Title. Since it is now available in USA too: Fairphone's repairable smartphone goes on sale in US for the first time -- in a 'deGoogled' Murena e/OS variant | TechCrunch
No:
- https://divestos.org/misc/e.txt < many issues I document
- https://divestos.org/misc/ch-dates.txt < /e/ is 23 updates behind Chromium WebView/Browser
- https://divestos.org/misc/a-dates.txt < /e/ is 2 months behind ASB + 1 year behind PSB on latest branch offered
- https://divestos.org/misc/appsec.txt < /e/ PDF Viewer uses PDF engine from January 2016
7 Likes
I could say it’s still better than most stock androids, but perhaps not with the potential mitigation and modifications one could do to harden those in terms of security and privacy limitation/sandboxing.
I appreciate the attempt from /e/ but PrivacyGuides prefer recommending quality recommendations instead of just “slightly better than x”.
3 Likes
The other problem with these devices is that they still use Qualcomm SoCs and have limited firmware support in line with what that vendor offers. We consider it deceptive to claim extensive support periods when the firmware clearly is not included. We discuss that on this page:
2 Likes
Bummer, since it is one of the few devices that comes degoogled by default
it literally phones home to Google immediately out of the box, downloads & executes proprietary Google code for Safetynet, and contains Google Widevine for DRM…
that is the opposite of “degoogled”.
Source? And if that is the case it is strange that it is not talked more often…
My first link…
-
Phones home to Google out of box, despite being “degoogled”
-
Enables Safetynet checks by default which downloads and executes obfuscated proprietary code from Google
-
Includes proprietary Google Widevine DRM on nearly all devices
- proprietary-files.txt · 119e5d6fd7891ea02389a5e4fce5ad651774954e · e / devices / android_device_fairphone_FP4 · GitLab
- Even advertises Netflix on the website, see the third carousel image in the third phone mockup down
-
Pays Google for search ads
- /e/ on Google Ads? - /e/OS Foundation & Community - /e/OS community or https://archive.is/qy6w1
- Thinks it would even be OK to use donated money for that too
2 Likes
Even advertises Netflix on the website, see the third carousel image in the third phone mockup down
That one says nothing, Netflix can work on microG and without DRM although with limited resolution.
Neither Netflix or Widevine depend on Play Services/microG.
There is some content in some regions that Netflix may playback without DRM available on host, but it really wants Widevine in the majority.
And again, the point here as literally linked the source code is that /e/OS contains proprietary Google blobs right out of the box despite claiming to be “degoogled”.
Netflix doesn’t run on a Android TV without MicroG/Google Services so it uses it to some extent, although I haven’t test on a phone so you may be right if the implementation is different. In the end, my point was that it being in the homepage tells the user less than you are wanting to imply.
Noted
Not really a big deal since it was
a. A Test
b. Lets be practical here, what are the other options? If you want to get your product to be know you are going use a Google product to promote it on what way or another.
1 Like