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Phones can only last so long and my admittedly ancient BlackBerry Curve took one-too-many tumbles and now needs to be replaced. Thanks to recent changes in the cell-phone market, I'm looking to purchase a phone, outright, and get a month-to-month plan for it.
I am very privacy conscious and have, so far, avoided Apple (walled garden - blegh) or Android (tell Google everything). I suspect there are fellow Soylentils who hold a similar perspective. (My current cell provider is US Cellular. I'm open to change, but would like to avoid AT&T and Verizon --- have heard too many horror stories.)
Background: I've been programming computers since the 1970s. I've tried using Apple products, but it seems they are user-friendly to the extent that you want to do what they have already decided is okay. They seem to expose a bare minimum of controls to allow customization. That would frustrate me to no end.
So, that leaves me with Android as the other major alternative. I am leery about giving any more info to Google than necessary -- given a choice, I regularly choose an alternative over a Google product (i.e. DuckDuckGo for search, openstreetmap, etc.)
My thoughts, at the moment, are to get a phone and load cyanogenmod on it. I've read good things about the privacy capabilities it provides; especially fine-grained allow/deny access permissions. Added bonus is ability to apply updates more frequently than a telco-branded phone would provide. I have no experience with rooting/flashing a phone, so I need this process to be as idiot-proof as possible. Also, I'm leery of getting a phone only to see support for it dropped shortly thereafter.
[Continues...]
Must-have: SOLID cellular reception (my apartment seems to have plaster walls - the BB still got great reception), removable battery, removable storage (micro-SD card), WiFi, LTE (USA), good camera, and fine-grained permissions control.
Nice-to-have: hardware keyboard, tethering (i.e. use my phone to get an internet connection that I'd share with my laptop), FM Radio.
REALLY nice to have: Ability to bring up a terminal window and have full CLI ability (e.g. bash) where I could edit/run custom scripts/programs.
Size/specs: I do not want or need a phablet or the latest/greatest processors. I'm reminded of the adage to buy last-year's top-of-the-line model. For some degree of future-proofing, would like to be able to view 1080p content on it.
Other: What did I forget? What things do you wish you knew that you only found out after you got your phone?
My main system runs Win 7 Pro but I could also run a live CD with some Linux distro.
What have your experiences been? Both positive and negative? Please save me from making a mistake that you have already learned from!
I'm looking to replace my phone within the next day or so. I've been impressed with the shared knowledge of this community -- please help!
(Score: 5, Funny) by dyingtolive on Wednesday April 20 2016, @08:52PM
I think I'd rather the government see me listening to some music on my way home from work than deal with the fact that cell tower triangulation reports that I seem to have someone resembling a minor at my house every two months, only to be replaced by another as their old phone mysteriously winds up in the hands of a homeless man.
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
(Score: 4, Funny) by edIII on Wednesday April 20 2016, @09:50PM
I....
That had not occurred to me. Obviously no plan is perfect at first...
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Wednesday April 20 2016, @11:12PM
Well, I mean, the first couple might not even throw a flag. For all I know, the 50th one wouldn't throw a red flag. And for all I know, you can't triangulate position off towers (god forbid GPS doesn't disable when you tell it to like a lot of people suspect) precisely enough for it to be tracked down to you. The funny thing about paranoia though is that you don't know which of those assumptions are safe to rely on. :)
Semi-on-topic: I wonder if there's been any reports of anyone with a used phone getting investigated for things the former owner did.
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!