Use containers to segregate any apps, e.g. web browser, maps, Signal/Telegram all in a separate container from each other.
Would this allow for less privacy-invasion from Google etc.?
It's better to use something like i.MX 8M Quad - you may want to take a look at the Librem 5; or if you want something lower-end than that then there's also the PinePhone which is based on A64.
With that said, I worry an rk3399 would run hot in a phone. Hopefully the thermals on the rk3588 are better. But rockchip is dedicating die space to a poorly supported "neural processing unit" now, so we will have to see.
Which ones? Librem 5 runs an FSF-endorsed OS and is recommended by the FSF: https://www.fsf.org/givingguide/v11/.
Purism solved the problem with the RAM here: https://puri.sm/posts/librem5-solving-the-first-fsf-ryf-hurd....
Purism has been tight-lipped about getting ryf certification. These maneuvers around memory and hdmi look more like cheating to me. According to the links I posted, i.MX8 cannot be deblobbed. I stand by what I say: I don't think the librem-5 will ever get ryf-certified.
Just below the picture of the phone, first sentence: While we're still waiting to get our hands on one, this device looks promising: https://www.fsf.org/givingguide/v11.
> These maneuvers around memory and hdmi look more like cheating to me.
Why does it matter to you that a secondary CPU which has no access to anything runs proprietary blobs to train the RAM? Do you also care about proprietary firmware of SSDs (and avoid them)?
> Just below the picture of the phone, first sentence: While we're still waiting to get our hands on one, this device looks promising: https://www.fsf.org/givingguide/v11.
I'd still argue that it is a bit different from "FSF did not certify the phone, because they did not receive the units yet".
> > These maneuvers around memory and hdmi look more like cheating to me.
> Why does it matter to you that a secondary CPU which has no access to anything runs proprietary blobs to train the RAM? Do you also care about proprietary firmware of SSDs (and avoid them)?
To makes things clear: I'm not opposed to the "secondary processor exception". In this case specifically, the firmware was artificially stored on a ROM chip, and copied from there to "a secondary processor" by the main processor to unlock a feature (train the RAM) to allow the main processor to work properly. This is a bit too much for me. Also, I'm not sure the HDMI initialization runs on a secondary processor.
Also, librem-5 getting ryf-certified would make me very very happy. I really would love to see this happen.
A better approach would be to require public documentation of which components are proprietary (for all processor ISAs, processors, other hardware, all firmware and all software) and what roles they play.
Documentation would be great of course anyway.
Android itself containerizes/isolates apps, with better & better security features in modern versions. LineageOS also adds their own layer of security (ex-PrivacyGuard) on top.
Granted, not all phones are created equal, meaning some of them will have restrictive bootloaders/need more proprietary drivers. It's possible some of them have spyware built in their bootloader/recovery/hardware, although I haven't heard of it. And of course there's 0 fully open-source android hardware phones.
Which, speaking of... this would be excellent on pinephone, which runs linux. Would allow running android apps on it, which is very very useful of course. I might finally bite the bullet and buy it...
They are not on par in terms of performance.