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Comment by jqpabc123 | Hacker News Reader

No need to pay double or triple for hardware. There are lots of privacy focused alternatives that are Android based. Personally, I like e/OS:

https://e.foundation/

You can buy a ready to use phone on their web site or you can install the OS on a compatible phone of your own. I have installed this on about 10 phones (all Motorola) for friends and family. Here is an example of one that I just put together as a Christmas present.

https://www.amazon.com/Motorola-T-Mobile-Unlocked-XT2113-2-S...

As a de-Googled phone, the Google Play store doesn't work but that's no big loss because I can get any software I need from F-Droid and Aurora Store.

https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.aurora.store/

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> the Google Play store doesn't work but that's no big loss

It's the loss of an entire ecosystem worth of apps.

If you want an inexpensive phone that will get five or six years of first party support with security updates after that, go with an iPhone SE.

The original $399 version got six years of OS updates and just got another security update last month. That's $67 per year that got both an OS update and security update.

It's the loss of an entire ecosystem worth of apps.

No, it's not. With very few exceptions, the Aurora store pulls apps from Google Play. About the only thing I have seen missing from Aurora store is a few super strict banking apps but you can usually just use their web site.

No paid apps though, right? That would be somewhat painful for me.

You can do paid apps. You just have to login to Aurora using a Google account instead of anonymously.

This isn't so bad if you use a privacy focused ROM and create a special, single purpose Google login that is only used for app purchases. I also suggest keeping a Google gift card for the occasional purchase.

Privacy invasion doesn't really kick in until you start re-using your Google login and your phone/apps are reporting back to Google on a regular basis with your location, device IMEI, advertising ID, hardware fingerprint, email address, browsing/search history, banking/purchase details (aka Google Pay), etc..

Ah, with paid apps I also mean in-app purchases. I guess it might be possible by running sandboxed Play Services on GrapheneOS?

>It's the loss of an entire ecosystem worth of apps.

He literally just said that he used the Aurora store as an alternative. If you don't know what that is, it is basically an anonymous version of the Play Store. Highly recommended

Can you buy apps on the Aurora store?

Yes, see my post above.

Can any of these privacy-oriented forks support a device from within the last two years with a headphone jack?

I have the fairphone 4 with divestOS:

https://shop.fairphone.com/

https://divestos.org/pages/devices#device-fp4

Super happy with it, but yeah no headphone jack, but i have it with the usb-c convertor.

I'm not happy with that compromise. I don't want to choose between charging and audio. And the dongles that can do both are actually really bulky. And Bluetooth headphones are a scam: too small to be repaired, must worry about batteries, Bluetooth likes to be flaky in general, almost all buds have terrible frequency response curves so the audio quality is not very good.

Take a look at my Amazon link above. This is a 5G "daily driver" from 2021 with a headphone jack, 6/128 GB and a big 5000mAH battery.

It's everything that the average Joe really needs for only $99 refurbed. As I said above, I just installed e/OS on one as a Christmas present. It runs very smooth and fluid, better than stock because the background Google spyware crap is gone.

where did this come from all of a sudden? I thought I knew all the Android alternatives. why does this super polished website for this out of nowhere suddenly maintained technology give me strong [intelligence agency of your choice] vibes?

This has been out there for years --- since 2018.

And check your vibe meter, it is acting up. The main person behind this was the creator of Mandrake Linux.

https://itsfoss.com/e-os-review/

you're right ... I must have confused something. will check it out

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