Phew, thankfully we're safe buying a big brand device: https://krebsonsecurity.com/2026/07/lg-to-ban-residential-pr...

:)

I have a few years old account. One day they just blocked be out and rudely demanded a phone number.

At the time I had TOTP based 2FA since forever.

Fine, I got myself a burner number (not sharing a real number with creeps and bullies), account tot unblocked. I kept using it.

A week later I deleted a phone number form my account (marked as optional after all), and the account got immediately, immediately blocked, after I saved the changes.

F** Discord and its ilk.

£200-ish for Pixel 8, 4 more years of support.

No, it's much more. Google gates some of the features.

Stock Android (AOSP) misses stuff like Call Screen, Hold for Me, Direct My Call, Digital Wellbeing,

If it was the same the hostility like this wouldn't matter that much: https://www.androidauthority.com/google-not-killing-aosp-356...

Oh, Xperia.

Wonderful hardware but f*k Sony with the update policy.

My last Xperia was I Mk 2. Nominally flagship. Great hardware, great spec, I loved the form factor.

It got one major Android update and total of 18 months of security updates since the release.

Like, WTH?

No more Sony for me.

Refurbished Pixel 7 pro (EOL next year) or Pixel 8 (EOL 2030) is £200-240 here.

> What is the difference

Except the CQ you only transmit for the specific recipient.

I believe broadcasting in one way only (there's no conversation part).

And to make things worse, genders differ between languages, say, German, Portuguese, or Slavic languages :)

If the hardware security is on par with iPhone / pixel 8+, then sure.

Otherwise there's no need for NSA backdoors (as Cellebrite matrix shows) :)