[paradite]

Where did you buy that phone from and what brand was it?

I was under the impression that US does not allow selling of Android phones from most Chinese brands due to the reasons you mentioned, and for those that all allowed, they have strict vetting procedures to prevent phones with such capabilities from reaching the US market?

[codedokode]

The manufacturer's name is Shenzhen Huafurui Technology if it tells you anything. The brand name is Cubot. I do not live in US but one can buy such kind of phone on Amazon (if you search manufacturer's name there you can find it is even cheaper now).

It is good to hear that in some countries importing such phones is not allowed.

[r00fus]

Is there any real difference between buying on Amazon with an non-major brand and buying at Alibaba?

Seems like for items that involve things you care about (kids, your personal data), you take your chances buying from a vendor who might be an fly-by-night and in a jurisdiction that doesn't care about your local country's laws.

[whyagaindavid]

Did u search in the web to see if there is a clean AOSP or Cyanogenmod recompileable ROM before buying?

[paradite]

Sorry to hear your experience. Next time you'd be better off buying from a more established brand if you going to buy a phone of Chinese brand. Chances are, if they are officially selling outside China, they would have met some the requirements from the respective countries. I know Europe and US has strict privacy laws and that's why you can't buy such phones through official channels.

[throthaway]

Unless you've purchased phones from all the "more established" brands and verified whether they're sending data, this is hardly sound advice.

"More established" brands have a history of leaving secret backdoors and phoning home just the same as the Chinese devices.

One was discovered in a range of Samsung devices just a couple years ago. Lenovo, same story, spyware and garbage hidden deep within their gadgets.

The only solution is to take a chance, buy a device, test it. If it's backdoored, return it if you can, and call them out on HN/Amazon reviews, etc.

[paradite]

That seems rather pessimistic. If you really don't trust any brands, what's wrong with directly buying from the tech companies instead of the manufacturers? Like Google Nexus (Pixel), Microsoft Windows Phone and iPhone. They are supposed to the industrial standards for how to do privacy correctly.

[YUPampessimist]

When a simple Google search reveals the exact pattern mentioned occurring again and again, not just with phones but with networking gear, laptops, TV's, IoT devices, CDs (Sony rootkit anyone?), and websites loaded to the max with trackers and secret downloads onto people's machines, it moves from pessimism to "this is just how it works."

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. You want crap free gadgets, make them sell crap free gadgets by ratting them out when they sell gadgets loaded with crap.

[paradite]

I am okay with the skepticism you have here but is there really a reason to create two throwaway accounts just to reply to me?

Do you happen to know me in real life? I can't think of another reason for this.

[hackuser]

What standards are you talking about? I don't know of any. AFAIK, the standard is to monitor users and collect as much data on them as possible. The whole Internet runs on that model.

[codedokode]

The market could be driving that. If you don't spy on a user then your competitor would do and get ahead of you (and get additional profit from selling the data or showing relevant advertisement).

Microsoft didn't have any telemetry in earlier days. Now they turned to a dark side.

[codedokode]

Even if I bought a Samsung (that is established brand, isn't it) or Apple phone I still would have to trust the manufacturer that it would not spy on me even if requested by NSA. I know that Samsung adds additional software into Android, they might have some kind of analytics too.

[dopamean]

Have you not heard of OnePlus?

[paradite]

Yes, I know. I mean most brands, notably ZTE and Huawei. I am sure OnePlus is an exception here and does not fall into the category of phones with such capabilities otherwise it would have faced similar destinies as ZTE and Huawei. Anyway, I edited my comment to reflect that.

[yolesaber]

Is OnePlus a good phone? Been wanting an Android phone but can't seem to settle on one

[redwards510]

Yes. I replaced my Nexus6 with a OnePlus3 ($400) because paying the Pixel's price ($950) would have made me feel like a sucker. The screen is excellent, and there is a wide variety of ROMs to choose from.

[fzzzy]

Where on earth did you get that impression?