[libreplanet-discuss] Samsung Galaxy S2 for Replicant (was: “Promote NoPhone” is a path to nowhere)

[Dmitry Alexandrov]

Caleb Herbert <csh@bluehome.net> wrote:
> On 09/16/2019 03:23 AM, Dmitry Alexandrov wrote:
>> Caleb Herbert <csh@bluehome.net> wrote:
>>> Most people cannot access or afford decent Replicant devices.
>>
>> No people can access or afford _decent_ Replicant devices: they are simply 
>> nonexistent.
>
> I consider the ancient Galaxy S2 decent.

A device without GPS and hardware graphic acceleration (unless you are willing 
to run nonfree software on CPU)?  Or even without Wi-Fi and Bluetooth (unless 
you are willing to run nonfree firmware)?

That’s not saying about its obsolescence, which involves not only quantitative 
downsides but qualitative too: such as absence of LTE modem.

>> A device, listed at https://replicant.us (which would _not_ fully work under 
>> it anyway), could be obtained very easily and for a laughable price, though.
>
> The price is expensive.  Scarcity of after-market devices still in good 
> condition, combined with the price of paying someone to flash it

Replicant is not Libreboot, it does not require any flashing.  It is installed 
just like as any other Android-based OS.

> costs five hundred dollars last time I checked.

Wow!  That’s for sure a local issue.  I’ve just checked, in Moscow you could 
get a _new_ Galaxy S2 for 85 $ (which I still found unacceptably expensive for 
a 2011 Android phone, but if someone really needs it new), used — from 25 $.

So if you’d really like to recommend someone to buy Galaxy S2, I suggest you 
just submit to necessity to recommend him to run some more nonfree software in 
his browser, and order it somewhere else: at Ali a ‘refurbished’ device with 
shipping included would be about 40 $ [1].

[1] https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-samsuns-galaxy-s2.html

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