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holy shit, are they learning?
i think the "china government spying on you" argument is looking increasingly pathetic even in the most libbed out reddit spaces
our government is working with Thiel to build an actual, real social credit system on every single person. I would pay China to take all my data and hide it for safekeeping in the CPC secret server room if that was an option
if i'm lucky i'll get an expedited tourist visa or something if/when i ever go visit
Frankly, I am far, far less concerned about the Chinese government spying on me than I am the same about the US government. What's China really going to do with my data, maybe deny me a visa if I try to visit there? Maybe study urban commuting patterns to aim their nukes? Use that data to make more effective propaganda?
Compare that to the US government, my own government. That's a government I actually have to worry about seriously harming me. Unless I choose to physically get on a plane and fly to Beijing, China having my data is going to have very little impact on my life. In contrast, the US government might subject me to arrest, detention, persecution because I'm a member of a targeted demographic group, due to my political activities, etc.
Be a shame for the Chinese government to have all my data. They could use it to.. uh.. they would.. no, I really can't think of anything that doesn't include giving it to US corporations.
It would unironically be a good thing for westerners if Chinese phones actually did send data to the CPC. Because there's nothing the Chinese government can do to worsen your life, but you could be confident that your base software is vetted by world experts who are ensuring the phone isn't sending data going to the US or corporations, who frequently illegally abuse that data to your direct detriment.
That probably one of the best argument I heard here. I didn't think about this before, but giving data to Chinese instead of US can put you out of the surveillance from US. That a really valid point for Europeans.
Plus I've always tried to tell people like, what's the Chinese government going to do with your data? Extradite you to for posting about Tienanmen Square? Meanwhile the US gov can and will use your data to fabricate evidence for just about any crime imaginable if you become a person of interest, so just on a purely individualistic level your data is better off going to China than any US corporation or government institution.
Still not 100% safe. We can still be targeted by spy if in a high position or working on sensitive systems, but that the same if data go to China or US. May depend of your personal taste in matter of spy agents.
China isn’t part of the fourteen eyes.
Yeah, privacy good but I still laugh at how the same hogs who are all about “muh freedumz” and 4chan edgelords are both the same people claiming it’s my “patriotic duty” to be spied on and “if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear!”
Tired of bad (🇨🇳) government spying on my phone, I want to go back to GOOD (🇺🇸) government spying on my phone
They send your data to the Chinese government!!!11!
Ok. Xi, if you're listening, I would make a model citizen
Meanwhile, my country's government harvests my data so it can determine if I should be in prison, and corporations harvest it so they can send me targeted ads
Corporations also harvest your data to give to the government to send you prison.
Plus, the government harvests your data to give to corporations to send you targeted ads. It's all a big happy family.
Cutting usaid funding really improved reddit
communism no iphone!
capitalism no xiaomi
The anglo internet is isolating itself from all this incredible chinese tech too. Do a search for best smartphone of 2025, and you likely won't see oneplus, honor, xiaomi, huawei, realme, or nubia.
I just did this for best EREV of 2025. The results were US car companies' future plans, despite the fact that chinese erev's are already out and breaking the 800 mile per charge mark.
i got banned from the nobara discord over this, tech spaces filled with lib americans are so insufferable. i asked someone why they were more worried about a foreign govt on the other side of the world having their data than their own govt, and to their credit they honestly responded "idk". another guy was more dug in and i asked him why he is racist and he refused to engage. so i started spelling it out and got banned cause anything other than state department lines breaks the "no politics" rule ofc. there was another guy in there saying he had been doing interviews for 3 letter agencies.
"china could be spying on me from their phones" aside from the obvious "western governments are too" and the secondary obvious that china could just buy data from western companies anyways western made commincations devices CAN BLOW UP IN YOUR POCKET DUE TO SECRETELY PLANNED EXPLOSIVE DEVICES AND KILL YOUR FAMILY AND ALL THE COUNTRY WOULD HAVE TO DO IS SAY THEY WERE TARGETTING TERRORISTS AND BAM YOU ARE DEAD AND THERE IS NO RECOURSE AGAINST THE PEOPLE WHO KILLED YOU
am i going to worry that china knows what kind of depraved porn im into or where i ate lunch today or am i going to worry about my phone being used in a state-sanctioned terrorist attack????
The Chinese will steal your data
Oh no! Anyways
They stole all my data! I don't have any data anymore! 
did y'all know "rugged" phones are a thing? they look like rubber bricks but with like pretty decent smartphone specs and oh
22000+mah batteries 
kinda surprised I've never seen one IRL because
22000+mah batteries
22000+mah batteries
22000+mah batteries
like not gonna lie I like the thought of charging my phone once a week
I have a OnePlus 12 and its my favorite phone I've ever had. I sometimes take the case off to admire it because I'm a freak and because its a beautiful emerald green.
Problem is that most of the Chinese companies don't include all the necessary cell bands on their phones for the US so service and/or speed can be a little worse or very significantly worse than something from Google or Samsung.
But you get a device that usually has higher resolution and better overall specs for the same price.
OnePlus, despite the only company to sell domestic versions of their phones, still removed some bands from the 13 series that were in the 12.
I hate the US cellphone monopoly.
Same, oneplus 12R, best phone I've ever had. The fast charging on chinese phones completely eliminated any battery anxiety. Like 10m of charging gets you from 0-50%
Same here, the battery charges so fast and lasts so long, the haptic motor feels good, the camera zoom is nice, and it's a good display. I was dumb and didn't use a case for a while, dropped it, and now there's a big crack in the glass back.
I ask this as someone who's unhappily been using Samsung for a decade, is this true? I'd love for my next phone to not be from that terrible company.
I wish "Chinese spying" mattered as much to me as Western gov spying. I might go visit China one more time before I die, whereas my government seems willing to disappear leftists and I live here.
It's true that you typically get more for your dollar when buying from just about any Chinese company like OnePlus, Xiaomi, etc. I mentioned it in my comment above though, the only issue is sometimes cell service bands that are/aren't built into the device. If you're in Europe, it's less of a problem. But it can suck in the US. It can also be a pain to activate on carriers if they don't officially support it. Some of them will refuse entirely, others will work fine, and some you will need to activate on a supported phone and then move the SIM to the new Chinese phone.
For example with cell phone bands, the Honor Magic 7 Pro (which doesn't make phones specifically for the US market) vs. the One Plus 12 (which has a US store and domestic/global version), and finally a Google Pixel 8 Pro (which has all bands for all networks).
I hate Pixels, but if network coverage and speed while traveling is important to you, there's no beating Google/Samsung/Motorola, etc. There will frequently be times where my partner has service on their Pixel in the middle of the woods while mine stopped working before we even entered the forest. In exchange, my phone doesn't overheat for no reason and has a significantly larger battery that charges in 20 min.
I switched from a ZFold 5 to a Vivo XFold 3 Pro, and I couldn't be happier. Switching was very easy, and I was able to load all my apps and files to the new phone with no issues.
I'd prob make my next phone a Chinese one if grapheneOS supported it and it wasn't too big. Unfortunately neither of those things are particularly likely ;_;
The deepest irony of reducing the amount of presence Google has in my life is the fact I needed one of their phones to do it.
:yea:
Maybe it's the cut CIA staff/budget
All I really want is a 16:9 phone that you can take the battery out of, that has decent storage and compatibility.
Are there any Chinese phones that fit this? I'd settle for 18:9 as well.
It continues to upset me that we moved away from removable batteries, otherwise I could have just two batteries and a battery charger. No need to plug your phone in for 4 hours a day, just swap the battery out when it's low, job done. Going on a long trip? Charge both batteries and bring 'em. Battery sucks? Just change it! Mobile power banks? Not necessary, my battery is that. Brittle phone charge cables I constantly lose? No need. Three kinds of phone chargers for USB, wall outlet, and car? Nah, just charge my battery at a wall whenever.
I am equally upset by companies moving away from the golden ratio. Although if you want a paradigm where everyone's always scrolling and never reading, that's the way to do it.
only reason i have a pixel is for the call screening which is immensely useful to me because I get at least 2 - 3 spam calls a day if not more.. if it wasn't for that i'd never buy another pixel as long as i lived
Pretty sure the google phone app just does that by default. I have it on my Motorola phone
call screening? where it answers for you and you can read what they say in real time so you can decide if its a fake call or not?
Oh, no sorry. When I get a spam call it will say "spam suspected" or something like that so I know not to answer it
ah yeah.. that's somewhat helpful, but the screening thing is freaking amazing. it actually talks to them and you can have it ask questions to help determine if they're a real person or not.. and also to tell people to stop calling you and hang up on them.
I bought an Honor after Huawei got banned in Europe and they have both been the best phones I've ever owned. Very cheap, great battery life, sufficient camera, lots of storage, great performance.
Honestly I don't respect people who drop 500 bucks on an iPhone just because they're loyal to the brand.
Dollar for dollar the Chinese manufacturers are delivering better specs for sure.
Bear in mind though that the spying people get bent out of shape about is not the domestic spying they ought to be worried over. American cops, border patrol and intelligence agencies have devoted much, much more time and money into being able to get into android and specifically Chinese devices.
Owners of these devices should completely wipe them before traveling abroad or times when they expect to encounter phone snatching cops.
As someone who's used Xiaomi for years and years, had a Pixel too - the only thing that it doesn't beat western stuff with is cameras.
Unfortunately it is definitely true that iPhones take the nicest pictures - sure, sure, show me your best Samsung or Huawei images, or the highly regarded Pixel camera software - maybe you can capture the occasional landscape better - but pound for pound none of the phones I've ever had have taken nicer pictures than my partners outdated iPhone. Very annoying.
No phone takes good pictures though. If you zoom in they're a blurry, machine-learning "enhanced" mess.
Nothing beats an actual camera.
turns out the laws of physics (a larger lens) trumps software enhancement every time
Ah yea, real lenses can be biig.
Pretty sure ive seen Xiaomi phones with stats that btfo western shit, something like a 200mp camera with a Zeiss manufactured lens and shit
Yeah there are Ultra flagships with fucking giant cameras
Iphone pictures are mostly software. I'm sure they'll get there eventually.