News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Smartphone Apps Are Filled With Trackers by mindslight on Saturday April 13, 2019 @01:21PM (#19654383)
If you're worried about flashing your device, go spend $100 on a device off the LineageOS list of supported devices, and experiment with that instead. The odds are it'll go fine and you'll be happily using it three months from now.
Re:Smartphone Apps Are Filled With Trackers by minton on Saturday April 13, 2019 @02:02PM (#19654636)
For those curious you can find that list here: https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices
Re:Smartphone Apps Are Filled With Trackers by kzcqt on Saturday April 13, 2019 @01:43PM (#19654521)
I think in 2019 it's practically impossible to completely brick a mobile by flashing wrong stuff on it.
Re:Smartphone Apps Are Filled With Trackers by ignoramous on Saturday April 13, 2019 @02:37PM (#19654866)
True, not because it's 2019 but due to Project Treble's GenericSystemImages that cleanly separate OEM (Samsung, Sony, Lenovo) and silicon-vendor (Broadcom, Qualcomm, Mediatek) related blobs from the Android subsystem, such that the Android bits could be changed or updated independent of vendor support.

https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2018/11/an-update-...

Re:Smartphone Apps Are Filled With Trackers by johnnycab on Saturday April 13, 2019 @02:52PM (#19654989)
Even a cursory glance at some of the sections on XDA or a search for '2019' and 'brick a mobile' will reveal that they are not mutually exclusive events.
Re:Smartphone Apps Are Filled With Trackers by kzcqt on Saturday April 13, 2019 @03:03PM (#19655062)
I meant to completely brick a mobile. As a newbie, it's possible to get into a boot loop, a black screen, etc. which are easy to recover events, but might seem as the end of the world.

I even remember having to short two pins in the motherboard of my mobile to recover from a particularly bad brick. And it worked fine.

But a complete brick, as in you have to throw away your mobile? Impossible, I'd say.

Re:Smartphone Apps Are Filled With Trackers by colejohnson66 on Saturday April 13, 2019 @05:53PM (#19655966)
That’s kind of splitting hairs, isn’t it?
Re:Smartphone Apps Are Filled With Trackers by mindslight on Saturday April 13, 2019 @03:17PM (#19655153)
Sure, but that won't help convince someone who's justifiably worried about putting their primary device out of commission.