The only bad thing about using android or iOS phones is the big red flag about privacy. Big Tech corporations are known for their use of their customer’s information and people are starting to realize just how far the rabbit hole goes. A lot of our data is collected by these companies which we unknowingly agree to since most of it is hidden in between the terms and conditions which people rarely read. But it seems that this MAGA branded phone is aiming to change that. Or is it?
The phone is called the Freedom Phone and as the name suggests, it is heavily marketed towards the Make America Great Again conservatives. Many of them don’t like that they are being constantly “spied on” by big corporations. But does the Freedom Phone actually do anything to counter that? The device launched last Thursday and is the product of Erik Finman who is a 22-year-old crypto millionaire.
Finman wants to help America’s patriots to take back control of their country and their lives from the tech companies. The Freedom Phone allegedly offers a way for conservatives to be free from Big Tech’s spying and information censorship but there aren’t any details on how exactly it does this. The phone itself runs on a modified version of Google’s Android OS so how are they going to stop Google’s spying? By the way, the OS is also called Freedom OS.
The OS aims to stop data collection that is inherently part of the iOS or Android operating system. The red flags don’t stop there. The FreedomOS also comes with an “uncensorable app store” called the PatriApp. Yup, Clearly not taking advantage of a political agenda. The app store will make it impossible for apps to be booted off no matter how unsafe they are. Since freedom and everything. The device also comes with apps like Signal, DuckDuckGo, and Brave that all provide many privacy-related features.
However, with apps like Parler, One America News Network, Newsmax, and Rumble coming pre-installed it becomes hard not to think that this phone is aimed at Trump supporters. According to Finman, “This is the first major pushback on the Big Tech companies that attacked us – for just thinking different. We’re finally taking back control”. The phone can also be seen being promoted by right-wing influencers and commentators on Twitter.
The biggest problem is that experts believe that the Freedom Phone is just a cheap phone from Asia that has been rebranded. According to Matthew Hickey, co-founder of Hacker House “Based on photographs from the company website a number of Internet sleuths identified that the device has the same form-factor, shape, and appearance of a Umidigi A9 Pro. This device is a drop-shipped customizable Android-based phone that can be ordered from ASIA PAC region and customized to a project’s requirements”.
The A9 Pro is also very cheap, coming in at around $120. If the phone doesn’t seem sketchy to you after all this then I guess it is the right phone for you. So before you buy it, make sure you know that this MAGA branded freedom phone, in reality, is a cheap Asian phone rebranded with a custom logo to cash in on the MAGA agenda.