Which Android phone does Donald Trump use?

[Denzil_DC]

The New York Times has reported that Donald Trump still tweets from the White House on his "old, unsecured Android phone, to the protests of some of his aides," contradicting earlier reports that the president had turned in the handset in exchange for a "secure, encrypted device approved by the Secret Service." It's difficult to know with 100% certainty which Android device Trump currently uses to tweet (or whether it's the off-the-shelf model he likely used during his campaign, or some secured variant.)

...

So there you go. Trump's personal Android phone is more than likely a Samsung Galaxy S3, released in 2012, and which last received a software update in mid-2015, with firmware based on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean.

As noted in the intro, we don't know for sure that Trump is still using this specific Galaxy S3. The two NYT reports conflict on whether he turned it in, or is still using it to fire out tweets from the White House. But if he is, and it's the same consumer GS3 model he was apparently using as of February 2016, it's safe to say it's a good three years out of step with the latest Android security updates. Many Android security scares have come and gone since the GS3 got its last update in August of 2015.

Naturally, there's huge (YUGE!) interest in which smartphone — secured, or otherwise — the most powerful man in the world is using. (And understandable concern over how protected it is from digital threats.) We may never have an entirely clear answer. Nevertheless, in 2017, a GS3 certainly fits the description of an "old, unsecure Android phone."

http://www.androidcentral.com/which-android-phone-does-donald-trump-use

[radical noodle]

1. Why would Trump use such an old phone?

I can't imagine him having anything other than the newest and best.

[Salviati]

2. The HTC G1

Because they've got extra chins and tiny balls.

[liberal N proud]

3. Whatever unsecured phone he is using...

As long as he continues to use it, he is a hypocrite, and should be subject to the same investigations as Hillary Clinton was. We're are all the republicans on this?

[Denzil_DC]

4. If true (and these folks know their stuff),

then this would be the same phone he was using when his Twitter account was hacked in 2013:

Link to tweet

Twitter is inherently insecure. The Obama administration was asked about that aspect of security, and said that all the security measures were at their end: nothing special about the official Twitter accounts.

There are sites that will tell you a lot about patterns of use on a Twitter account, such as: https://socialbearing.com

Trump's profile at https://socialbearing.com/search/user/realdonaldtrump indicates that the last tweet from that account was via Twitter Web Client.