Clicks Communicator Support

talkelley3

I'm sure this will probably never happen, but boy wouldn't it be amazing to get GrapheneOS support for the Clicks Communicator once it's released. With how it seems many of us are locking down our installs and using them to avoid useless browsing of social media etc. This device seems to be something absolutely ideal for many of us. I would definitely buy one if GoS ever was to support it, but otherwise I'm too invested in the privacy features to forsake it.
Clicks Communicator

NetRunner88

talkelley3
There is nothing close to what is required to run Gos

de0u

talkelley3 I believe the Clicks Communicator uses a MediaTek chip (source), and so far I don't believe any MediaTek phone chip meets the GrapheneOS hardware requirements.

It's not a rule, but in general most phones that are radically different from standard designs are small-volume, so producing them is expensive, so they often use cheaper chips that are less focused on security. So in general GrapheneOS won't run on most cool radical phones. That might change someday, but it's sort of part of the structure of the market at present.

talkelley3

de0u Ah RIP that sucks, but yeah makes sense.

de0u

0260 Is there something inherently insecure about keyboard phones by design, or are you just speaking generally about the devices on the market currently?

See "It's not a rule, but..." (de0u).

0260

The device looks great. Too bad it won't get support. I'd love to see a GrapheneOS keyboard phone some day. I feel pretty meh about having to use a Pixel.

de0u

0260 The device looks great. Too bad it won't get support.

As long as GrapheneOS remains focused on security and privacy, which I hope it does, there is no way to "support" devices that are insecure because a manufacturer is unwilling to do security work.

Because GrapheneOS is open source, people who wish to fork it and support a dramatically less secure OS on dramatically less secure hardware are free to do so. But it would be a lot of work.

As long as most customers are completely fine with buying insecure phones, secure phones may well be uncommon. The same is true of phones with keyboards.

0260

de0u
I'm not sure I follow. Is there something inherently insecure about keyboard phones by design, or are you just speaking generally about the devices on the market currently?

grayway2

I like the clicks communicator as a fun gadget but it's not meant to bring privacy or security "despite ex-blackberry employees working on the phone"

The bootloader will be unlockable with a custom code but "relocking with custom keys might not be possible" The hardware have nothing special (no MTE, no baseband security, no dedicated security chip)