Found a new #openSource phone project running pure #Linux
https://necunos.com/mobile/
@Wolf480pl mee too though. Also I hope it will be cheaper than librem 5, because erm... It is really too expencive for a phone, which usability will be limited for some time
@alexcleac
>manufactured in Finland
>top quality components
>primary audience: businesses with high security requirements
I doubt it'll be cheaper than librem 5, but that'd be a nice surprise.
@Wolf480pl probably you are right 🙁 It is just everybody think that business segment is the only great for such a project. I think it is a better way to do such things on mid-range devices. Maybe I am wrong, but it just feels more right...
@alexcleac
I think there are a few problems here:
- if you manufacture in a cheap-labor place like China, there's increased risk that someone will implant a hardware backdoor
- a niche product means low scale, so economies of scale work against you, increasing the costs
- if you want FOSS-friendly chips, you have to pick i.MX and the like. Not sure how the price of i.MX6 compares to Tegras and Snapdragons, but I'm pretty sure it's not as cheap as an Allwinner.
@alexcleac
because of these reasons, FOSS-friendly owner-controllable mobile devices will be more expensive than mainstream phones.
OTOH, catering to businesses may increase scale, compared to only targeting FOSS enthusiasts... so that has a potential to increase the scale, lower the costs, and provide a more stable stream of income for the manufacturer.
So dunno... maybe it will be cheaper than Librem 5...
And I think it has a better chance of surviving than Librem.
@Wolf480pl why does it have better change of surviving? Just being curious
@alexcleac well, nevermind, Librem 5 is also advertised as something a business may need.
And both have a metal case.
So same chance of survival, for both definitions of survuval.
@quad @alexcleac
How about:
you can lock it down, but you can't prevent factory reset, and factory reset deletes all keys, so the user loses access to all company data, company servers, etc. after factory reset?
@quad @alexcleac and you could do this, and it can only be disabled with factory reset...
I don't see a problem here?
@quad @Wolf480pl in my opinion this is dumm thing. If your company does not respect and trust you that much, why should you work for that company?
@quad @alexcleac
And that's fine.
I'd carry the company-issued company-owned company-controlled device at work. And my-owned my-controlled device outside of work.
@quad @alexcleac
Is it about user freedom? Or owner freedom?
@quad @alexcleac
The problem with mainstream smartphones is that you don't own them. Google owns them.
I think this is as much a problem for a infosec-requiring company, as it is for J. Random Hacker
@quad @alexcleac
I never meant an average company.
I meant companies which require extraordinary infosec measures. Not necessarily infosec copanies (as in: providing infosec services to others), but those which are a high-value target for cyberattacks.
@quad @alexcleac
If your job involved dealing with top-secret material, or developing software that will be sent as auto-updates to all powerplants in the whole country, I'd say it makes a lot of sense not to want any unverified devices anywhere near company's computers.
And I don't see how owner-controllable hardware would be incompatible with that threat model, considering that the company is the owner.
@quad @alexcleac
sec, lemme get some deblurrer...
@alexcleac Privacy is good. Are they are making a mystery of what OS they'll be using?
@manuelcaeiro they gonna use GNU/Linux with mobile version of plasma
@alexcleac is it really a phone if it doesn't have a cellular modem? To me, it sounds more like a very tiny tablet.
@zatnosk it seems that there is cellular connectivity, with LTE possibility
@alexcleac not in their "first evolution model" whatever that means. And while they say they're working on it, just that they even consider a phone without cellular as first class citizen, makes me wonder what the texting and calling experience will be like - that is still the most important function in a phone for me.
https://necunos.com/blog/phone-connectivity-and-its-backdoors/
@alexcleac so Purism isn't the only one? Cool!
Looks like they're very security-focused, to the point that their phone's USB socket is power-only. Cool!
I wonder what their price tag is gonna be though...