Might be time for new phone

[Red Squirrel]

Think my Nexus 4 just died. Opened up Pokemon Go, set it on table (takes about 10 minutes or so to get GPS signal) and then got distracted and came back to it and nothing, just black, no response.

Been kind of toying with idea of a new phone anyway.... I like the idea of buying one out right and not having it basically owned by the carrier or be tied in a contract.

I also want to re-evaluate my personal security, so I'm looking for the best option as far as privacy goes. What is a good option now days as far as that goes, without getting a dumbphone? I know there's the Blackphone, anything else along those lines, perhaps cheaper? I got a glimpse on the news of a new Blackberry that will be coming out that will supposedly be privacy centric. Is Blackberry a good choice in general for better privacy? I know no matter what, the texts, voice etc can be snooped on, but I'm talking more about software side of things, ex: backdoors that enable the mic, camera, steal your files, take screencaps, look at your contacts etc. That's what I'm trying to avoid. Any options worth looking into?

I did not even troubleshoot my phone yet so I may get it going, but I've been kind of thinking of a new phone anyway so maybe it's a sign.

Edit: Got back in my phone, so at least it's not dead. But still curious to see what options I have if I want to upgrade to something more secure than a stock android phone.

 

[WelshBloke]

I'm not sure that an Android based blackberry is any more secure than any other android phone TBH.

And the biggest data leaks are the apps you install on the thing.

In general the more secure your phone is the less you are going to do with it.

 

[Red Squirrel]

My phone died a few times again, I think it really is a sign. Basically it locks up, and I have to do the thing where I hold the volume and home button and plug it in to activate a recovery mode.

My cheapest option is a contract phone, and just picking one my carrier has that I feel I'll like, is there any disadvantage to those, vs one that you buy outright like I did with this one? (Nexus 4). On the other hand, am I losing out by NOT going through my carrier because I'm technically paying for it anyway? Or do you end up paying more per month when you get a "free" phone?

What options are out there that you can just buy outright and stick a sim card in? While I'm leaning towards security centric phones, I don't think there are many if any of those so pretty much have to go with whatever is out there. I may experiment with a custom rom which is probably my best bet for better safety - ex: something that does not tie to the cloud, google account etc.

 

[Crono]

I'd firstly look at the Blackberry DTEK50 because it's good value for decent specs (essentially an Alcatel Idol 4) with Blackberry's commitment to updates.

Otherwise, if you want to go Google-less route, get a 6P and flash a security-focused ROM like CopperheadOS, or another slim ROM with no GApps. With FOSS apps off F-Droid (and you can use APKMirror, APK Downloader/APKPure to get apps that are on the Play Store without the app, if you don't mind closed-source apps) and Xposed modules or root-required apps like XPrivacy, ProtectMyPrivacy, AFWall+, and other apps, you have more options to control your privacy and security better. Sidenote: there are also a bunch of Pokemon GPS spoofing apps and other "cheats" on Xposed as of late, but you can ignore those.

Obviously having an unlocked bootloader and/or rooting can make you less secure, but I think it's a better route than blindly allowing apps all sorts of access to your phone, especially when there's little transparency or insight into how those companies (and oftentimes just a lone developer) protect their (your) data. Google at least gave/restored more control with app permission with Marshmallow, but it's still not as granular or powerful as one would like.

 

[magomago]

make it through till nexus 2016 around oct/nov-ish...if you feel underwhelmed by the official announcement, then many of the other phones that came out between april through july will be much cheaper by then.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Good to know, I can probably manage to wait assuming my phone does not flat out die.

As for unlocked making it less secure, in what ways? Just curious whether or not it's stuff I have to worry about or if it just means I have to watch more what I install - that's the other thing I'd have to learn how to install apps manually and find a safe source etc but I imagine it's not that hard. Also is there a way to encrypt the whole phone, like iphones do? The fact that the FBI had so much trouble getting into that iphone kinda intrigues me, and I'd love that level of security on a non Apple phone.

That Blackberry is also intriguing. I think that may be the one I saw on a news article that talked about it being built around security. If I can't wait I may look into that one. Can you do custom roms on Blackberries as well? I may very well look into that regardless if it means better privacy and security.

Edit: The more I read on that BB, I am leaning towards that me thinks, no custom rom even needed it sounds like their main focus is security from the get go, on the software side too.

 

[Crono]

Good to know, I can probably manage to wait assuming my phone does not flat out die.

As for unlocked making it less secure, in what ways? Just curious whether or not it's stuff I have to worry about or if it just means I have to watch more what I install - that's the other thing I'd have to learn how to install apps manually and find a safe source etc but I imagine it's not that hard. Also is there a way to encrypt the whole phone, like iphones do? The fact that the FBI had so much trouble getting into that iphone kinda intrigues me, and I'd love that level of security on a non Apple phone.

That Blackberry is also intriguing. I think that may be the one I saw on a news article that talked about it being built around security. If I can't wait I may look into that one. Can you do custom roms on Blackberries as well? I may very well look into that regardless if it means better privacy and security.

Edit: The more I read on that BB, I am leaning towards that me thinks, no custom rom even needed it sounds like their main focus is security from the get go, on the software side too.

Unlocked bootloader makes a phone more vulnerable to malware apps (if you allow app installation from unknown sources in settings) modifying the firmware, or from physical access attacks (someone in possession of the phone, or via "juice jacking"). There are also some ways encryption and other security measures can be bypassed when the bootloader is unlocked. I'm not an expert, though, you'd have to do some research to figure out how vulnerable it actually makes you, especially if you are careful otherwise about what you install and how you use your phone.

And yes, Android phones can be encrypted, though the push for default full-disk encryption only started with Marshmallow (poor implementation on the Nexus 5X, IIRC, was part of the reason it had issues with lag before updates). Prior to that it was an option that had to be enabled, and it could affect negatively affect performance (especially on slower devices).

Blackberry so far does look good in how they are handling updates. I'd also consider the HTC 10, but in my case I'm a fan of HTC phones and generally there's good community ROM development for their phones.

Samsung's KNOX also is supposed to provide good security, but I'm not a fan of TouchWiz, nor do I consider Samsung to offer good value or bang-for-the-buck. They also have a mixed history in regards to updates. That said, I wouldn't mind owning a coral blue Note 7 if I got it for free.