Everyone should read the fascinating work of Bunny in free phones Chinese
style:-
http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=4297
http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=3040
And on core design issues with insecure basebands:
https://blog.torproject.org/blog/mission-impossible-hardening-android-security-and-privacy
This is why the Blackphone by silent circle and others are snake oil:
shared memory and lord knows what else given the black box SOC directly
controls peripherals. WileX is another snake oil phone, buy for $50 and
sell for $300 with some window dressing freedom but at its root is locked
down.
This is not just saving a few $ on chips. It is a very deliberate choice
about marketing and control that I think is overlooked. It is not that
they do not understand. License deals with google to get the latest apps
require manufactuers to install non-deletable google store apps etc.
Here is the evidence:-
http://www.benedelman.org/news/021314-1.html
This is the tip of the iceberg. Distribution agreements with carriers for
markets are likewise full of shackles. By the time you buy a phone, up to
a dozen back door deals have been done to remove control from the
consumer. This has reached the ultimate point of free or very cheap
phones being sold pre-loaded with deliberate malware as the true
(undisclosed) business plan. These form crucial back door subsidies that
trade freedom for undisclosed pay-offs at the wholesale chain.
THIS is what everyone is up against.
Lastly, there is plenty of evidence of radio bands being artificially
restricted by carriers and/or manufacturers for marketing segmentation and
making travel phones for business 5x more expensive. The disparity in
prices between Chinese phones and BS like the Galaxy 6 are all too obvious
feature to feature.
Last comment: all my friends kids (whose lives revolve around their phone)
are resentful of lockdown and bloatware and captivity: I think there is a
fertile and large market for semi or fully open phones.
To win, one must convince manufacturers the youth and hacker market can
make them more $$ than the fast cycle and near zero margin in a saturated
market. It is a business model problem, not so much a technical one. The
popularity of raspberry Pi points to this market size.
Enjoy
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