KNOX used to be something valuable when android’s own security was worse. A long time ago already Samsung shared all the important parts with Google (Samsung and Google to Bring Enterprise Enhancements to Android – Samsung Global Newsroom). These days KNOX is nothing but a brand name all security features are in AOSP. @anon39279085 is referring to KNOX Workplace is indeed an MDM for android but I doubt that is what ealier posters referred to. Seems samsung is now using KNOX brand for that.
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>2014
You reminded me of the era of my last Samsung Phone - the Galaxy Note 4. Amazing phone at the time and I loved playing chess with the pen and using it on Android 4.4.4. I still recall the moment I upgraded to Android 5 and being confused about witnessing Facebook and Google Chrome install themselves on my device and me not being able to uninstall them… Rooted my phone to torch them and got an iPhone 7+ in 2016…
I am not reffering to KNOX Workplace, You people have never seen a samsung device when it boots it says “Protected by Knox”? the links refer to as such
Keep in mind I never said whenever knox is better than apple or pixel, they still belong to the bottom barrell but it is there on the low bar side
yes and no, I would check the links.
It still stands that Apple goes above with GrapheneOS being in the top 1 in security. I wouldnt recommend a samsung for that
that one is the brand name indeed that is basically not a thing anymore as all those features are just AOSP/ Google Play (Protection).
actually some mentioned such as say for example the auto blocker are samsung’s thing, the only thing im aware of google and AOSP is the verified boot and play protect that’s all I know these are standard google/aosp things. Not sure im missing things from AOSP/Google. There’s also ARM TrustZone involved so part of hardware is involved too. e-Fuse also seems to be a samsung thing and not something normally found in AOSP/Google. But then again im open to learning what other AOSP parts are that normally incorporated because even searching seems a bit confusing
for the last time it is still not recommended to get a samsung if you value security if let alone privacy
I gave the iPhones an edge over stock Pixel because their system is a lot more locked down so there’s less opportunities for normies to get into trouble and install malware. I also think their app store vetting process is more thorough and lock down mode is a great addition if you need it.
Of course there are dumpster tiers. It’s all about the length of support, the supported Android version(s) and the turnaround time to release patches. Manufacturers that support the latest version of Android are generally more secure as they get all the latest security patches while Google doesn’t bother to backport every single low/medium severity issue for older versions.
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update: I gave in and got the galaxy s23. It still feels big and uncomfortable in my hand but the pixel 8 feels even bigger and less comfortable. I’m not super content with my purchase (even though Samsung allowed me to copy all of my photos from the iphone to the new phone which is pretty nice. I can now copy them to my pc more easily.). I think I’ll try to mitigate its bad security and privacy but I honestly don’t know how, I think there’s some AI services trash (and advertising trash) embedded in the OS that I don’t think I can switch off.
Overall yeah I’m not super happy about the whole situation. Companies can absolutely afford to make one or two compact models once a year or every other year and I hope we get to have some new compact and secure android phones soon.
i was going to write something here but decided against it and now i dont know how to delete this “hide” effect
so here’s a rickroll
Tbh I agree we need more of compact smartphones while also being secure and private, but for now it remains a pipe dream
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maybe I don’t know what the official defintion of bloatware is.
With my samsung s24, I uninstalled 230 apps! That thing came with over 500 apps if that says anything.
I was able to succesfully delete google play services and all the other google apps through ADB and the phone seemed to function just fine. A lot snappier too.
Problem is, I don’t know what I am doing and thus don’t know if I made the phone less secure deleting things on a whim.
I have a cheap android Trac phone and it came with like 260 apps. There wasn’t much bloatware to delete.
I get that there are circumstances why someone can’t or simply won’t get a pixel with graphene.
Knowing what I know, (Or atleast some hunches), There is no such thing as privacy on the internet. Maybe there is some, for now. The AI data centers will probably mop up the rest of our privacy fairly effeciently.
I could’t stand my samsung knowing it had all kinds of privacy issues and then not knowing if I made it worse. So much so I sold it at a massive loss and went and got a new pixel phone to load Graphene on it.
So far I absolutely love it. When I get an income again I will surely be donating to the developers.
So yeah, it’s possible to yank a bunch of stuff out of the samsung OS. I took all the stock apps out except the file manager as it was needed to back up files from other apps I had. They were all replaced with open source. Ran great, but again, I stress, I don’t if I messed something up trying to debloat it.
I don’t know your situation, in mine? Had my bank refused to service me for having Graphene? I would have told them to take a hike and switched to some who could better serve my needs. Been with them for years, but have no loans or anything I am paying on so it would not have been hard to switch banks
I think if you feel like you need to fight your OS you should just use a different OS.
And yeah who knows if the things you disabled were actually security functions etc.
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Yeah that wasn’t a smart move. If your only choices are all large phones a pixel with grapheneOS is the obvious choice. Maybe you could find an iPhone 13 mini and still get a few years of support from it?
The 13 mini has around 1-2 years left
I don’t think it’s worth the 250-300 unless you wanna walk around with an soon to Fully EOL device (yes the iPhone 13 mini won’t outright stop working if you dont get anymore updates but as soon as Apple starts requiring an iOS version higher than then 13 mini will stay at for apps, well you’re Full EOL here. And PG community advises against EOL devices but as I will say below, up to you, just the difference is that there’s no way to do harm reduction on iOS, you’re slowly exposing yourself to more vulnerabilities after EOL)
Now of course there’s also the Pixel Fold but the problems are (no pun intended) 2 folds
- Same as 13 mini, very few years of support left, at least you can do harm reduction but I think anyone here with the PG mindset would tell you don’t, but it is up to you to decide and it depends on your threat model
- It is a W I D E boy, yes it is surprisingly small but very wide, and thick obviously, like this is even ignoring if you’re gonna use the unfolded screen or not
It is what it is, honestly when I tried both the S25 and iPhone 17 in my hands in a store, the only difference I could tell is honestly the weight, because otherwise I consider both on the same level of compactness for my hands but no its gotta be as small as possible I guess here and you know I’m not against it but I’m not into buying something that’s gonna end support very soon, not mentioning I like pie launcher it is the one that has finally been fitting for my setup and I’m not giving up on Android for iOS
I think Jonah really put it best when they said:
The Zenfone 10 would be a different option to the S23, with less bloatware. It has security updates until 2027 if I remember correctly. I haven’t researched their privacy policy, though I don’t think it would be worse than Samsung’s.
Yeah you’re right about the 13 mini. I was just forgetting how long it’s been since 2022😅
But after 2027? Why not get a 13 mini when it is around 2 years left
Which I guess isn’t bad but I’m more concerned especially when there are longer term support for newer phones but I digress
The zenfone 10 is still very expensive, the s23 was more accessible to me
To the folks suggesting iphone 13 mini, im tired of iphone’s icloud shenanigans
I’ll keep my eyes open for any new Android phones under 147 cm or 6.1 - 6.0 inches
what shenanigans?
outside of iCloud backup, you really don’t have to use it, disable every backup option and if you want iCloud backup. use other apps to back up the data
(eg. iCloud photos? disable this, use ente, Apple Notes? use something like notesnook instead, Contacts? export as VCF Card and back up to something like proton drive, alternatively you can say use nextcloud with CardDAV, Calendar & Email? Use tuta or proton instead, Drive? as said before use something like proton drive, passwords? use other password managers outside of apple like say Bitwarden, hide-my-mail? replace that with addy or simplogin, Private Relay? bruh just use a VPN like say Mullvad, IVPN or ProtonVPN. You get the idea.)
so with the exceptions of full iCloud backup, There are no iCloud shenanigans to be found.
yes you are forced to have an apple account for the App Store (work around this a little by generating an alias and use that as the iCloud address [eg. apple.alias69@icloud.com] and use a different name from your real one. In that way at least say app store data is associated with that alias, save the alias on your password manager), no with the exception of iCloud backup there are no shenanigans for iCloud
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