this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2023
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Pixel 4a 5G: Good option these days? (infosec.pub)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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I'll risk asking the first question. If it's not a good fit for the community, then at least I can serve as a negative example.

Here's the scenario. I'm going to be traveling over the next few months and expect to be in areas where I don't have a right to my digital privacy. My device might be inspected, cloned, etc without my knowledge. I might even be required to give up the passcode. I'll do my best to maintain physical control of my device at all times, but that might not always be possible. My intention is to responsibly recycle the device at the end of the summer once I return to a more secure environment. I'll try to take reasonable precautions like powering down the device completely when unattended but the potential for uncontrolled physical access has me concerned.

My thoughts are that I want something used to reduce my environmental impact but that still has up to date security patches at a reasonably low cost. I would also like it to provide an acceptable user experience. A used Pixel 4a 5G looks like a great candidate for that.

Are you using this device? Does it provide a good user experience today? I'm looking for some opinions or perhaps suggestions for a device that might meet my requirements.

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[–] Devgard 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I believe the Pixel 4a may be losing updates soon as it is nearing its end for promised updates by Google.

What are your other choices of devices? Any brand you absolutely wouldn't want?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

According to the Google support page it looks like updates end in November which would be fine for the rest of this year. Ideally, I don't want it to be embarrassingly easy to exploit using known vulnerabilities, bypasses, etc.

I would prefer something running Android because that's what I'm familiar with, but it seems like that's a natural choice because the iPhone used market is more pricey. On the other hand, I'm trying not to support the junk that they sell at the very bottom of the new market.

Another device I looked at was the S10e, which is about the same price on the used market, but I think it just ended security updates making it slightly less up to date, but it's a pretty close contender. I don't think it's a bad option; I recognize I'll have to make compromises.

[–] Devgard 2 points 1 year ago

I think the 4a 5G will be a good pick. Just be careful as Google seems to be weird in allowing Pixels to use 4G/5G in markers that they aren't officially in.