(07-05-2021, 05:28 PM)moonwalkers Wrote: <snip>To be fair, when we were working on the Neo900 prototype(first with kill switches) the plan was design with 1-kill switches 2-hacker port then step 3-POCSAG pager receiver module for the hacking port.
Hardware kill switches are a great feature. But unless they are easily accessible on the outside of the phone (similarly to what Purism did with Librem 5) they are essentially useless outside of development context. Nobody sane enough is going to be opening up the back cover of their phone to flip the modem switch every time they want to start and finish a phone call. At least nobody with a modicum of social life. Same applies to all the other kill switches. Oh, and if you go radio-silent not only your cell phone provider can no longer track you, but the people suddenly no longer have a way to contact you. Unless you carry one of those one-way pagers, if anyone still remembers them.
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The idea was for people to have the option to go radio silent but not be offline as they had a pocket computer phone receiving alphanumeric pages.
Since it was down the road and the project lead got sick the project died at the prototype PCB stage, we never even really touched the practicalities of what we could accomplish with incoming pages, especially if you had a fully online machine able to forward encrypted messages or compressed news alerts.
If we can get the pogo-port POCSAG paging module into prototype(I need to find a reference ultra-low power UHF receiver IC that is also available) then a case back with paranoia switch extensions to actuate the dip switches through the case with a slider outside would be easy enough.