…to a reasonable degree, at least.

  • WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works
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    2 months ago

    if with cell phones you mean the non-smart, dumb phones then I can agree. however if you buy the cheapest of smartphones, what you’ll get is even more datamining than usual, which you may be even unable go remove because it’s bootloader cannot be unlocked.
    but I would say don’t cheap out on tech generally, because you’ll get extremely weak security and nonexistent respect towards you as a customer.

    smartphones is a dirty business. don’t support the bad actors with your many, and then long term with your data

    • balsoft@lemmy.ml
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      2 months ago

      Nah, cheap phones often have their bootloader unlocked/unlockable. Really happy with my POCO M5 running modified AOSP. Also, unlike every expensive phone nowadays, it has 3.5mm jack, SD card slot, and exceptional battery life for hiking/trekking (it survives 5-6 days as just a camera+map phone with all power saving on, in comparison people with flagships typically only last 2-3 days with the same usage and power-saving techniques).

      • WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works
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        2 months ago

        I have a very low value lenovo tablet that my provider was giving away essentially for free (for worthless loyalty points I think). its BL cannot be unlocked, it has a special bootloader that does not implement the standard unlock commands.

        Other than that, I have to admit I don’t often deal with cheap phones, because my experience was that not even LOS supports a lot them. Maybe that’s changed though.

        • balsoft@lemmy.ml
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          2 months ago

          Yes, that can happen sometimes, but I find that there are plenty of cheap options with unlocked bootloaders if you look for them.