I Ordered this to be my dedicated android cold storage wallet

[gtraah]

http://www.everbuying.com/product567122.html

It uses Android 4.4 which is pretty good, and its VERY cheap . It will be NON-rooted - I wont put a simcard in it.. and most of the time in Airplane mode. Unless i need to take some funds out of my cold storage. I will take it online ONLY to broadcast the transaction and then back offline once again.

I will have the stock apps that come with the phone + Avast Security & Virus + Mycellium  << These are the only 2 apps I will install . ( I know the avast security is more just a placebo app lol, the way I will be using this phone wont even have a chance to get a virus)


I think this is much neater and more comfortable than a laptop. Bear in mind I will not keep Private keys on this phone. When ever I want to spend some out of my cold storage, I will open my SAFE take out my phone + a Metal Key <<with this KEY I will then go to my other Camouflaged safe which doesn't look like a Safe but has my paper wallets in there I will use my encrypted version to scan QR code and write my sentence password  to decrypt. Once it decrypts my wallet is now in Send/receive mode instead of RECEIVE/VIEW mode only. I then send the funds to one of my spend wallets and delete the key from mycellium rendering it back to VIEW ONLY MODE. Place everything back into my separate safes. and go spend some BTC

[gtraah]

What do you think about the phone and idea? The price is only USD $43.87

That price is with the 10% off which they give u if you make an account which took me 5 seconds.

[abercrombie]

Personally, I wouldn't trust no-name brand electronics.  I have this Hisense tablet, it can be used as your "cold wallet" and it also works as an offline Google 2FA device.  

Walmart used to sell this tablet and Hisense is a big brand in China.

[InwardContour]

Personally I prefer the old but good ubuntu live cd cold storage with wallets stored on several usb drives, it's safe and fast.

[fryarminer]

The rest of your plan sounds pretty intense and legit. But yeah, I'm with Abercrombie - I wouldn't trust the cheap phone. Even if it's a question of how do you know if it breaks or what to do when it does break? And if it has spyware or virus' on it. Get something trusted.

I have a Casascius Bar in a bank vault, that I send my cold storage to. I just keep loading it up. For my spendable bitcoin I use a cold storage paper wallet that I hide in plane sight - sometimes that's the best place to hide something, especially if it's a piece of paper. Then I use Mycellium to spend from that paper wallet and I only unfold the paper wallet where I'm sure no cameras or drones are snooping around. I don't have BTC on my computer, and very little on my phone.

[gtraah]

Hmmm, I see your point. I really doubt it will come with some sophisticated screenshot QR code scanner trojan .. just to make sure I will scourage through the phone pretty well. I will also leave it on for a week just to see how it acts or if any suspicious I see.

And if it breaks this does not matter.. As the Key is not stored n this phone. It will be used only to broadcast transactions from my cold storage.

Cheers for the input

[lyth0s]

What's entertaining is that the phone is called an "M-Horse", sounds like a new age Trojan Horse, or better yet a Mycelium-Horse

If there is any spyware and you lose some BTC, this phone shall be forever known as the digital age's "Trojan Horse".

[waldox]

cheap phone
might get mom one of these for fun

[gtraah]

What's entertaining is that the phone is called an "M-Horse", sounds like a new age Trojan Horse, or better yet a Mycelium-Horse

If there is any spyware and you lose some BTC, this phone shall be forever known as the digital age's "Trojan Horse".

LOL...

I will let you know once I get it .. I will write my own mini review... These days androids are cheap , I found many androids from $40-80 Its not unusual in this day and age, so I am pretty comfortable about it.


Here are just a few sites to get some cheap smart phones, Sort by price [Lowest > Highest]

These days parts are cheap as, and for factories in china it may only cost them $15-20 USD to build most of these phones, I'd say these are pretty safe, I mean if this was back in 2006-2007 .. I'd be a little more suss.

http://www.everbuying.com/.

http://www.aurabuy.com/

http://www.espow.com/

http://www.dealsmachine.com/

[Dabs]

I'd probably go that route, but I'll use my old Samsung, reset it to factory, or flash a new bare OS into it, root it, then titanium all the apps out of it. (Use the root to DELETE all the apps, even the google apps). Just leave enough so it can connect via wifi.

[HarmonLi]

http://www.everbuying.com/product567122.html

It uses Android 4.4 which is pretty good, and its VERY cheap . It will be NON-rooted - I wont put a simcard in it.. and most of the time in Airplane mode. Unless i need to take some funds out of my cold storage. I will take it online ONLY to broadcast the transaction and then back offline once again.

I will have the stock apps that come with the phone + Avast Security & Virus + Mycellium  << These are the only 2 apps I will install . ( I know the avast security is more just a placebo app lol, the way I will be using this phone wont even have a chance to get a virus)


I think this is much neater and more comfortable than a laptop. Bear in mind I will not keep Private keys on this phone. When ever I want to spend some out of my cold storage, I will open my SAFE take out my phone + a Metal Key <<with this KEY I will then go to my other Camouflaged safe which doesn't look like a Safe but has my paper wallets in there I will use my encrypted version to scan QR code and write my sentence password  to decrypt. Once it decrypts my wallet is now in Send/receive mode instead of RECEIVE/VIEW mode only. I then send the funds to one of my spend wallets and delete the key from mycellium rendering it back to VIEW ONLY MODE. Place everything back into my separate safes. and go spend some BTC

If you're disabling Airplane Mode at any time, your funds may be lost. It doesn't matter, when you let your phone access the Internet. If there should be malware installed on your phone, it may wait for those moments and transmit your private keys to some attacker!

[gtraah]

I'd probably go that route, but I'll use my old Samsung, reset it to factory, or flash a new bare OS into it, root it, then titanium all the apps out of it. (Use the root to DELETE all the apps, even the google apps). Just leave enough so it can connect via wifi.

My whole plan is not to root it, because when you root it, things can get written in the phone backend system and harder to figure out also. If you leave it un-rooted it would be harder to trojan it,

[Kipsy89]

I'd probably go that route, but I'll use my old Samsung, reset it to factory, or flash a new bare OS into it, root it, then titanium all the apps out of it. (Use the root to DELETE all the apps, even the google apps). Just leave enough so it can connect via wifi.

My whole plan is not to root it, because when you root it, things can get written in the phone backend system and harder to figure out also. If you leave it un-rooted it would be harder to trojan it,

Naaahh, you really need to keep it off WiFi forever! Only sign your TXs offline, man. If this thing can connect to the internet ever again, you may be screwed! But yeah, rooting it may open it up for even more malware.

[gtraah]

If you're disabling Airplane Mode at any time, your funds may be lost. It doesn't matter, when you let your phone access the Internet. If there should be malware installed on your phone, it may wait for those moments and transmit your private keys to some attacker!

I know this, my whole plan is to not have it in a position for a trojan to be placed on it. Buy only using it for one thing and only very rareley, and not being accessible to anyone but me.

its only going to be online for a few seconds, just to broadcast the transaction, the rest of the time it locked in a safe in airplane mode - No sim

I know its not FULL proof but its pretty good.

[TheButterZone]

To be foolproof, I think you need two devices and some apps that may or may not exist/be easy to use yet.

One that always remains in airplane mode (if not has the wifi disabled by destroying the wifi transciever): this has your private keys and allows you to sign TXs, then convert the raw TX to a QR code.
Another that's not in airplane mode that can scan the raw TX QR code and broadcast it.

QR codes can handle it, and if your device's camera is good enough, it'll decode it instantly like mine just did for this example: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=qr+code+01000000010c432f4fb3e871a8bda638350b3d5c698cf431db8d6031b53e3fb5159e59d4a9000000006b48304502201123d735229382f75496e84ae5831871796ef78726805adc2c6edd36d23e7210022100faceab822a4943309c4b6b61240ae3a9e18ed90a75117c5dc4bfd8f7e17a21d301210367ce0a1c3b3e84cece6dad1a181d989d8e490b84f5431a1f778a88b284c935e6ffffffff0100f2052a010000001976a9143744841e13b90b4aca16fe793a7f88da3a23cc7188ac00000000+7822dda72d9bf421d2f3eedc678bf58c6e4c10cdd047b9e137559ad384933ef5

[Dabs]

Even with a phone that is used as a phone, if you are careful, even if it is rooted (all my phones have been rooted, by me), as long as you are careful and pay attention, you can avoid being a target.

"These are not the droids you're looking for."

So, with a phone that is in Airplane mode, and maybe I should even say it is Turned Off, and the battery physically disconnected, well, no one is stealing any private keys from that one pretty much.

[seriouscoin]

I'd probably go that route, but I'll use my old Samsung, reset it to factory, or flash a new bare OS into it, root it, then titanium all the apps out of it. (Use the root to DELETE all the apps, even the google apps). Just leave enough so it can connect via wifi.

LOL wtf? and you call that cold storage?

[cryptworld]

I would have bought something more trustable
a chinese phone...
never knows what can happen

[Omikifuse]

I would reinstall the Android of your phone before everything.

You never know what kind of plague may come with the not-branded phones.

Also backup all stuffs you can't afford to lose because cheap phones may break and ruin your life.

[gtraah]

I would reinstall the Android of your phone before everything.

You never know what kind of plague may come with the not-branded phones.

Also backup all stuffs you can't afford to lose because cheap phones may break and ruin your life.

Yeh, as I said It will not be a device that will store keys.. Keys will be on Paper wallets And Multiple SD card backups In Write-Protection mode (Acts like CD - read only).

This is a Netherlands company, but obviously all labor and cheap parts come out of china or around there, I don't care if the phone breaks its only the app that goings to be on there, I am pretty sure that there is not going to be some sophisticated Camera & Screenshot capture trojan... it would be pretty unusual  for someone to it on a $40 phone that will most likely be bought by people who don't have much money or some old mother/father or grandparents.

But yeh Sorry I meant It will be completely off in the safe and when I scan the bip38 qr code and enter my pass , it will be in airplane mode. Only turning on the wifi for that few seconds to broadcast the transaction, then deleting the cold storage from the phone.

Mycellium is PERFECT for this type of thing.