Advanced Security Vasudev's Mobile Security Config

[Ink]

Just got Pixel 7 a week ago. Should I create a new thread? Pixel June Feature Drop might be delayed to next week.

Were you unable to trade-in?

 

[Vasudev]

Were you unable to trade-in?

I didn't trade it in. The battery life was dropping and was getting slower. Found a deal and got it for same price as 4a.

 

[Vasudev]

Updated to June 2022 Feature drop on Pixel 4a and 7.

 

[Vasudev]

Updated to July 2023 SP. Faced thermal issue on Pixel 7 after half a day with temps peaking to 45c on 24c ambient temps otherwise it would be below 33C. Had to run bg-dexopt-job to fix the issue as it forced to run app optimizations in foreground.

 

[Vasudev]

Updated to August SP. 21MB size on 7 and 11MB on 4a.

 

[Ink]

Whatsapp, Threema, Google Messages RCS and Signal

Between these 4 apps;

• Which do you use the most?
• Which offers the best privacy features?
• Which is your overall personal preference?

 

[Vasudev]

Between these 4 apps;

• Which do you use the most?
• Which offers the best privacy features?
• Which is your overall personal preference?

• Whatsapp, Signal, Google Messages.
• Threema, Signal, Google Msgs, Whatsapp.
• convenience wise google msgs.

 

[Vasudev]

Pixel 4a reached EOL status and might not receive Android 14. Pixel 7 awaiting Android 14.

 

[Vasudev]

Seems like the update is delayed and we can expect Android 13 sept 2023 next week.

 

[Vasudev]

Updated to Sept SP update. The update size was around 12MB.

 

[SumTingWong]

How is the pixel 7 and battery life?

 

[Vasudev]

How is the pixel 7 and battery life?

Its been great. Out of the box just connecting to WiFi it was just hot at 50C. Had to enable dev options to unlock BL lock and flash latest available firmware/software through pixe repair website on MS Edge/Chromium browser. Google Pixel - Update and Software Repair
It asked to install adb and add it to env path and proceeded to flash the phone afterwards it was much cooler during setup/migration from 4a. <45C most of the time. I disabled dual sim standby and always ON mobile data which improved idle battery life overnight by 5-7%
5G is a battery hog and I've limited LTE/5G so 5G always being ON lasts only 4hrs whereas on LTE 5-6hrs. With WiFi connected always, I can manage 8-10hrs. Honestly, no lags or whatsoever whilst compared to 4a. WiFi/BT range is amazing.

 

[Vasudev]

Upgraded to Android 14 Oct 23. Geekbench scores are much lower and thermal trip point seems to be dropped fro 42C to 36/37C. I tried benching with fixed performance mode and didn't make a difference even after running pm bg-dexopt-job .

Noticed ADB has lot more option to cleanup old unused dex files/artifacts in adb shell. pm art cleanup
Compile all apps(disk usage will be same as OEM default speed-profile): pm compile -r bg-dexopt -a
Compile all apps with optimized for speed and increased disk usage:pm compile -r bg-dexopt -m speed -a
Set fixed perf mode: adb shell cmd power set-fixed-performance-mode-enabled true
unset fixed perf or adaptive performance: adb shell cmd power set-fixed-performance-mode-enabled false

 

[ForgottenSeer 103564]

Upgraded to Android 14 Oct 23. Geekbench scores are much lower and thermal trip point seems to be dropped fro 42C to 36/37C. I tried benching with fixed performance mode and didn't make a difference even after running pm bg-dexopt-job .

Noticed ADB has lot more option to cleanup old unused dex files/artifacts in adb shell. pm art cleanup
Compile all apps(disk usage will be same as OEM default speed-profile): pm compile -r bg-dexopt -a
Compile all apps with optimized for speed and increased disk usage:pm compile -r bg-dexopt -m speed -a
Set fixed perf mode: adb shell cmd power set-fixed-performance-mode-enabled true
unset fixed perf or adaptive performance: adb shell cmd power set-fixed-performance-mode-enabled false

I treat my pixel how i would a windows laptop, when windows upgrades came out i would clean install them, not upgrade them. Once the upgrade completed i factory reset it to a cleaned up version of 14, much better now.

 

[Vasudev]

I treat my pixel how i would a windows laptop, when windows upgrades came out i would clean install them, not upgrade them. Once the upgrade completed i factory reset it to a cleaned up version of 14, much better now.

With A/B seamless the apps resides in different partition/directory and only system files are moved from slot A or B. I don't see much different post 12L. With android 9,10,11,12L I have always upgraded to higher version, make a backup to g drive and then clean install or hard-reset. Its almost been 4 years since I've clean installed Win 10. I just do upgrade in-place nowadays due to avoid missing authenticator keys for company accounts on PC/Phone. Its hard to contact IT team to reset the auth keys.

 

[Vasudev]

I was able to achieve more than 8hrs SOT on Pixel 7 after owning it for 6 months just after upgrading to android 14. https://www.youtube.com/@vasudevmenon2496/community

 

[Vasudev]

Updated to Oct Google Play System Update.

 

[Vasudev]

Updated to Google Play System Update Nov 1 2023

 

[Vasudev]

Updated to Dec 2023 Feature Drop and Google Play system update for November 2023.
Updated Bitwarden KDF to OWASP recommended values.

 

[Vasudev]

Updated to Jan SP updates.