• GenderNeutralBro@lemmy.sdf.org
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    1 day ago

    The camera/mic kill switch sounds legit.

    The radio “kill switch” is just airplane mode. (Or rather, airplane mode as it used to be, since now it doesn’t actually turn off wi-fi or bluetooth by default in AOSP. But it’s still possible to turn off all the radios on any phone, so it’s weird to promote this as a special feature.)

    I suspect it is not possible to implement a physical kill switch on radios with off-the-shelf SOCs since the radios are integrated (I think).

      • GenderNeutralBro@lemmy.sdf.org
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        1 day ago

        Yeah, antennas are connected with cables, so that should be possible.

        I don’t know how effective it would be, though. I wonder if it would still get a very weak signal even without the external antenna.

        • Lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          1 day ago

          Radios can still work without an antenna - the range will just be measured in inches. If you’re like me and use multiple phones (work, personal, testing, etc), and keep at least two in one pocket… A cut antenna won’t do you much good.

          A real kill switch should cut power to the radio entirely. Which may be exactly what the software switch is doing. The radio controller may just be too integrated into the SoC to have a hardware kill switch.