Forced to use WhatsApp? How does that work? Whoever “forced” you to do so didn’t provide you a phone?
You can probably get a local eSIM with a phone number, e.g. https://www.telekom.de/unterwegs/esim but AFAICT that’s also KYC, unlike data-only eSIMs, so that might not help you much, depends on your threat model (e.g. does T-Mobile share data with Meta or not).
Cheaper than to rely on the NSA because people have terrible privacy practices anyway?
Check
because basically there is NO reason to rely on “smart” objects that are expensive, power hungry and, last but not least do not respect your privacy while giving you less control.
Prodigy Corp. is pretty trendy at the moment. /s
hard data
Have you ever met management? /s
I’m already in a shit-hole socially
So… I started to write down technical answers to your questions but honestly it’s really rare that people don’t want to communicate with someone solely because they don’t have the same tools.
I’m not saying you are doing anything wrong, socially speaking, but I want to highlight that there are usually ways to get back to people. Back in the days (yes… I’m going there) people didn’t have mobile phones and walked to phone booth. People even waited nearby another phone boot for someone else to call them back. I think it’s a good example that we forget how “inconvenient” it was. If people you want to get in touch with can’t handle an email (typically the lowest common denominator, I’m not suggesting that a “normie” as you say setup their own Matrix instance) then they are probably not worth spending time with anyway.
Check /e/OS by Murena. It’s closer to Volla IMHO because they sell the phone with the deGoogled Android. In fact I was initially going to buy from Volla because I wanted something deGoogled and European but I wasn’t sure it would be a good fit for me. I thought for 800€ it was too risky for me. Consequently I tried the way cheaper option (~360€) from France rather than Germany. To be fair it’s also a lower-end phone but like I said, less risky for me if it was not to work out.
If you already have a phone though that is compatible with GrapheneOS and want to tinker, it’s probably not for you. If you want to “just” buy a working phone with an OS that isn’t tied to Google services then it might be a good option.
I bought one few months ago (cf my post history, you can see what worked, what didn’t, and the countless arguments I had with people criticizing Murena and /e/OS) and basically I’m happy with it. It’s not perfect but for my use case, it’s a good compromise. The phone I picked does come with limitations (e.g. no eSIM) but I found work around (e.g. JMP adapter) and one of my biggest concern, namely mobile banking due to not using a Google Android, is no problem for now, it just worked.
Finally (as you can again see from my post history) I do have the PinePhone and PinePhone Pro. I ordered them since they were out because I’m quite eager about Linux phones. I use Linux every day, from my desktop, including for gaming in VR, to my handled (SteamDeck) to eInk to home servers … so why not on mobile yet? Unfortunately it’s still quite experimental (camera support, battery management, BT for music or podcast, etc) so it’s not up to my expectations yet.
Depending on your needs (e.g. not calling emergency numbers, porting number only from US/Canada, not receiving SMS AFAICT) you might want to look at an international (or virtual? not sure what the right denomination here is) carrier with an eSIM (or adapter) instead e.g. https://jmp.chat/
Edit: I’m mentioning this because I recently moved from an iPhone to a deGoogle Android phone which didn’t support eSIM. I found eSIM quite convenient, especially while traveling and when needing only data. It’s not necessarily a solution for most but I find that a lot of people are not necessarily aware of how well it works and that the price is usually comparatively (again, depending on usage) quite low compared to “traditional” carrier.
to debloat and to degoogle, and additionally to increase overall privacy but apparently from what I’ve heard here that it’s not private enough or even at all?
So… there is what is theoretically possible, what’s pragmatically feasible with your current skillset, what you believe you need and what you actually need.
If you rely on what is theoretically possible and what you believe you need you usually end up with burn out. If you focus on what’s pragmatically feasible with your current skillset and what you actually need instead you WILL disappoint strangers on the Internet but you might remain sane and surely will learn something in the process, thus both improve your skillset AND have a better understanding of what you actually need.
If they come to France still check that the US SIM would work there, or that eSIM is supported. Theoretically it’s compatible but US carriers can be … finicky.
For banking if depositing check can be done simply via the Web, then the app is not needed. Might have to ask your bank. Keeping the old phone would work indeed but not the most convenient.
You’re welcome, briefly :
Feel like I keep on repeating myself here but… here is no “they” or “/e/OS people” if you do not explicitly ask for it! Nobody has to use Murena servers for ‘ecloud’ or whatever services, secure or not, they are proposing.
They might use the shittiest backend and it can be absolutely unsecure… but as long as you are not using it, who cares?
There is no point in comparing the services they provide to either Google or self-hosted, just do not use them. It’s really not that hard. It’s in fact literally easier than making an account and use them.
So… yes you can come up with problems and limitations if you want to, but the point is, again :
The whole point is that by using /e/OS one is not using Google and has a functional phone from the start. That’s it.
Everybody has different reason but what Murena does is sell phones with /e/OS pre-installed, so if one is specifically looking for a deGoogled phone because they don’t have one that already supports LineageOS and/or do not know how to install LineageOS then it’s very convenient. It’s like going to an Apple store and leaving with a phone, not downloading a ROM then installing it on a device one already has. I’m again not saying one is better or worst than the other, solely that if one is looking for a deGoogled device and they don’t have one already, it’s an easier path.
PS: note also that I didn’t compare /e/OS itself to LineageOS, I’m highlighting precisely how there is some value for some people.
Yep, in Belgium too. Can be directly at the cashier in a physical store, barber, etc or online e.g. food delivery. It’s pretty efficient and AFAICT pretty low cost. Also does not have to rely on MasterCard or VISA.
No, why do you suggest that? If one were to say something incorrect about Google or Meta, even though not only I do not work for them but even spend quite a bit of resource to get away from them, I would still say it aloud.
Here I said, multiple times, that the post that sparked this is not correct… because it simply is not true. Nothing more, nothing less.
I’m not sure I understand the question. Why would it send data to anyone if the feature is not enabled? Are people implying a commercial partnership with a third party rather than using their API?
Anyway the point is still that it’s not OK to spread incorrect information, even if people don’t like /e/OS or Murena.
They didn’t “get caught” when it’s literally written down that they do it and it’s optional, namely nobody does it except by explicitly asking for it. I know I don’t. I don’t even have that option like most people who use /e/OS and are not Premium Murena customers paying specifically for that service.
If you want a new phone consider /e/OS as you can directly buy a phone from Murena (who maintains /e/OS) and thus get something working from day 1, no tinkering.
To clarify, because there is constant FUD around /e/OS (I think the deGoogled Android crowd is VERY passionate and invests a lot of effort into picking the “right” ROM for them leading to a kind of “holy war” which tends to lose focus on what actually matters, namely leave Google!) so to clarify
Honestly I recommend this solution if you want a good compromise because IMHO
Feel free to ask questions, happy to clarify.
If something is missing from https://gitlab.e.foundation/e/os/ open an issue. It is open source.
/e/OS got caught sending voice-to-text data to OpenAI
To clarify it’s an optional STT service, not on by default if one is not using Murena services, which before sending data proxy it so it’s not associated with a specific user account, for anonymization. It even says so in the screenshot of the links post, for premium Murena service users. FUD from https://lemmy.ml/post/35472063?scrollToComments=true seems to already be working out, sadly.
Details https://doc.e.foundation/murena-voice-to-text including “This feature is exclusively available to Murena Workspace Premium users.”
If their phone does not, they can get https://jmp.chat/esim-adapter