# Minimalist phone for smart people



## mod3777 (Feb 13, 2019)

Handbook for getting out of smartphone garden!

View attachment Minimalist phone.jpg


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## Spartrekus (Feb 13, 2019)

If it is not BSD, don't get a phone, maybe that you can live without a phone.


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## aragats (Feb 13, 2019)

It's not something new: LineageOS is the same as CyanogenMod, which exists for 10 years.
You may also consider F-Droid.


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## Sevendogsbsd (Feb 13, 2019)

Didn't Microsoft buy Cyanogenmod? That's probably a case of "embrace, extend, extinguish" since Microsoft utterly failed in the phone market.


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## aragats (Feb 13, 2019)

I remember that, however, according to Wikipedia:
«In January 2015, it was reported that Microsoft had invested in Cyanogen, and that this might be part of a strategy to create an Android version that worked well with Microsoft platforms.[79][80] In April 2015, Cyanogen announced a strategic partnership with Microsoft, to integrate Microsoft apps and services into Cyanogen OS.[81] In January 2016, Cyanogen rolled out an update that started presenting Microsoft applications when a user attempts to open certain file types on Cyanogen OS phones.»


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## Sevendogsbsd (Feb 13, 2019)

Yeah, which probably drove any Cyanogen  users away, lol.


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## Deleted member 30996 (Feb 14, 2019)

I consider my flip-phone with 128MB RAM and no internet service a minimalist phone.


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## Vull (Feb 14, 2019)

Likewise I have a minimal flip phone which lives in my travel bag. I use the alarm clock, contact list, and telephone features only. Internet access is done only through my Dell minitower or a laptop.


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## Deleted member 9563 (Feb 14, 2019)

I'm in Canada where cell phone service is so highly priced that I won't go near it. Bring it down to three bucks a month and I'll consider it. Because only then will it be competitive with the service I've got now and on par with the price charged in places like India.


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## Spartrekus (Feb 14, 2019)

To be constantly ONLINE, with web services, may impact significantly on your stress level.
E.g. Android smartphone.


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## Spartrekus (Feb 14, 2019)

getopt said:


> Smart people do not use smart phones.


There is no relations.


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## olli@ (Feb 14, 2019)

mod3777 said:


> Handbook for getting out of smartphone garden!
> 
> View attachment 6058


You suggest WhatsApp?!? Seriously? Even if just “optional”, I think that should be removed from your list.

Personally I have no problems using a stock Android. It works fine for me and gets the things done that I need to get done – no more, no less. Specifically I do _not_ use any social media apps (no Facebook, Twitter, Instagram whatsoever). And no WhatsApp, of course, which is an offshoot of Facebook. If you need to use a messaging application, use one that (a) uses strong end-to-end encryption by default, (b) uses an open, standardized protocol and / or is itself open source, (c) doesn't belong to a big company that's abusing your personal data and floods you with ads.


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## tommiie (Feb 14, 2019)

olli@ said:


> You suggest WhatsApp?!?
> ...
> If you need to use a messaging application, use one that (a) uses strong end-to-end encryption by default, (b) uses an open, standardized protocol and / or is itself open source, (c) doesn't belong to a big company that's abusing your personal data and floods you with ads.


I never noticed any advertisements in WhatsApp. And if not WhatsApp, what would you suggest we use then? Keep in mind that I use WhatsApp and FB Messenger to communicate with people. If everyone uses either one of these two apps, it will be very hard to communicate with all my friends and family using an app like Signal.


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## ShelLuser (Feb 14, 2019)

I'm still using a 1st gen Windows phone but in the mean time I disconnected any network / data services because I didn't see the use anymore. I got the Windows phone years ago because it wasn't Google (Android) nor Apple and I enjoyed something different.

These days phones don't interest me as much anymore so I simply keep using this one   Pre-paid, no data, no worries.


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## tommiie (Feb 14, 2019)

PS: I do agree with you though. I dislike FB and WhatsApp but again, the other party needs to be willing to switch app as well.


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## hukadan (Feb 14, 2019)

I have a feature phone for the moment. But I have to confess that I put some (wasted?) money in the Librem 5 project. Waiting to see the final product now.


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## tommiie (Feb 14, 2019)

hukadan said:


> I put some (wasted?) money in the Librem 5 project.


With a complete "board of directors"and a bunch of CxO's I wouldn't trust my money with them. Too much overhead for such a small project. Overhead in the form of people wanting to cash in.


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## tommiie (Feb 14, 2019)

getopt said:


> Most of the projects starting Libre... are deeply necessary and no waste at all.


It is not because the project has "libre" in its name that it's a good project with the best interests of the users in mind & worthy of your money


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## hukadan (Feb 14, 2019)

tommiie said:


> Too much overhead for such a small project.


Actually, this is just one of their projects, the latest one. As far as I can tell, other projects were successful. But again, it is too soon so say if it is wasted money or not (hence the question mark).


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## tommiie (Feb 14, 2019)

getopt said:


> Most of the projects starting Libre... are deeply necessary and no waste at all.





getopt said:


> I tried to express that "Libre..." projects most times indicating to free something that is/was not free and has to be freed. And my sentence did start with "Most of the projects ...".



Well, no. Nowhere did you state that the project "is not free and should be freed." You stated the project is "deeply necessary and no waste at all." Those two statements are completley unrelated to each other.


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## Spartrekus (Feb 14, 2019)

Can you make a phone call with NOKIA 9000 with FreeBSD installed on it?

In all cases, NETBSD is possible and highly recommended.
NetBSD is definitely much better suited than FreeBSD for such (BSD) smart-phones.






Another example from the far Unix brother :


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## hukadan (Feb 14, 2019)

getopt said:


> When is money wasted?


The Ouya kickstarter comes to mind. But we are going off topic.


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## mod3777 (Feb 17, 2019)

Trihexagonal said:


> I consider my flip-phone with 128MB RAM and no internet service a minimalist phone.


Exactly, if people can't live without a flip phone, they seriously being controlled by either technology, or capitalism or something else.


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## mod3777 (Feb 17, 2019)

OJ said:


> I'm in Canada where cell phone service is so highly priced that I won't go near it. Bring it down to three bucks a month and I'll consider it. Because only then will it be competitive with the service I've got now and on par with the price charged in places like India.



Indian people are mostly xiaomi users, or apple/samsung. No HTC, SONY Xperia etc. UK people aesthetically hate smartphone, US mostly driven by smartphones and yada yada...!


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## mod3777 (Feb 17, 2019)

olli@ said:


> You suggest WhatsApp?!? Seriously? Even if just “optional”, I think that should be removed from your list.
> 
> Personally I have no problems using a stock Android. It works fine for me and gets the things done that I need to get done – no more, no less. Specifically I do _not_ use any social media apps (no Facebook, Twitter, Instagram whatsoever). And no WhatsApp, of course, which is an offshoot of Facebook. If you need to use a messaging application, use one that (a) uses strong end-to-end encryption by default, (b) uses an open, standardized protocol and / or is itself open source, (c) doesn't belong to a big company that's abusing your personal data and floods you with ads.



I can understand, but my list was more/less about avoiding smartphone addiction, rather than privacy oriented. However, I personally don't use WhatsApp, as it is not cross platform (can't use it on *BSD without a smartphone), and desktop telegram client doesn't have end-to-end encryption (I guess). So I don't care. All I need calling, messaging, mail, calculator and that it. I don't let a machine to make me zombie.


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## mod3777 (Feb 17, 2019)

ShelLuser said:


> I'm still using a 1st gen Windows phone but in the mean time I disconnected any network / data services because I didn't see the use anymore. I got the Windows phone years ago because it wasn't Google (Android) nor Apple and I enjoyed something different.
> 
> These days phones don't interest me as much anymore so I simply keep using this one   Pre-paid, no data, no worries.



Yes... good idea. I am still rocking HTC M8 (updated to Android 6.0) since 2014!


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## BSD User (Feb 17, 2019)

I can’t live without my smartphone. VPN and ssh apps can be very handy from time to time if you need accessing your infra urgently and while on the move.


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## fernandel (Feb 17, 2019)

BSD User said:


> I can’t live without my smartphone. VPN and ssh apps can be very handy from time to time if you need accessing your infra urgently and while on the move.


It will be interesting to talk with you about 20 -30 years and ask you how is life without smartphone but I am old...


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## Spartrekus (Feb 17, 2019)

mod3777 said:


> Exactly, if people can't live without a flip phone, they seriously being controlled by either technology, or capitalism or something else.



There are jobs, where companies ask employees to be constantly online (emails, phone calls,...), which implies to have the smart phone (iphone, blackberry,...).


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## hukadan (May 2, 2019)

hukadan said:


> I have a feature phone for the moment. But I have to confess that I put some (wasted?) money in the Librem 5 project. Waiting to see the final product now.


Purism (linked to the Librem 5 project) just launched a kind of app store. It is called Librem One. They just rebranded and slightly modified existing software without giving them (an their authors) credit. Needless to say I am not happy.

-- Edit --
Here is the justification (source):
"By putting services under a _centralized brand_, we make these decentralized services just as convenient to use as the big tech alternatives. That way an end-user doesn’t have to know what Matrix, ActivityPub, or even IMAP are or try to find all of the applications that work with those services on their particular platform. Instead, they just need to know that they want to chat, join social media, or send email."


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## funkygoby (May 5, 2019)

The fact that people often mix CyanogenOS with CyanogenMod is very unfortunate. (long rant incoming)

CyanogenMod was the community-driven opensource project.
CyanogenOS was a commercial project born from some CyanogenMod devs with deals with Microsoft at some points.

CyanogenOS raised controversies. At some point the name "Cyanogen" was tainted, the infrastructure was not available anymore and CyanogenMod had to re-brand/move to greener pastures or die: Enters LineageOS.

I never understood the idea behind CyanogenOS.
CyanogenMod was better/free/gratis/funnier than the commercial "similar" solution.
I might be wrong but isn't selling support a better alternative ? RedHat is selling support, not a commercial/paid version of Linux for example.
Also, couldn't they pick a distinct name like IndigoOS, Fuschia (ha!), Blues, RainbOS... ? At the time, it looked as if they were purposely misleading new comers. I blame them for that.

tl;dr: Forget Cyanogen*. LineageOS is all you need to remember. (that and copperheados and some other stuff)


There is a simillar story to be told with µBlock and uBlock Origin.
What Chris did is despicable. He basically hijacked a beloved project and turned it into a cash grab (µBlock)
That is why Raymond Hill had to create uBlock Origin and also is a hero to my eyes (like Blender leader and VLC leader).

I have no problem with people making money or doing scames out of libre, open-source but they should have the courage to create their own brand and build from here.
Hi-jacking a brand is despicable and saying basically "Yeah, I ruined the project but that is ok, you can fork the code" is not an acceptable answer.


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