Looking for new phone for the wife. (and me, later)

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n64link

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I'm looking to a replacement phone for my wife's s7. I'm wanting something that is as good or better, performance wise, but I have a few caveats. I don't want bio-metrics at all. No finger print sensor, face recognition, etc. And something I can control. Must have a headphone jack.

Her s7 was through verizon and updates kept getting pushed through, even after I disabled what I could. I don't want updates as her s7 became significantly slower, even though she only had a few apps and games on it. I forget what version of android came with the s7 but the latest version that got forcefully updated made the phone damn near unusable. Games got laggy, videos not syncing right, etc. Her battery died in the s7 so she just has a cheap prepaid phone, i put her sim in, for now.

A decent camera would be a plus, a bit better than the s7 would be enough, as she takes all the family pictures and such.

I haven't looked at phones much, since I bought my zenfone 2, several years ago. So I'm way out of the loop on phones. I'm not fond of the way phones are going now and definitely don't want bio-metric data on a phone. Any suggestions for a decent replacement i can get in the USA are appreciated.

I'm also looking for a replacement for my zenfone 2 pretty much the same requirements and concerns. I loved my zenfone 2 but there was an incident while changing brakes on a car. so I'm using a cheap burner too.
 
n64link said:
I'm looking to a replacement phone for my wife's s7. I'm wanting something that is as good or better, performance wise, but I have a few caveats. I don't want bio-metrics at all. No finger print sensor, face recognition, etc. And something I can control. Must have a headphone jack.

Her s7 was through verizon and updates kept getting pushed through, even after I disabled what I could. I don't want updates as her s7 became significantly slower, even though she only had a few apps and games on it. I forget what version of android came with the s7 but the latest version that got forcefully updated made the phone damn near unusable. Games got laggy, videos not syncing right, etc. Her battery died in the s7 so she just has a cheap prepaid phone, i put her sim in, for now.

A decent camera would be a plus, a bit better than the s7 would be enough, as she takes all the family pictures and such.

I haven't looked at phones much, since I bought my zenfone 2, several years ago. So I'm way out of the loop on phones. I'm not fond of the way phones are going now and definitely don't want bio-metric data on a phone. Any suggestions for a decent replacement i can get in the USA are appreciated.

I'm also looking for a replacement for my zenfone 2 pretty much the same requirements and concerns. I loved my zenfone 2 but there was an incident while changing brakes on a car. so I'm using a cheap burner too.
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Why not just opt out of using the biometrics on a given phone? It's not like you're forced to register fingerprints or your face. And it also sounds like you might misunderstand how devices handle fingerprint and face data. They don't collect photos (just abstract data points); the data doesn't leave the phone; it's also inaccessible by apps.

As it stands, you pretty much have to get a phone with a biometric sensor of some kind, because finding one without is virtually impossible. Certainly not with specs that would make you happy.

It sounds like you'll want to avoid Samsung. While it has gotten better about updates, it's not so much better that you'd avoid the concerns about slowdowns. My question is: are you beholden to Android, or are you willing to consider iPhones as well? I can suggest devices for one or both.
 
Most secure and most frequently updated phone is the iPhone. Just don’t use face unlock.

As for headphone jack, I assume you mean 3.5mm analog jack, get an adapter...

LG G9 ThinQ is like the only 2019 flagship with an analog headphone jack. But good luck getting updates.
 
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Thank you for your time and effort.

No bio-metrics are due to Privacy concerns, I don't trust the tech giants, though I'm not in full "live off the grid mode" yet. (When I retire) But I understand that most mid range phones are going that route. Even my cheap burner has a fingerprint reader on the back. Which I've covered in epoxy. We enjoy our privacy and I work in law enforcement, I'm aware of just how easy agencies can pull data off your phone without you knowing. And your face and print ID data is not only on your phone. No matter what the manufacturer says. And if the feds can do it, rouge groups can with half the time and effort. (Though I'm not that high up I know people that are.) At the very least, no face ID. I can physically block a rear fingerprint scanner.

Thanks. I'm not willing to go with apple. I've never liked ios and neither does the wife. My problem with updates is that the companies consistently push newer versions of android that use more resources, even with older phones. Even with basic apps, the performance degradation is noticeable and at times, eg trying to open camera to take a photo of birds, so slow that the subject wildlife leaves. I use my phone very sparingly but the wife uses hers for most of her entertainment through the day. I don't have a problem with samsung as long as I can get the phone unlocked and it's popular enough for places like xda developers to have a lot on, I can block what I need to. Her old one was locked so I couldn't block what I needed to. Though I'm not a dev or know enough to do my own coding.

I'm fine with an older phone, as you can see, I don't want the latest and greatest tech. The S7s stock performance was fine for the wife. I didn't even need that much. A slightly better camera is the only real thing she would want/need.

Thanks again for any/all suggestions.
 
Chinese phone, like Xiaomi Note 8.

They will also capture your data, however you do not live in China, and there is not much of a chance that thieir state will be selling this data.

I would expect that data flows between two sides are on hold for foreseeable future.

This trade war is kind of a win win from that perspective. :cool:
 
Hmmm. You know I've had a thought. With those phones that have no stand-alone selfie cam, and rely on a mechanism; (Like the zenfone 6, The new one not the 2014 zeonfone 6.) I can lock that to never go to selfie or physically hinder the mechanism and won't have a camera facing me the whole time. And I can block the rear finger print sensor. hmmm... I only know of a few phones like that. I think the other ones were things like xiomi, honor, etc.
 
n64link said:
Thank you for your time and effort.

No bio-metrics are due to Privacy concerns, I don't trust the tech giants, though I'm not in full "live off the grid mode" yet. (When I retire) But I understand that most mid range phones are going that route. Even my cheap burner has a fingerprint reader on the back. Which I've covered in epoxy. We enjoy our privacy and I work in law enforcement, I'm aware of just how easy agencies can pull data off your phone without you knowing. And your face and print ID data is not only on your phone. No matter what the manufacturer says. And if the feds can do it, rouge groups can with half the time and effort. (Though I'm not that high up I know people that are.) At the very least, no face ID. I can physically block a rear fingerprint scanner.

Thanks. I'm not willing to go with apple. I've never liked ios and neither does the wife. My problem with updates is that the companies consistently push newer versions of android that use more resources, even with older phones. Even with basic apps, the performance degradation is noticeable and at times, eg trying to open camera to take a photo of birds, so slow that the subject wildlife leaves. I use my phone very sparingly but the wife uses hers for most of her entertainment through the day. I don't have a problem with samsung as long as I can get the phone unlocked and it's popular enough for places like xda developers to have a lot on, I can block what I need to. Her old one was locked so I couldn't block what I needed to. Though I'm not a dev or know enough to do my own coding.

I'm fine with an older phone, as you can see, I don't want the latest and greatest tech. The S7s stock performance was fine for the wife. I didn't even need that much. A slightly better camera is the only real thing she would want/need.

Thanks again for any/all suggestions.
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Can you point to evidence that fingerprint and face data escapes the phone? I know law enforcement can extract general data from phones using gear from the likes of Cellcom, but I haven't once heard of them lifting fingerprint or face data. It's typically stored on a secure element chip that's isolated from the rest of the system, and the information that chip receives doesn't include images. I know you value privacy, but I want to be sure it's based on demonstrable facts and not just a gut feeling (like "no matter what the manufacturer says" would imply).

The issue on the "slightly better than S7" quality remains the same -- I haven't seen a phone that boasts a quality camera, updates that stay fast and yet doesn't have any biometric sensors. It's like asking for a Rolls-Royce with cloth seats. By the time the S7 came out in 2016, fingerprint readers were already standard issue on virtually all phones of that caliber.

(Also: if you're really worried about disabling face authentication, you could just cover the depth sensor.)
 
Aurelius said:
Can you point to evidence that fingerprint and face data escapes the phone? I know law enforcement can extract general data from phones using gear from the likes of Cellcom, but I haven't once heard of them lifting fingerprint or face data. It's typically stored on a secure element chip that's isolated from the rest of the system, and the information that chip receives doesn't include images. I know you value privacy, but I want to be sure it's based on demonstrable facts and not just a gut feeling (like "no matter what the manufacturer says" would imply).

The issue on the "slightly better than S7" quality remains the same -- I haven't seen a phone that boasts a quality camera, updates that stay fast and yet doesn't have any biometric sensors. It's like asking for a Rolls-Royce with cloth seats. By the time the S7 came out in 2016, fingerprint readers were already standard issue on virtually all phones of that caliber.

(Also: if you're really worried about disabling face authentication, you could just cover the depth sensor.)
Click to expand...

A friend of mine (last year) unlocked my wife's s7, had a finger print sensor and she had enabled it before we were together, via a laptop remotely. (He is much much higher up than I am. And I don't want to work at that level.) As far as data and how it's done, I don't know, I don't want to know. I understand that most people don't care and don't think we have the means to do such things. But I've seen it done. He never physically touched her phone. And that was a less sophisticated reader. In my short years on this planet and in my field. I've learned that if we have it, a federal agency has something 4 times better and they know our stuff in and out.

Might be what i have to resort to. Thanks.
 
If you're serious about security at all then getting any smartphone is questionable.
You should just get burner flip-phones or candybar phones and swap them every month so they have minimal amounts of text data that is difficult if not impossible to aggregate. Have zero amounts of internet pass through it. You want no GPS or locater data. And you certainly don't want anything that is transmitting IP data through accounts you have or own.

Otherwise if you're going to live in smartphone land then the iPhone is pretty much the most secure you're going to get. As Apple is the one company that has shown repeatedly that it will not give backdoor access to law enforcement nor will it create backdoor access. Secure enclave is generally the best security SOC offered. And if you're using biometrics (which you could choose not to) the dot projector used is as unique as possible. It's still "hackable" by essentially creating a mold of your face, but that is a process much harder to achieve than most want or need to worry about. iOS is and has certainly more secure than the Galaxy S7. Each version of iOS becoming more and more so. Perfect? No. Still plenty of holes, but far fewer than any of the smartphone competition.

But even then any smartphone in terms of what is possible to hack from it is going to be subject to the data that is placed on it and is entrusted there. You could "secure the device" simply by placing no key or critical pieces of data on it. And certainly by never installing any obvious spyware such as social media or any form of Google API. Facebook and Google API's tend to share and steal everything you own. Giving them no access does a lot. As does using a VPN to secure what is going in and out from a data perspective.

EDIT: As another alternative this phone is coming down the pike. Which similarly lives by the "mantra" of not being a connected device.
 
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Well I can't address your security concerns, the speed/experience on my OnePlus 7t is heavenly compared to the s7 it replaced.

*Lte only no CDMA/3g (Verizon account flag "cdma-less" must be set) only mnvo I know that can set the flat is mnvo
 
CHANG3D said:
LG G9 ThinQ is like the only 2019 flagship with an analog headphone jack. But get luck getting updates.
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The Nokia 7.2 has a headphone jack and does get updates guaranteed for two years on stock android. Build quality is good, the only drawback is the mid range processor.
I guess another option would be the Pixel 3a which also has the headphone jack.
 
Being concerned about security and privacy should exclude all Android phones and Chinese android phones especially. The reason why android is free is that google makes money off gathering your data and selling it to advertisers. There are also so many backdoors to android phones that government agencies typically don’t have any problems breaking into them whereas governments threaten to sue Apple over and over.

also, good luck finding a basic phone that’s end to end encrypted.
 
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