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Comment by aluhut | Hacker News Reader

All those problems and I sit here with my Moto and the last patch from February...

Good my guarantee runs out soon so I can switch to something I can patch myself.

I'm in a similar situation, I got a One Plus Onyx since I heard so much about how One Plus supports and updates their products and I haven't had an update in over a year.

It's probably time to install LineageOS...

On the other hand OP3 and OP3T have pretty impressive (for me) track record and are now on 8.0 with September security (I think). And out of the box 3T had 6.X something. OP is not a perfect company, not even close, but ok I suppose overall.

Don't they also have all kinds of backdoors setup on those phones?

Yes and no.

a) they were collecting excessive telemetry for a long time, after this was exposed they claimed it was config error or something and patched it and additionally allow to disable telemetry in settings fully or partially I think. Though no malicious intent was ever proved it was not a good thing.

b) people found app with soft root like capabilities. Eventually it was discovered that it was a debug Qualcomm app left intentionally (and present in phones of other brands) and soft root possible only if attacked has physical access phone must have ADB installed (never used it so I have no additional details).

I think there was no other incidents in 2017. Overall it was not good but compared to what can be extracted from Google (and that stuff can't be disabled and present in every Android phone) or other apps that many users install (FB, messengers etc.) it is just drop in the ocean. Not a secure phone but neither are any other mass market phones including Apple (who had degraded their security to a simple pincode - https://blog.elcomsoft.com/2017/11/ios-11-horror-story-the-r... ).

Just one, and it takes physical access with USB debugging enabled. Still would never use their OxygenOS over LineageOS.

There was a report they log when you open apps, close apps, change state, etc. But as far as I know no backdoors have been found that are specific to OnePlus (and not bugs in Android)

Consider getting a Pixel. Guaranteed timely security updates for 3 years, and you can flash your own images if you'd like.

€ 799.00, more than a month salary for many people that I know.

Multiple month salaries in many 2nd and 3rd tier countries around the world.

Security as a privilege only for the rich people is not a solution.

You're right. The Nexus phones that Google used to sell were relatively affordable and secure (like the Nexus 5X). Too bad that's no longer an option.

>and you can flash your own images if you'd like

Just an FYI for anyone interested in getting it. You can do this only if you buy directly from Google, not from Verizon. Only Google's version has an unlockable bootloader. Google sold out pretty hard to Verizon in order to get some sales. One of the nice things about the Nexus line (at least all the later ones) was that you get a good no-bullshit phone no matter where you buy it from. Now, with Pixel, you get the shitty one if you buy from Verizon. The major downside to this is the used market. No way to reliably buy a good phone on ebay etc. The model numbers are the same. Some respite is swappa, which lists them accurately.

> The major downside to this is the used market.

Yeah Google I believe unintentionally really messed up the used market for people that want to flash. You can tell the difference by installing an app or going under developer options from what I have gathered https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/163706#181321

I ended up buying used HP Elite x3 (Win10 Mobile) because of that. Even though MS dropped feature updates for Win10 Mobile, they promised security updates until 2020 if I'm not mistaken.

HP will update their phones into 2019. But yeah, the direct-from-Microsoft security updates basically make an Elite x3 a no-brainer for someone who wants a secure phone at this point. Apps are limited, but apps are usually a risk anyways, the ones you actually need are all there.

I'm slightly bummed by the lack of YouTube (hello again, Google), and Lyft.

FWIW, I consider being shoved away from Google products a bonus of the Windows Mobile platform at this juncture. ;) It encouraged me to finish transitioning away from their services.

YouTube is "good enough" in the browser, but I prefer to not watch videos on a phone anyways, and usually save them for later.

And after 3 years?

(I'm using a Nexus 4)

My X 2015 had significant performance issues and Bluetooth would randomly stop working. They didn't upgrade from Marshmallow 6.0.0 to Nougat (7.0.0, not even 7.1) until last month.

I bought an iPhone X. I love Android but most manufacturers don't seem to care about the product after you've purchased it.

You did not specify the exact model. Have you checked whether there is a LineageOs Rom for your device?

https://download.lineageos.org/

There is. When I wrote the post above I thought I might wait until the guarantee did run out but I'm preparing the switch right now :)

Why not getting an iPhone and let Apple patch it for you? It's just a phone, not your child, you don't have to take care of it...

I don't like the closed culture and the prices they put up for their hardware are far beyond justified in my opinion.

Also, didn't they also had trouble recently?

> I sit here with my Moto and the last patch from February...

> I don't like the closed culture

What good is an "open" culture if you can't patch things yourself anyway?

You should have read on ;)

I'll put LineageOS on it as soon as the guarantee runs out.

Edit: I'm not sure myself why @guarantee. Maybe something else breaks...but actually it's just a habit I guess.

(sorry for the answer here but I can't answer directly to your comment. Too deep down...)

Why do wait so long?

(Serious question. What use is the guarantee if your device is hacked? Will they pay indemnity if that happens during guarantee?)

Google Pixel is (mostly) open, receives timely updates, and you can also flash images yourself if you'd like. You don't have to get an iPhone.

From the top of my head:

- Calculator bullshit.

- Wifi not really disabled.

- UX hell in iphone X.

Only from the last 2-3 months.

Calculator bullshit is due to the animation of the button, and it will only show if you're really fast trying to calculate things. There are better third party calculator apps that don't have that problem and contain more features.

The wifi part, I did notice it. But, I think it's by design. When you're connected to wifi, click the wifi button on control center just disconnects your current wifi session. I've actually kinda grown to use that feature. I don't like hooking to xfinity hotspots much, so I click that away. When I get back home, phone automatically hooks back up to my wifi.

UX hell in iphone X... don't get iphone X. Or any OLED screens with burn-in issues.

If you go into settings and turn Wifi off it is completely off. Turning it off from control centre is a useful alternative where it disconnects, but leaves it available for geolocation and airdrop - it's really rather useful.

This sounds terrible. Why not having it op-in? I'd expect that I'll need to go to settings and add it to the functionality of the control center button.

I suspect because Apple found out that people were primarily using the Control Centre switch for 'This WiFi network sucks get me off it' reasons, rather than 'Disable all Wifi circuitry reasons', so optimised functionality for the use that users were using it for.

Some Moto's allow you to unlock the bootloader through their official page.

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