It’s insane to me that there are basically no good options for a secure and private phone from a major manufacturer. All commercial options have some caveats, even Apple. It seems like Google Pixel + Graphene is the only option but you have to do that yourself and it still ONLY supports Google Pixel (for technical reasons, I understand). Literally any laptop can be made secure and private by installing Linux, but with phones your options are severely limited by hardware
It runs iode OS. A forked project of lineage.
It’s also capable of running Ubuntu touch. It’s a great project, just has some deal breakers for me. If I ever de-google I’d rather use an existing device.
Ah. Yes. All very good points. My current phone is slightly better than its specs, too, but I also paid more for my phone that Brax’s current asking price. Personally, those specs are a sweet spot for a replacement phone at a cheap (ish) phone, when you consider its privacy preserving implications and the fact that other phone with a similar goal go for a much, much higher asking price.
I’m with you, though. I’m not going to change out my current phone with this one, but I’m also not going to dismiss it as a viable option for the masses.
It’s insane to me that there are basically no good options for a secure and private phone from a major manufacturer. All commercial options have some caveats, even Apple. It seems like Google Pixel + Graphene is the only option but you have to do that yourself and it still ONLY supports Google Pixel (for technical reasons, I understand). Literally any laptop can be made secure and private by installing Linux, but with phones your options are severely limited by hardware
We do have this. Not perfect but a good effort by them. https://www.braxtech.net/
Pre-order. So it’s not on the market yet.
Correct. They are shipping it in batches. The first one already shipped I think.
What OS?
It runs iode OS. A forked project of lineage. It’s also capable of running Ubuntu touch. It’s a great project, just has some deal breakers for me. If I ever de-google I’d rather use an existing device.
What are your deal breakers?
At least for me.
1612 x 720P screen, not terrible but not great. Would be a downgraded from current device
5000Mah battery, nice; 10W charging, err; 2.5 - 3 hour charge time, yikes.
Mediatek 6300 octa core processor, not actually terrible, but performs less than my current device.
8GB RAM, again not horrible, same as my current but it could be a tad higher. Can’t complain too much about this one though.
Overall not a bad device. For someone who doesn’t use their phone heavily and like the idea of a dedicated privacy friendly phone, it may do well.
Also for its price point. It is only fair that it wouldn’t be the top performing device of course.
Ah. Yes. All very good points. My current phone is slightly better than its specs, too, but I also paid more for my phone that Brax’s current asking price. Personally, those specs are a sweet spot for a replacement phone at a cheap (ish) phone, when you consider its privacy preserving implications and the fact that other phone with a similar goal go for a much, much higher asking price.
I’m with you, though. I’m not going to change out my current phone with this one, but I’m also not going to dismiss it as a viable option for the masses.