Hi,

A friend wants to degoogle his phone, so I suggested the OS I’m currently using. The one we can’t talk about… He wants a small/compact phone, so I suggested pixel 4a (not buying second hand though), but I’m afraid that planned obsolescence may kill the phone rather soon. What’s your opinion?

Cheers and thank you for your help,

  • Possibly linux@lemmy.zipEnglish
    0·
    3 days ago

    Custom ROMs will receive upstream Android security patches but not patches from proprietary components (firmware). For instance, my Moto g7 power has Android security patches from May but the latest vendor security patch level is 2021. (I’m running Lineage OS) I’m curious to know if the older firmware is a problem. I don’t think it is easily exploitable outside of government backdoors. Not that it matters much as I plan on keeping my phone until it dies.

    • Imprint9816@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      0·
      2 days ago

      Not sure where your getting your information but the Pixel 5 has not gotten Android updates or security updates in over 7 months.

      There are tons of examples of exploits being used to target EOL phones as its common for people to not care about these updates, or be misinformed, so they are easy targets.

      If OP or anyone else wants to use an EOL phone that’s fine but, don’t pretend its a smart security practice. Although even if I were to use an EOL phone, LineageOS doesn’t have the greatest background and isn’t really degoogled

      • Possibly linux@lemmy.zipEnglish
        0·
        2 days ago

        You are still missing my point. All phones actively supported by Lineage OS get Android security patches. Those aren’t vendor patches but they do patch the OS and sometimes the kernel.

        For instance, the Pixel 5 was last updated June 28. https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/panther/

        Not to say that you should still buy it. However, if it cheap it might be worth it.

        Also from the article you linked:

        Although the incident forced LineageOS to take offline all its service, it did not impact the signing keys that authenticate distributions because they are stored on hosts separate from the main infrastructure.