Apple.

same here :)

Android is as stupid as iOS in terms of privacy.... You should go with CyanogenMod.

I switched too about a year ago, Samsung makes way better stuff than Apple in my opinion

I think Samsung uses too many cheap materials. Most parts of their phones are made of plastic.

+1
Basically it's a main complain from my side at least. This and the HUGE size of the devices - Apple phones fit in the hand perfectly.

Cyanogenmod IS Android, just with various alterations and additions.

Not exactly.

Glad I never had it.

I have a rooted s3, but can't recall if I used cyanogenmod.  How would you figure out? And why might cyanogenmod be more secure?

You should take a look at this http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Why_Mod%3F

iOS and Windows: true
Android: Depends on which rom you use and if you use Google services
Ubuntu and Firefox: pretty safe, you can never know 100% for sure but those 2 I trust the most.

I hope my next phone will be a Ubuntu phone, too bad the edge didn't make it.

It's the inside that counts  :P

But Samsung is notorious for their Samsung-plastic indeed, didn't bothered me on my tab though.
But enough other Android phone manufacturers that don't make use of cheap plastic if it bothers you.

It's clearly different than my rooted 4.1, but as it is time for an upgrade anyway, I'll do it.

But after reading all those docs, I don't see anything about security....

After these privacy issues on the desktop OS, you still want an Ubuntu Phone?
It's about privacy, not security. Google apps/services could spy on you, because they are proprietary and not open source like most of Android itself.

Don`t you just hate the microtransactions... NSA is like a kitten next to that...

yes. exactly. in the same sense as linux distros. I use and love Cyanogenmod, and it is more secure than what came stock because it is rooted by default. It is still android.

Here is what seems to be my group of Google and system apps on rooted S3.  Likely this list is incomplete.  I have app to delete system apps, so I can make any of these go away.  Likely one does not know the effect of deleting a system app, and neither does one know the extent or content of it's reporting upstream.

Google Play, Google Play services, Google+, Maps, Google Settings,
Google Speech, Google Text to Speech

S Memo, S Suggest, S Voice, Samsung Apps, ChatOn

These are google apps that I loaded myself

Gmail, GEarth, Google Translate

Here is the group of outstanding apps that I've personally loaded to this phone and use a lot.

K9mail, WikiPock, Kiwix, Imdb, Total Recall, Trello, Simplenote, Dropbox, Evernote

My question is simply, given a mix of usage as this, how would Cyanogenmod be different/better/cleaner/simpler?

Secondly, the issue being the upstream reporting that an OS, app or system app does, how would one even know the content or extent of that data set?  It would seem possible that regardless of one's attempt to steam issues with the OS and system apps, one singular malevolent app could, unknown to any user, harvest all.

Therefore the highest value in an alternative OS would be that it be capable of viewing and reporting to us these upstream datasets.  I do not have the impression that Cyanogenmod does anything like this, and in the absence of that, would classify it as "modified android" instead of "android with enhanced privacy/security".

I was typing under the influence of a 4 week old kid :)

As it stands, Cyanogen doesn't enhance security, IMO, any more than simply rooting the device and stamping out anything that offends you. It's true of all rooted/modified android systems. I like it better than base android because of it's sound abilities, to be honest. It pulls the safeties on audio reproduction (which also gives you the ability to let the smoke out, but they warn you of that and I'm not an idiot).

My reply was intended to convey to the first guy that Cyanogen IS android, not that it was superiour. In re-reading it, it doesn't look like that. We're on the same page, I think. I just worded it poorly.

Where I was headed was more toward a perspective that the relative merits of the two options re privacy might well be "Unknowable", in the absence of an in phone capability to monitor outgoing data sets related to each app or system function.

But I also think this kind of perspective could be addressed to the guys that did the Cyanogenmod, and they'd immediately "get it" and likely if practical work on these features.

That isn't going to happen with Google.

Secondly, if Google apps are integrated with the core Android, and we try to delete them with a rooted phone, we could well brick it.  That costs....

rooted android here;  can't wait to see this blackphone!

How 'bout a Linux phone :

Ubuntu Phone (http://www.ubuntu.com/phone)

IMHO no use with iOS, Android or Mobile Windows in terms of secure privacy - as they all have numerous backdoors deeply nested in their core OS.

I repeat: After these privacy issues on the desktop OS, you are still thinking about Ubuntu Phone?

Blackphone - IT'S HERE:

http://us3.campaign-archive1.com/?u=0438c5cf826f34873503770d3&id=67c66415c1&e=0854aa3c27

Who's getting one?

Well.. I tried to be smart phone free for a couple of years now... I spent a couple of hours on the web over the week end and to me, the best phone/price/openness is that Nexus 5.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJ_bR68dU18

How 'bout that one :

Jolla Phone w/ Sailfish OS (http://jolla.com/)
https://sailfishos.org/ (https://sailfishos.org/)

Still pretty beta but another interesting Linux based development.

I don't understand why is this in the Politics&Society section :D

http://youtu.be/vhwsIkWv5N0

iOS only! I think it's really easy to use and I like their design! However I do not doubt that Android is quite good but iOS will always be better.  ;)

iOS is commercial... user can't anything adjust how he want... You depends on what they are offering and in the same time expensive charges...

Android is for advanced users who know what they want

Enjoy sending all your data to the NSA.

This kind of statement is basically too wrong to even be wrong.

IOS is already way, way worse as you can see from the very existence of this thread. 

IOS refuses to support BTC apps.  Hence IOS can not be better, let alone "always be better".  If they decided tomorrow to allow BTC apps they could still never achieve status of "sometimes being better" because they could disallow such apps at any time.  They suffer from a top down control model malfunction.

Probably just an Apple fanboy with little to no experience of other devices.

More security flaws from Apple today: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-26335701

I don't quite care for NSA or other security agency. But for the offer and capacities, I've no doubt Android is now ages ahead of iOS. iOS still resembles a lot of a primitive smartphone, lacking many features and usability and barely better than old'n'dead Symbian.
Windows took the path of Apple and came up just with one good thing, the home screen (which you can easily have at Android too), for the rest is a sh*ty "all locked" phone.
But even if I like Android at the moment, I don't like Samsung, they modify too much the base and add their own junk to it to not mention too cheap materials for such expensive phones, such as S4 that has a hard time to read a QR or bar code. Overall I do prefer LG.
In the end, for the time being I believe Android will keep as the smartest choice, with or without mods, depending on your paranoia level.

That was a nice trolling. Very funny  ;D

Do you like that Google Nexus 5?

Didn't try it yet. At this moment I'm enjoying my Knight Rider-like model Android watch. Speaking to a watch is something all boys from the 80's dreamed of, and I'm no exception.  ;D
this thing: http://technosamigos.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Ares-EC309-smartwatch.jpg

But I may give it a try when I resume to regular devices.

Nice of you to acknowledge some value for Android.

Never say never and always seems to me an even stronger word than never. The figures show some tendencies - for example Apple Cedes Market Share in Smartphone Operating System Market (https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS24257413).

In the end (at least for me) is important to have multiple choices even if some of those choices mean that we do not have much customization freedom. Some need to keep it simple...

at the end
someone loves ios and someone loves android ... users choose what fits them more ... it's all based on individual needs

It's based on their intelligence and not on anything else...

I would love if such was true, if idiots could buy iPhones and leave the World alone. Unfortunately, that isn't working quite well.
Apple is an abusive company designed for idiots that would buy an empty plastic box as long as it comes with an Apple logo in it, but by being successful, which means it seams we have a load of idiot consumers around, other companies start to copycat them bringing the same sort of Apple abuse to the Android and Windows Mobile world. Just look at those companies shipping mobiles without a replaceable battery around or the app locks under Windows, where you can't even find a file browser able to show your mp3s.

It should be a choice and I hope the other companies understand that the Apple consumers will never be their consumers, an Apple consumer loves the logo and plastic design, just that because Apple from iOS to OSX is a piece of crap compared to Android and Linux/Windows so there's nothing there for the tech side of the story to justify the prices.

Also in IQ side, "love an OS" is dumb. You should "love" a system that does what it's meant to do and not nag you with senseless locks or abusive policies. Today it can be Android, tomorrow it can be anything else... don't get stuck to anything! Imagine a person who love Commodore Amiga, poor bastard now stuck in the 90's for eternity. ;D

I absolutely agree on that, Apple relies way too much on making good ad's instead of bringing real innovation to their new phones (unless you are a fan of golden smartphones that enable you to unlock their screens via fingerprints). Since i bought my 3GS maybe 4-5 years ago there haven't been many new features that newer Iphones have provided to their users. On the other hand I'd say, that Samsung hasn't done a much better job either. The leap between the S3 and the S4 is so small, that you can easily describe it as a quantum leap.

If these companies would only invest 5% less in their adverts and would provide us customers with real innovations instead...


EDIT: First post! Hello everybody:)

Go to privacy settings and turn off "Include online search results" solves the whole privacy issue. Source is completely open so you can look for any backdoors. ::)

I still prefer this over any os where you can be 100% sure your data is send to national security agencies and used for marketing purposes

Ubuntu has privacy issues or Apple?

well you can tell that what i said just like you said... :)
yes, that I meant to say... hehehe

The Internet is forever.

Your private communications don´t need to be.

Wickr® is a free app that provides:

·military-grade encryption of text, picture, audio and video messages
·sender-based control over who can read messages, where and for how long
·best available privacy, anonymity and secure file shredding features
·security that is simple to use

iOS and Android


https://www.mywickr.com/en/index.php

*lol*

An app that promises security - but runs in normal user mode privilege on an OS that is the backdoor itself ;)

But I'm sure people will feel much safer with it, was only a matter of time before someone capitalized on gullible users seeking the illusion of security...

As long as it is free...

Anyone thinking about Tizen?
Android, Ubuntu, Firefox, and there is Tizen too.

As I am a android developer I like android much but I think Tizen would get the android position by Samsung's push.

Budget carrier FreedomPop today announced a new Privacy Phone service that attempts to offer secure and anonymous voice, text and data communications.

Jokingly referred to as the “Snowden phone,” FreedomPop’s latest offering is based on a Samsung Galaxy S II. Voice and text will run over 128-bit encryption, while data is funneled through a pre-installed VPN. In an extra touch of security, you’ll be able to pay for the phone in bitcoin in order to keep the transaction anonymous. FreedomPop also says you can change your number whenever you want.

The Privacy Phone costs $189 and includes three free months of unlimited voice and text and 500MB of monthly data. The plan costs $10 per month after the initial free period.

FreedomPop first launched its free mobile phone service last October and has been steadily adding support for new devices and plan options. The network buys minutes and data from Sprint while also routing your service through Wi-Fi when possible.

From the use of Snowden’s name to the inclusion of bitcoin support, the marketing language around the Privacy Phone feels like a gimmick that’s relying on the latest buzzworthy topics, but it does seem to offer greater protection than the standard service you’d get from a major carrier.

While we’ve become skeptical of anything dubbed “NSA-proof,” recent revelations have certainly got us thinking more about our digital privacy. If this takes off, you can expect the government to come poking around looking for terrorists and drug dealers, but in the meantime, you can get some extra peace of mind at an extremely affordable price.

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2014/03/05/freedompop-unveils-anonymous-encrypted-phone-service-can-pay-bitcoins/#!ywIZB

Someone commented:


Is this true?

Both.
And simply turning off "Include online search results" doesn't change anything. Ubuntu is still partly proprietary, which means that it can send data to somewhere without you knowing it.

There will never be an 100% safe OS. Even if Ubuntu or other mobile Linux flavor doesn't send any data anywhere, there will be an app that does.

I did not know Ubuntu was partially closed source. That is news to me. I have to tell the Kubuntu, Xubuntu communities it is the case...

Funny. I just made the opposite switch, after having tried Android for about 6 months. Goodbye, Android.   Hello, iOS..

No. 

If your "laptop" could check a quintilian keys per second (about 200 times what the world's best supercomputer in existence today could manage, assuming each check could be done in a single instruction), it would take roughly 400 trillion years to search a 128-bit keyspace.

To put that number in perspective, all the stars in the universe will have gone out about 120 trillion years from now.

#Switch . I can't say I dislike apple products but grats on your choice and good luck with the Cookie/Honey/Bread/Beans.