Our smartphones all come with privacy controls, but given that they are software-based, how sure are you that when you flip the switch that it really does what it says it does? For those of you who are a little paranoid about this kind of stuff, then you might be interested in checking out the PinePhone created by Pine64.

This is because the PinePhone actually comes with physical kill switches that lets you physically disable certain aspects of the smartphone. This includes being able to turn off the phone’s modem, WiFi or Bluetooth, the microphone, the cameras, and also headphones. These kill switches quite literally kills the connection to those specific components, meaning that if you flip the switch to turn off the cameras, you know for sure that they are disabled.

However, we should point out that this isn’t an Android smartphone. It runs on a Linux-based operating system which means that it might lack certain features that you might want from a smartphone. However, if the need for privacy is too great for you to ignore, then it might be worth checking out.

It could also act as a secondary smartphone where you could use it to take to places where there might be sensitive information that you don’t want your phone to potentially capture. It might seem a bit extreme, but the company has been selling such devices since 2015 so clearly there is a market for it. You can head on over to its website for more details on the PinePhone.

Filed in Cellphones. Read more about , and . Source: androidpolice

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