Hi all!

Enthusiastic long-term user of GrapheneOS here. For work purposes I "need" a tablet, so I immediately gravitated towards the Google Pixel Tablet, since I know GrapheneOS is supported on there. However, just as I was about to buy a refurbished one, I saw that it does not actually support a SIM Card with cellular data...

This would be extremely useful in my use case. Is there any alternative tablet with a FOSS/privacy secure Operating System? It's actually quite shocking to me that the Pixel Tablet doesn't support SIM. Is there perhaps a future release that does, that we know of?

Kind regards,

Holly

  • de0u replied to this.

    • Dde0u

      • Post #2

      holly_x I think it's plausible that Google will issue another tablet inside of three years. Whether or not a cellular modem will be an option is unknown -- they do cost money, and having two models (with and without) makes both models more expensive.

      Personally if I wanted a reasonably-secure tablet
      with a cellular modem it would likely be an iPad, and if not then probably a Samsung. But neither company is supportive of third-party operating systems in a way anything like Google.

        Pixel tablet with connection shared from my Pixel Phone when needed is the way I do

          In addition to using a Pixel Tablet with a Pixel phone's hotspot or an iPad with a cellular modem, you could consider the Pixel 9 Pro Fold as a combined phone & small tablet. Would be the most secure option, but very expensive.

            blackrose This might be the only/best option, since, after doing some research, I don't see any other privacy secure tablets out there.. a bit of a bummer.

              Thank you for your replies!
              Just thought of this: I take it the Pixel Tablet with GrapheneOS doesn't support eSim?

              EDIT:
              Or, thinking out of the box here, is there something like a USB-C dongle that I can pop a SIM card into and connect to the Tablet, to give it intrenet?
              I found this: https://www.hocell.com/productinfo/865040.html

              Ideas are welcome!

                The Pixel Tablet doesn't seem to have any eSIM setting. The tablet doesn't have a cellular radio at all, so even if the software were set up it wouldn't be able to work.

                I'm not familiar with the dongle you shared. Interesting idea, thanks for sharing. It might work, but I don't know if the GOS build on Pixel Tablet would work with an external SIM and modem. It may require a custom build, but I'm not sure. Curious if others have tried it.

                holly_x USB cellular radios will work but whether or not they can be used with an eSIM depends on what kind of software they offer. There are SIM cards which support using eSIM. We don't want to recommend one since we don't know the details of what they provide and don't want to recommend something potentially badly secured, etc. You can find several options if you search for it though.

                    kopolee11 you could consider the Pixel 9 Pro Fold as a combined phone & small tablet. Would be the most secure option, but very expensive.

                    As a Pixel 9 Pro Fold user, I agree that it's very expensive. I highly recommend it, though, especially in instances like this thread.

                      GrapheneOS I don't think I understand what you mean. Do you mean that a USB-C dongle might work with the Tablet? In this case I mean a physical SIM card. I wasn't thinking about combining the idea of plugging in a a USB-C dongle for cellular data with an eSim.

                      Or do you mean a seperate 5G cellular data 'router', as it were, that uses eSim instead of a physical SIM, that I carry around alongside the Tablet?