• Matt@lemmy.ml
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    8 hours ago

    Why won’t they just start selling it on local e-shops like MediaMarkt in DACH or Alza in the Slovak and Czech republic?

    It’d attract them more customers that (if they’ll like the phone) they can sell future phones/products to.

    If they want to have reach, they have to be aggressive both with pricing and with availability. I don’t care if it is available at a carrier (they are prohibited to carrier lock devices in the EU anyway) or on Amazon, it has to be everywhere to let the public know that they exist.

    And then the snowball effect starts to show as more outlets and influencers start to say positive things about the phone.

    Simply put, every privacy/Linux phone company sacrifices user’s shopping comfort with greediness.

  • monovergent@lemmy.ml
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    23 hours ago

    Niche product, niche price, nice intentions, sure. But if they were going to go for a niche market, they really should have leaned into it.

    Things like a headphone jack, removable battery, and not-gigantic display aren’t unrealistic beauty standards. They were perfected over a decade ago and still relevant among sub-300 phones from small-time manufacturers.

    Also, the modem is the big unauditable black-box component that should have been the subject of the hardware kill switch.

    • lnxtx (xe/xem/xyr)@sopuli.xyz
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      1 day ago

      They say:

      – A hardware kill switch; disconnected completely the microphone and cameras at the circuit level, leaving nothing open for intrusion.
      – A software-based switch, to easily turn off all your radio signals, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFC.

      • Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        1 day ago

        I feel like it should be reversed? Id be less concerned about camera/microphone if i knew with 100% certainty no data was leaking from the phone (hardware switch for antennae).

        • Macchi_the_Slime@piefed.blahaj.zone
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          1 day ago

          It seems like it’d be relatively simple for a bad actor to record something and just… wait until you had a data connection though wouldn’t it? Seems like it’d be more secure to just keep there from being any data to send rather than relying on a bad actor not being able to send it. Am I missing something here?

          • dubyakay@lemmy.ca
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            20 hours ago

            I’d want a hw kill switch for the modem/receivers so that I can take it with me to protests.

            • codenul@lemmy.ml
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              11 hours ago

              The pinephone has this, but unfortunately the phone itself is more of a tinker toy than a daily driver

              • eldavi@lemmy.ml
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                3 hours ago

                what prevents it from being a daily driver; i use the browser instead of apps for everything except google maps.

            • Macchi_the_Slime@piefed.blahaj.zone
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              20 hours ago

              That is a point, could someone even do that on something classed as a phone though? Don’t most places have some kind of law about these devices always being able to reach emergency services like 911?

              • Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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                17 hours ago

                It’s mandated that the service be available without charge (no SIM needed), but I don’t think there’s any regulations on the user disabling cell access themselves.

                • Macchi_the_Slime@piefed.blahaj.zone
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                  10 hours ago

                  Maybe, wouldn’t something like a Faraday bag work though? Then you don’t even run the risk of someone trying to twist the meaning of whatever regulation might exist to try to charge you with something.