UnaOs - new kid in town?
 

Have a look at this folks:
https://igg.me/at/unaphone

https://unaos.com/

Interesting concept.

Re: UnaOs - new kid in town?
 

Im raising My scam flag. They get all the funds no matter what.

Jolla couldnt even build and deliver tablets with 2,5 millions and a head start. No way 200k Will help.

Re: UnaOs - new kid in town?
 

Jolla, on the other hand, was a company trying to create an entirely new OS (as well as an entirely new revenue system), and only started the tablet as an afterthought (and at a point where the company's finances were already looking iffy).

Unaos appears to be offering Yet Another Android flavor on Yet Another Android-based Phone (a phone built by LG in this case). I can't imagine this being anywhere near as hard to pull off as what Jolla was doing...

Re: UnaOs - new kid in town?
 

Lets say it 10 Times easier. They still not have 10% of jollas money ;)

Re: UnaOs - new kid in town?
 

secure, private, boooooooooring.........

Re: UnaOs - new kid in town?
 

You can say the same about any buzzword. The boring buzzwords on this forum seem to be 'free' and 'open'.

Re: UnaOs - new kid in town?
 

Software: 10 times easier, 10 times faster = less people to hire for a shorter time.
Hardware: have hardware supplier with many devices ( could use common parts)= no risk , 20% cheaper, less people to hire

But anyway you need to have a very good team which is satisfied with this money. More money will definitively rise the probability of success and the quality of the product.

Maybe some Android lovers go for it. Me not.
But in general it is the right direction. I wish them success with there product.

Re: UnaOs - new kid in town?
 

Oh boy, another Android device! How novel!

Do people still believe that a "secure" and "privacy-aware" Android version really is what will protect them, regardless the sh*t you install on it? Or that encryption is all you need to keep your privacy?

Re: UnaOs - new kid in town?
 

all phones are hackable over the sim card :D all forget this!

Re: UnaOs - new kid in town?
 

Did you read their website?

You can not install a damn thing on this phone. There is a bunch of checked and preinstalled apps so nothing can tackle the phone security.

That is why I have posted it in the firs place - they offer something different than other android based "secure" phones.

Re: UnaOs - new kid in town?
 

A completely locked down device ?

No. Im not in Lol

Re: UnaOs - new kid in town?
 

Their site doesn't do anything unless I disable noscript.

Probably more a sign of the times than of hypocrisy, but still amusing if you're easily amused...

Re: UnaOs - new kid in town?
 

That sounds suspiciously like the slogans on the toilet paper I bought recently.

Re: UnaOs - new kid in town?
 

Sounds a bit like a encrypted device + MDM, but you let them control the MDM-part. Also, the communications, while encrypted, still go through their servers. All in all, you have to put an awful lot of trust in their hands.

And as cvp said: as long as the sim and modem-parts are not separated but run inside the main system, bugs and other unwanted features could allow unlimited access to the rest of the device, accessible OTA. The Neo900 has a separate modem. It still could be eavesdropped, but only encrypted data sent and received by the main system.

Re: UnaOs - new kid in town?
 

Why on earth would anyone choose to use Android or indeed any Linux-based OS to do what they want to offer? If they want to build a phone that is completely locked down, Linux is way too bloated for this. The only reason that I can think of that they chose Android would be to take short cuts. If they think they can produce a secure phone simply by stripping out Google services, preventing the user from installing anything and by adding encryption, they are very much mistaken.

Re: UnaOs - new kid in town?
 

We have to stop right here!

I never wrote that I'm in favour of that phone, that concept, that company etc.

I just wrote that it is something different then the rest and now reading through the latest post I feel like a person who should be answering doubts posted in many posts above :)

My only goal was to start a discussion and show it to you and I can announce a success :)

I like to read TMO fellow members opinions about various tech topics.

And now for the bottom line - I can imagine a scenario in which a phone like this is useful, even for me, but... Before putting my monthly income on the table I would have to read some tests of it, look what more tech / security orienteted guys wrote after testing the real device - for now - there is only some info on the website and speculations so I wait and watch with a bit of pop corn in my hand!

Re: UnaOs - new kid in town?
 

I'm told these guys are legit.

Could be interesting (for consumers) if they do indeed offer an unlocked version.

Their main customer base with the existing product ought to be business and enterprise.

It's surprising that they'd even offer the phone without an option for installing third party apps to the consumer market.

Re: UnaOs - new kid in town?
 

I stopped reading about the Neo900 after so much time dragged on. Does this actually exist now (as your comment suggests)?

Re: UnaOs - new kid in town?
 

Actually there is one thing in fvour of Una OS - tutanota is cooperating with them and I can't say a bad word about their service :)

As for the Neo900 - well - they had some problems with PayPal, but everything is OK now so I hope that we start t get some news about the progress...

Re: UnaOs - new kid in town?
 

they want to be secure, so they deserve it...totally locked

nice idea

Re: UnaOs - new kid in town?
 

This update looks interesting to me!

Re: UnaOs - new kid in town?
 

Sounds vaguely familiar, doesn't it?

Also, "open source" isn't all what's needed. Open protocols and the possibility to run your own servers, preferably in a federated way, are imo even more important.

Re: UnaOs - new kid in town?
 

Additionally, https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-...-point.en.html

Re: UnaOs - new kid in town?
 

You are right but maybe you could ask them about it? :)

Maybe this is what they mean with their statement and maybe not.

Re: UnaOs - new kid in town?
 

Hmm. USB-C? Fingerprint sensor?

An Android variant on which you cannot install anything rendering the device a dumb phone? In this case, why even bother with Android? Why not write a gui for BSD and run that instead? Oh, right, proprietary hardware drivers based on closed sores, the same issue Jolla has.

A locked bootloader so that you cannot remedy your mistake purchase and at least have a device you can play games on or use as car navigation?

Why the heck would anyone spend money on this unless they have no idea what real security is and want to feel good about their ignorance?

This is either brilliant marketing or a statement on how dumb most users are.

Re: UnaOs - new kid in town?
 

So what secure phone do you propose?

And don't write that security is not possible on a phone due to sim etc. - we all know that, we know about the closed source blobs, insecurity bla bla bla. We live in a world in which a phone is a standard tool so the bottom linen is:

What is your security pick?

Re: UnaOs - new kid in town?
 

For me security would propably be something like TAILS on a mobile device.

Re: UnaOs - new kid in town?
 

An amnesiac phone? Re-importing your contacts, reinstalling all applications, losing message history etc. etc., every time you boot doesn't sound like fun to me...

I'll stick with 'secure-ish' I think ;)

Re: UnaOs - new kid in town?
 

No phone at all would be my only choice since you laid out a well thought out question.

Re: UnaOs - new kid in town?
 

I see what you mean but I could read all relevant information even without allowing unaos.com in noscript.

https://unaos.com/


For me this looks like this company is planning some serious system administration work on Android. About time?

Networks and system integrators still get paid for selling just "another Windows" computer with enhanced security customization.

Why not pay for enhanced security if the job is well done?

Just out of interest, could the security experts here confirm that with a budget of ~USD 250 they can make any random Android phone secure on all levels this one Unaos claims to be secure? Short list of tools to install?

Not being into Android, I would possibly buy this if it does mostly everything I need out of the box. For that reason I still like my Symbian and my Maemo. :)

Edit: type error question : why not

Re: UnaOs - new kid in town?
 

A set of tools which could make any Android more secure and private would be nice - buying a cheap Android phone and hardening it is a way to go but this could be hard without tinkering the inside elements and that is why I consider UnaOs some sort of a solution - they patch things very deeply but as I wrote previously - some independent geek should grab a device like this and test it if it really delivers what they write. If yes - this might be a go for many people which want a tool that is more secure and private than a regular Android or any other phone.

Re: UnaOs - new kid in town?
 

Hmm... Maybe they changed it?

I swear when I first went there it didn't do a thing...

Re: UnaOs - new kid in town?
 

Some would say that the best way to harden something would be to hit it with a hammer until it breaks, while others say that setting it on fire and then dumping it into a bucket of water is good too. I hear both methods result in a device that cannot eavesdrop on you or give away your location or otherwise violate your privacy.

My point is that phones by nature must communicate beyond you and the second party at least to negotiate with the mobile network infrastructure on the service features, such as where to send the call and thus your general location. So if you want a phone that doesn't keep track of where you are then your best phone is no phone.

Re: UnaOs - new kid in town?
 

You have completely missed the point my friend!

We all here understand that phones must do what they do to communicate but doing that is absolutely enough. Nothing more is needed but today's phones don't do only that and track you on bazillions of other ways which people from obvious reasons don't like.