[sunshineforever]

"You should have control over your own computers. Your phone should be your castle. True control means controlling your hardware and software. It means picking hardware that doesn’t depend on absolute trust in a vendor for its security, but gives you control over your own security so you don’t have to ask the vendor’s permission to use the computer how you wish. It means using a free operating system that lets you install whatever software you want and remove any software you don’t."

Has this ever been the case even since the very beginning of smartphones?

[joe_the_user]

No, smartphones have historically been under the control of the phone operators. But that doesn't mean it shouldn't be true. I'm looking forward to getting a Linux I control and which provides strong protections.

[int_19h]

WinMo and Symbian smartphones weren't, back in the day. At least, not outside of US.

[fsflover]

> Has this ever been the case even since the very beginning of smartphones?

Who cares? It can be true now: https://puri.sm/products/librem-5

[heavyset_go]

Yes, this was the case with webOS and Maemo/Meego.