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Comment by pikachu_is_cool | Hacker News Reader

I think Blackphone is taking a fundamentally wrong approach to security. If it is a #1 concern, then it shouldn't be a phone at all. It should be more of an iPod Touch type device. It's pretty disingenuous to promise security when you don't even know how the baseband works.

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I've actually been wondering, why isn't there a iPod touch style Android device? I'd much rather have something like that and have a standalone wireless hotspot for the rare case I'm off wifi.

I've been wondering that myself. Maybe there just isn't a big enough market for it? Or maybe the licensing for it doesn't allow for non-tablets and non-phones.

My first android device was one of these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Archos-32-3-2-Inch-Internet-Tablet-w... must have been 6ish years ago, and came with only wifi.

Hm, I guess I kind of understand now. Maybe they got discontinued because Android was terrible back then? Maybe they don't realize the market changed.

Maybe they found there wasn't a mass market for that sized tablet because virtually everyone in the market for a portable computing device in that form factor was filling the need with a smartphone, so there was a lot more money to be made make phones or tablets bigger than phone size?

I don't buy that reason. Apple is still selling the iPod Touch, after all.

Perhaps, but how much of that use is driven by use as an iPod (in the original sense -- a music player for iTunes content) to people already invested in the Apple ecosystem? I'd guess its not insignificant (most of the people I encounter who still use iPod touches use them primarily in that role, specifically so that they have something that can be used that way, often plugged into a sound system) while still having their phone available as a phone. But then, most of them are also ballroom dance instructors...)

Android/Google can do these things as well, can't it?

> Android/Google can do these things as well, can't it?

Have legacy iTunes users? No, not really.

No, Google Play.

> I've actually been wondering, why isn't there a iPod touch style Android device?

You mean a WiFi-only tablet with a ~4" screen size? There have been a number of them over the years, but I don't think demand has been there to keep many people making them.

Of course, go up a little bit in size and there are plenty.

I have a Samsung Galaxy 3.6", which is an iPod touch style android device. Samsung made several different sizes, but I believe they have all been discontinued.

Why? You can just buy an unlocked phone and not put a SIM card in, right? A Moto E is $40 on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XQVDW6Y

That phone is not unlocked. It says it works exclusively with US Celluar.

The important part is no-contract, not unlocked. If you're not getting service for it the carrier doesn't matter.

Because having a cellular baseband in the phone forces the OEM to make sacrifices with form factor and for internal components. Look at how nice and thin the iPod Touch 4 is compared to the iPhone 4.

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