The Weird, Terrible Smartphones They Only Have in North Korea

[@Strykenine]

Everyone and their mother is scared of North Korea, but once Nintendo finds out they're using an unlicensed Mario ripoff on their smartphone the DPRK will suddenly be part owned by a Tokyo law firm.

[@coobk]

dang japan tryna conquer korea again?

[@the_infinity_]

​​​@@coobkonly the north this time so they have cut back on their ambitions

[@mrfrog0913]

​@@coobk No Nintendo's conquering it

[@aryankumar9231]

This shit is damn funny 😂😂

[@MrDanielcesar]

Nothing is stronger than Nintendo's will to sue the heck out of everyone

[@jangschoen1019]

So they get Angry Birds Star Wars and not us?

[@RoseQuartz692]

Unfair I know

[@Nefariously_ignorant]

I feel like I played that so long ago, I might've had to get the APK online tho, which is easy, if you do want the game

[@vorqoo]

😮 since when it was took down? I remember playing it again like last year or 2 for a while

[@imveryangryitsnotbutter]

@@RoseQuartz692 This is outrageous! It's unfair!

[@jooei2810]

This rubs me like the sand, which is coarse and itchy!

[@EnigmaticGentleman]

Each phone coming with Super Mario Galaxy is genuinely really cool, someone over there actually has good taste in games

[@d9zirable]

Based on their hardware I have a feeling it's not actually Mario Galaxy

[@RoseQuartz692]

No​@@d9zirable

[@circuit10]

@@d9zirableYes, there’s no way some cheap low spec phone can handle that, it’s quite intensive to emulate

[@BubbleTea033]

It's likely the ARM port made for the Nvidia Shield in China. It's actually an official port. It isn't supposed to be on smartphones, but China don't care.

[@circuit10]

@@BubbleTea033 I feel like these phones are nowhere near as powerful as a Nvidia Shield though

[@tupcho33]

As a person who works in the field of telecom - i can assure you at least 2000 calls come out from NK daily, some seem to be legit calls and not just NK pretending to have external connectivity

[@Sashazur]

Of course some calls are legit, the government does interact with the outside world to get things done. But I’ll still bet the majority of them are fake, same way they have actors pretending to be busy commuters when tour groups visit the train station, etc.

[@thebasketballhistorian3291]

If true, my guess is they're all being made by those working in the government.

[@anne.andromeda]

There are actually quite a few embassies with foreign dimplomats, as well as foreign workers, who probably have access to outside communications

[@cehaem2]

@@anne.andromeda foreign embassies use encrypted VoiP or Sat phones. But yes, there's a considerable amount of expats living in NK, especially the Chinese. Until recently Germany would have a a resident German Tutor at the Kim Il Sung Uni. In one of the resorts there's a Czech guy running a brewery. There are Russians as well.

[@zg3342]

That’s not surprising. The elite and high ranking government employees of NK have access to cell phones. The NK government also has many contacts and people to talk to outside of NK. They do have an outdated cell network and outdated internet.

[@NigelMelanisticSmith]

I'm a sucker for a good gimmick, and can admit that I'd love the gimmick of going to a real store just to download an app lol.

[@NightmareRex6]

i guess some developer could set that up where sell usbs or cs filled with the apps or something.

[@NigelMelanisticSmith]

@@NightmareRex6 exactly. They'd catch me hook line and sinker.

[@malo6748]

I remember back when Sony Ericsson was still relevant you could go in some cinemas in germany, activate bluetooth and you would get a bunch of trailer videos, artworks, ringtones and little java games for running movies.

[@Justinbill8205]

Boo 😒

[@monkeyglory2905]

well it ain't app store but app goes in store

[@Ridcally]

It's cool how windows recall is actually north Korean technology

[@koimananana]

Mm yes, bery bery privacy

[@honor9lite1337]

Ok siap

[@SECONDQUEST]

You'd be wrong to think the North Korean civilian spying is anywhere near US spying. My guy, the NSA builds data centers on top of the massive cables that send internet traffic and they use wifi to see through walls. North Korea bad, obviously, but recall is certainly American. Microsoft wants to train its AI after all. Whomever has the strongest will control the flow of information.

[@rubiconnn]

Apple's walled garden approach to allowed apps is just like north korea too! So innovative!

[@KafshakTashtak]

So far ahead of their time.

[@KieranBorovac]

Just to let y'all know: KZbin has a feature where you can upload a transcript of the video and it automatically generates a closed caption track with the right timings. Presumably you already have a script for these videos, so you can just copy that in and get accurate subtitles for very little extra work. Just noting this for accessibility :)

[@effbar2400]

No!!

[@jordansean18]

Auto-generated captions always makes me turn off captions because of how distracting they are... And that's from someone who doesnt rely on them as the primary dialogue source

[@kai-o-kai]

​@@jordansean18Pretty sure auto generated captions are different. Auto generated captions listen to the video and try to hear what words you say, this would take in a transcript

[@lessefrost]

Guys this is auto "putting the blurb from the script at the right time in the video". Not auto transcription. Different thing

[@HappyPurpleFella]

hehehe, reminds me of the program I am creating to download all of the transcripts from a channel.

[@General12th]

Hi Sam! Huge shout out to Amy braving the Korean DMZ to steal one of these phones herself, just to provide the b-roll for this video. She deserves a raise!

[@thestateofalaska]

nice try, amy

[@Jomuerudoumandanberarumino]

I hope she's still alive and well

[@ZaRumpelstiltskin]

Amy should be vary of suspicious 📦 packages.

[@billclockwell]

She had to trade her ozempic prescription with kim

[@theundead5419]

I am surprised to learn that they even have smartphones.

[@Cacodevidro432]

I was going to say Samsung but it came from South Korea

[@MrLobsterity]

Government-watched social networks were a modern invention they could not resist to copy.

[@zawadix9574]

Me too 😅

[@fajarmaulanaramadan7438]

They have touchscreen newspaper stand in their metro station

[@PotatoGaming123]

They got 5 angry birds and a super mario galaxy? What the fuck dude, this is unfair

[@LinhNguyen-ix6br]

Lol

[@carspn1]

Wait this isn't MKBHD

[@GoldenBlue...]

Only Sam can get his hands on north Korean phones.... with help from amy

[@mrnarason]

Mbkhd is not technical enough to make such a video

[@Kintah]

And thank God for that

[@honor9lite1337]

But Why 😮​@@mrnarason

[@Hikari0307]

This is more of an LTT thing

[@clamdove3292]

i wonder how often north korean cellphones run out of storage space because of how many screenshots the phone has taken. i wonder what you do when that happens. do you just go to the government and say "hey can you remove these screenshots so i can download another game pls"

[@jessicaregina1956]

Very often.

[@stephengnb]

I would say the screenshots eventually get uploaded to a NK government server, but then again, I would be surprised if NK could manage a server to store them.

[@cabbelos]

@@stephengnb I don't think the government needs the screenshots. It's sort of like the panopticon. The user just needs to know they could be watched at any point without them knowing when. Nobody needs to actually watch them in order for this to be effective.

[@somelokyguy6466]

I do appliance service calls for a living and this old dude with a TCL TV keeps calling up saying his TV isn't working. The fault is always caused by the onboard storage filling up until GoogleTV crashes, despite there being no saved media on it. The guy lives remotely with no internet so all the collected data just piles up and has nowhere to go. GoogleTV is supposed to delete old data but for some reason his stopped doing that some time outside the warranty period. I just factory reset the TV and re-disable the data collection services, then it's good for another 9ish months lol.

[@algirdasltu1389]

Weird... reminds me of another company trynna do that. Cant recall who they are tho...

[@thelakeman2538]

Plugging in a keyboard to an android phone is a standard feature, as long as your device supports otg which is every device made in the last 8-10 years. Considering android uses the linux kernel, every plug and play keyboard and mice should just work, they've in my experience at least.

[@Jump-n-smash]

What’s otg? I use a ps/2 keyboard on my android phone using a ps/2 to usb-a converter connected to a usb-a to usb-c converter

[@noedem1690]

​@@Jump-n-smashusb on-the-go, it basically means that the device (smartphone in this case) can either play the computer or the peripheral

[@victordavalos246]

Every device in the las 8-10 "should" be compatible but not every manufacturer enables it, at least not every low end device

[@tristan6509]

Heck, you can even plug a USB floppy drive and read floppy disks, if you need to do that for whatever reason...

[@Gamer3427]

@@tristan6509 I can't count the number of times I randomly needed to copy something off a floppy disk onto my phone. Probably because I've never had to do it even once.

[@U.S.A.]

0:08 You can do this with any Android phone, you can also connect a mouse to it, so if you've dropped your phone and the touchscreen isn't working, then you can plug a mouse into it and you can control your phone with that.

[@Xiquinhodasilva99]

Nokias from 2008 were doing this already lol.

[@PortocaliusMaximus]

also works with xbox controllers over bluetooth

[@retrictumrectus1010]

The last part is not exactly true. Some smartphones turn OTG off by default, maybe to save power. I know because I tried all the phones and tablets I have control over.

[@benfll]

True, but it's unusual that that's a selling point of a smartphone

[@ryan7zip]

Todo mundo sabe disso

[@mfaizsyahmi]

1:44 Orascom, the Egyptian infra company: "Yallah, the North Koreans tricked us and stole our stuff!" Volvo: "First time?"

[@afwagner]

Sam, you’re not helping yourself get a season of JetLag filmed in North Korea.

[@teelo12000]

The North Korea season of Jet Lag: first team to escape from North Korea without getting murdered wins.

[@wyldrice]

I’m waiting for the jet lag Canada season

[@丫o]

Why we talking about a French film from 2002?

[@wyldrice]

@@丫o huh

[@into_the_void]

I want to know about the underground north Korean phone rooting market... I'm sure it exists

[@SirFaceFone]

Very dangerous I'd imagine, especially if they load in western media which is punishable by law. The software phones home all activity to the government.

[@baksatibi]

On one hand it must be incredibly difficult to find any technical information and tools without access to the internet. On the other hand this has happened before, there were Hungarian game developers and cracker groups behind the Iron Curtain in the 80's (see the Moleman Longplay and Stamps Back documentaries).

[@davidjennings2179]

They probably just import phones that don't have those restrictions, otherwise they'd be restricted to the NK intranet too

[@mikea5745]

@@davidjennings2179 Rooting just refers to the end-user getting root privileges which are otherwise restricted

[@VoAviation]

​@@davidjennings2179I don't think rooting can remove the intranet restriction - that's controlled by the cell network towers, not the device

[@citratune7830]

At least the NSA makes it inconvenient for me to know what they do, instead of making it visible on the phone.

[@AnotherAustin-z7b]

They just blame it on foreign spyware

[@JanoZZZ]

Sorry, but the foul at 5:20 was never a yellow card…

[@aYTcommenter]

He pulled and pushed him

[@PsRohrbaugh]

Long-time Samsung DeX user. Connecting a keyboard and mouse to your phone is surprisingly useful when traveling light (like unplug them from someone else's computer). Can get a lot of real office work done.

[@jameswalker68]

Probably a dumb question - do u just connect them through the phones Bluetooth?

[@PsRohrbaugh]

@@jameswalker68 that's supported and I've done it, but the phone came with a dock, with HDMI for a monitor and a USB port for accessories. So you could just plug in a USB keyboard and mouse. Also supported some printers and other random things.

[@rickrollingwithstyle3928]

I feel like I never hear about DeX except in KZbin videos that go like "wow look it this quirky thing it's called dex lol lmao." Glad to see that it's a thing people actually use!

[@PsRohrbaugh]

@@rickrollingwithstyle3928 I didn't use it often, but the times I used it, I really loved the option. Went to visit family for a week and my laptop died. Dex was good enough to hold me over until I got back home and got a new laptop from work. Also used it in hotels to watch Netflix etc full-screen just by plugging in the hdmi to the TV.

[@PsRohrbaugh]

@@rickrollingwithstyle3928 oh and the pen built into the note 9 had a button on it that would work as a remote. Only play / pause but better than nothing

[@whycantwebefriendzz]

You already know DankPods is trying to get his hands on one of these immediately after watching this

[@AAlgeria]

Fr

[@punchdrunkassassin]

A North Korean nugget 😌

[@mxjeonsgw]

He'd love to make a video on that phone lmao

[@thecoolestofthe834s2]

to norf koreor from dank i want phone will give review good for dprk ~ dankpods probably

[@naattxxnaattxx7055]

There is no escaping the 1 grit..

[@Tarkov.]

The mosquito noise isn't to make bugs go away, it's to annoy children (originally targeted at teenagers) They've used it in some malls and it's obnoxious and a lot of people can still hear the sound well after being teenagers (I can still hear it and I'm in my 30s)

[@jgunner280]

Its kind of amazing to me that they have something this heavily regulated, and still decide there is a dedicated, pure app to antagonize other people with.

[@ToastyMozart]

And people wonder why kids don't want to leave the house anymore.

[@riggs20]

They had this outside this Sears in my local mall back in the 90s. I think it was called the cricket. At the time, my brother and I were kids. We had no idea what it was, but we always heard this annoying electronic sound at the entrance. Our parents could not hear it.

[@estellebright2579]

It depends on the frequency they are using. The higher it goes the younger people in general such device will target. I can’t hear those high pitch noise anymore and I’m also in my 30s.

[@adog3129]

@@riggs20 that should be illegal. like even if you're ok with kicking teenagers out of public spaces, isn't it literally most effective on babies

[@Irelandballofficial]

0:35 “I just wanna be part of your symphony!!!” Ahh Home Screen 😂

[@MarkAngeloMontero-k4y]

Nice catch

[@mahaswetachandsarkar2782]

The brainrot has arrived

[@NovasVLOGAR]

I THOUGHT THAT TOO 😂

[@alanparmar2797]

no way they get memes earlier than us lmao

[@DtWolfwood]

Tricking Corps to build you something then immediately nationalize it is pretty funny and OK with me ngl

[@AnotherAustin-z7b]

"how dare you use my own technique against me"

[@gappergob6169]

It was not tricking. The contractor knew, just need some justification.

[@AwesomeWill28]

Pink smartphone? I’m sold

[@JoeFajita]

4:42 I cannot explain my irrational hatred for Bobbing Icon Head Guy.

[@Preston241]

He is incredibly hateable.

[@Beegs164]

Bobbing Icon Head Guy is the unnecessary red circle that talks and moves.

[@alangdplayer6314]

"Joined 17 years ago" wow

[@XxZeldaxXXxLinkxX]

​@@alangdplayer6314finally an account older than mine!

[@Ovenman940]

pngtubers need to go

[@priyanshusharma1812]

5:57 its funny how these phones have more transparancy about their spying than western phones

[@gredangeo]

North Korean government has no fear of anything. As far as the public is concerned, this level of spying is normal. Westerners have to lie to themselves that the spying isn't going on.

[@adventurefighter7501]

Our phones also tells you. But everyone either has no choice but to agree, or being loyal and trusting the agencies behind it. They sugarcoat everything (of course), but it’s in the Terms & Conditions. You can randomly say “siri” and siri immediately pops up, this shows that it’s consuming that battery 24/7 at the very least, let alone the fact that they could turn it into a live mic on the other side.

[@interstella0]

the automatic screenshot looks exactly like what Microsoft Copilot do for their Recall feature.

[@Xiquinhodasilva99]

​@adventurefighter7501 you are not giving consent you are being forced, otherwise you cannot use anything whatsoever. Live mic? The propaganda your phone showsd you when you say stuff around it is not coincidence, since 2012. Snowden warned about this.

[@Xiquinhodasilva99]

​@@interstella0 what if I tell you they have been doing shady things like this for long time, or you thing the "send diagnose to Microsoft" is optional? Even if you don't select it, it still send your info.

[@1wJan]

A phone that spy on you and take a screenshot every time you open an app... That sounds really bad... Until you remember Microsofts terrible idea of recall that takes a screenshot every 3-5 seconds 😂 It is like Microsoft looked at this phone and thought, hey this privacy instructing feature seems really creepy, lets copy that and make it even worse 😂😂😂

[@damlatorun6756]

3:53 YOU’RE TELLING ME THEY GET ANGRY BIRDS SPACE AND NOT US??? SIGN ME UP

[@jonathanthegoober]

Good news for you, if you have an android, you can just install the APK file

[@frozencatcake]

We did

[@sangramjit2966]

@@jonathanthegoober yeah, via 3rd party resources!

[@prfwrx2497]

With NATISIGN and SELFSIGN, doesn't this mean its impossible to share photos even among North Korean smartphones? After all it won't have a NATISIGN and the SELFSIGN wouldn't match.

[@traviskingful]

if thats truly how it works then yes that would be the case. I would think they would have a way to do it somehow though

[@KafshakTashtak]

Sounds like the best Anti-piracy software. Don't let Hollywood and Music Industry or anyone find about it.

[@baksatibi]

If they use X.509 then SELFSIGN could be a root or an intermediate certificate and the phone could actually sign files with a unique end-entity certificate signed by SELFSIGN. This way you can share files across phones because every phone trusts SELFSING and therefore certificates signed with SELFSIGN. This is especially useful because only the end-entity certificate's private key needs to be stored on the phone and if anyone can read and use it to sign unauthorized files it can be traced back to the individual phone.

[@dieseldragon6756]

If I understand Juche governance correctly, this would be an intentional feature. The selfsign function is obviously aimed at making _any_ device-created content directly associable to the device (And user) which created it, but it *also* means that uncontrolled distribution of content among the populace fails at the first hurdle. No easier way to quell a revolution than by making it impossible for people to open photos/images created by anybody else, eh? 🖼⛔😇 I get the impression that people in DPRK _might_ be permitted to share photos with friends and family members though. Unlike in the west - Where we select an image(s) and tap „Share“- The way it's done in DPRK is to take your phone to the App Store (🤣) and tell the clerk which photos you want to share and with whom. After being screened for permissibility the photos you want to share will be printed out and handed to you so you can take them down the post office and send them to friends via an envelope and stamp... 😉

[@LostieTrekieTechie]

Not necessarily, but it would make it possible to trace the origins of any images

[@abdullahahmedsyed6238]

I need the app that makes bugs go away.

[@nazamroth8427]

That is an ancient thing, even my W810i had it many moons ago. It does not work. In hindsight, I doubt the speakers can even create the promised frequencies.

[@GraniteGolem]

me too i need them out of my skin

[@acesn8s89]

Even if it worked you’d just be trading one type of bug for another 😂

[@lonestarr1490]

You already have that pre-installed on your phone. It's also always running, kind of like a widget of sorts. All you have to do is to apply your phone to the bug in question with sufficient momentum. You can even do that by throwing, if you don't want your hand to get to close to said bug. But be warned: the free version of the app does not include aim assist.

[@dieseldragon6756]

So does everybody working at Microsoft. 🙃

[@d9zirable]

3:59 IS THAT TRAFFIC RACER

[@abishek786]

Yes!!!!

[@c7dmz30]

omg they can drive recklessly, thx kim jong whatever

[@n_core]

Omg, yes! I used to play it all the time when I was bored as a teen. That's like a decade ago. Wow, time really flies...

[@DrCharlesMontague]

I’m wondering if they filtered out the decadent western cars and put in Pyeonghwa Hwiparams in their place?

[@jareknowak8712]

This country has nuclear weapons. They know how to make a stupid phone.

[@dieseldragon6756]

The USSR _also_ knew how to build atomic weapons. Atomic weapons that were clearly efficient and viable, as the presence of them formed one side of an MAD deadlock which kept the World in suspense for a good fourty years. ☢ I once considered Soviet engineering capability and resource availability to try to determine what a USSR-developed smartphone might look like. I came up with something that would be able to withstand a nuclear holocaust...But which was at least the size of an 80s luggable PC, driven by a separate lead-acid truck battery, and could display six lines (80 cols) of Cyrillic text and practically no graphics at all... 😋 Oh, aye: Backdoor KGB access was included as standard, and accounted for at least half the kit in the phone. 🕵

[@jareknowak8712]

@@dieseldragon6756 And with all this they were still able to be first on space.....?

[@kingeling]

Completely irrelevant technologies lmao

[@jareknowak8712]

@@kingeling You just dont understand how progress works and dont know how mamy years has past since the "space wars" era.

[@kingeling]

@@jareknowak8712 Oh then please explain, rationally, how a country that is specialized in developing nuclear arms is logically supposed to be good at developing phones as well. I'm sure you know better.

[@CallMeVidd]

Ok but who would win between the north korean army and Nintendo finding out they’re illegally emulating a game of theirs

[@taciprince7400]

I stopped listening once he said it comes with free super Mario galaxy sign me up

[@MexiChemia]

I'm pretty sure it can't run it

[@luklaair]

me too

[@丫o]

I didn’t read your comment, but just wanted to say that I love apples

[@adog3129]

@@MexiChemia someone in another comment thread says there's an official chinese arm port, so it's probably that

[@MexiChemia]

@@adog3129 I didn't know that, damn, an arm port, I'd like to try that

[@BernhardWelzel]

This is so barbaric. We at least have the NSA/CIA wiretap all communications and datacenters, saving a lot of space on the devices and making the process so much more "democratic". Of course you can complain about this practice to a non-existing court, unless you get transported to a non-existing gov site and get tortured for not being "patriotic" enough.

[@Renwoxing13]

I hope I am not ignorant here, because from what I remember: Even though the spirit of your comment is true, that's not how it works. Canada spies and holds data on the United States, the United States does the same to Germany, Germany to Canada, Britain to France, and on and on and on and on. In one big circle-yerk ! So *TECHNICALLY* , the United States isn't violating any of your *"God-Given"* rights, freedoms, or privacies. *And they do say that "Technically Correct" is the best kind of correct !¡!•¡!¡•!¡!*

[@BernhardWelzel]

@@Renwoxing13 this is not true. Basically the United States spies on everybody, elect to kidnap and kill citizens of any other country at will and is generally above the rule of law. Non European countries does any of this stuff. So i disagree: TECHNICALLY the united states is constantly violating human rights and at a much larger scale then any of the "evil" countries. North Korea might kill you if you are stupid enough to enter the country, but you are pretty safe from it in your own country. This is NOT true for the United States, who happily does whatever it want on foreign soil. I am certain, if a big Oil reserve would be found in Belgium the US would invade the country within 6 months, claiming that Belgium was developing weapons of mass destruction and needed to be stopped 🙂. No other country on the planet does this kind of stuff, not even Russia ...

[@AnotherAustin-z7b]

​@@Renwoxing13even if that were the case the end result would be the same, which would make those organizations agents of the government, making it literally illegal anyway. Like the police can't legally ask someone to spy on your phone for them because then they become an agent of the police. Can someone do it and give it to the police? Precedent says yes, but that is the legal equivalent of "we decided it's not illegal even though it totally is but it's tradition." And truthfully having foreign countries spying on you is even worse and would basically be an act of war to any person who isn't brain dead. The only problem is everyone spies on everyone because no one can mind their own freaking business so it's a round robin of hypocritical executions and imprisonment and prisoner exchanges. Ultimately though the US can access any communications through the telecom network directly, they can put a man in the middle between any communications on sms and the cell network and so can every country and literally most high level hacking collectives. The price for entry is like 10k. It's actually ridiculous how insecure everything is. Then you run into the government doing honeypots and selling all the illegal stuff to rug pull all the criminal organizations, hilarious but legal grey area. This all is basically peanuts in comparison to the absolute ultimate technical marvel achieved by stuxnet, which if someone even replicated its behavior to a minor degree they could infect every system on earth and collect data through em radiation or any number of other weird methods, especially if they can infect the supply chain or compromise the factory that produces the material. The ultimate hack would be infecting the electrical grid. This is something movies talk about a lot but I am skeptical of it even being possible, but potentially with a powerful enough AI or machine learning program you could manage a way to transmit data directly through the electrical grid if you can find a way to manage how it is stepped down and processed through the outlet, or by figuring out a way to compromise the power unit on a computer to feed instructions to the motherboard through it remotely. Assuming you had a strong enough electromagnetic source you could conceivably interact with any computer that doesn't have protective shielding, and to a certain degree you might even be able to infect a computer through an active camera if there is some critical software bug in its design and you can feed information directly to it. But the government doesn't even have to do any of that hard stuff. They just have access to everything because they pretty much always have. The value of America's business is so much that any company will basically acquiesce to any request they make, and they just save records for them and give them out whenever they ask. Then on top of that they can illegally infect everyone with spyware that never gets detected because it doesn't do weird identity theft bs and there you go.

[@joebin3106]

Spot the North Korean in the comment

[@moledaddy]

North Korean internet: limited lies Regular internet: unlimited lies

[@real_atharv1]

what point are you tryna make here

[@moledaddy]

@@real_atharv1 no point, specifically. Just an observation. There are many conflicting arguments I could make based on this observation. I chose not to

[@RizzyCatPTSD]

More like North Korean internet: unlimited propaganda

[@GeorgeWashingtonLaserMusket]

@@moledaddy If you have nothing to say, then say nothing; all you did was throw shade at the free world for admitting our faults and throw praise at a despot for gas lighting. If you're account wasn't as old as it is I'd swear you were a CCP bot.

[@roseCatcher_]

Regular internet: any kind of propaganda you want to believe in North Korean internet: one kind of propaganda that the Head of state wants you to believe

[@Mr.Not_Sure]

"No wifi Limited apps No privacy 24/7 tracking" Besides wifi, do you think your phone is somewhat different?

[@Bob-the-1-and-only-blob-fish]

Yes because they tell you

[@ultimate.funkypunky]

it is, phones need algorithm to adapt to you, it's not like they're prohibiting you from anything or spying your convos... also apps are pretty unlimited by now excepto for maybe some cracked apks that only work on android or, obviously, apps that are strictly linked to certain brand ecosystem 🍎

[@AMPProf]

Yah but no porn bots sooo

[@SpinDuality]

If you're stupid, the answer is no.

[@jopansmark]

Unlimited apps

[@DeltaHero787]

0:33 I JUST WANNA BE PARY OF YOUR SYMPHONYYY

[@Samuel_Butin]

I'm sure Nintendo was happy to license super Mario galaxy to these north Korean phones. 😅

[@SpaceRaccoon22]

Imagine if Nintendo's zealous enforcement of its copyrights is the the thing that brings down the North Korean regime 😆

[@tranquoccuong890-its-orge]

ok, DRPK vs Nintendo showdown: one has nukes, the other has lawyers

[@Daevoz]

@@tranquoccuong890-its-orgenukes that don’t work & if they even thought ab attacking Japan every country would attack Korea

[@BlazeStar2095]

@@SpaceRaccoon22 Reminds me a lot of how Al Capone was taken down by an unlikely group of people, not some badass super cops, but the IRS.

[@ZaLewdWarudo]

​@@SpaceRaccoon22Nintendo know better than to fuck with China or it's allies mate.

[@rwolfheart6580]

Visiting a physical store to get a new app is actually pretty quaint. Feels like something from Pokémon, or a promotional gimmick from the early days of smartphones.

[@dieseldragon6756]

In some respects, this happens in the west as well. I used to have an iPhone, and when travelling found (As many do) that hostel/hotel wi-fi is terrible for updating devices or synching with YourCloud☁ or whatever platform/services you use. I soon found that Apple lay on _extraordinarily fast_ connectivity in their stores...So when on holiday I would visit the local _Apple_ Store and then proceed to open the _App_ Store. ⚙📲😁 This might sound a bit odd...But experience on my last trip showed that updating 14 apps with an average size of 200MB each was quicker over the wi-fi in the Hamburg Apple store _even with the return trip on the U-bahn from the hostel taken into account!_ 🍎🚈📱💨👍

[@barrettdecutler8979]

Like getting those snap spectacles from the little kiosks.

[@LinhNguyen-ix6br]

I laughed so hard when I heard it. It's sound so North Korea :))

[@LzBy1]

"Every phone number starts with the same 8 digits" lol

[@Orion55901]

0:13 the conviction with which you said "DAMN" sent chills up my spine. thanks HAI

[@monstrixmonstrousx2842]

5:44 It's a red flag when an North Korean smartphone take a screenshot without your consent, but it's ok and we should accept it, when Microsoft Recall does it.🤔🤔

[@NimVim]

Nobody said its ok for Recall, Everyone hated it. Stop trying to make north korea sound good..

[@ed_cmntonly]

everyone hated the recall feature 😭🙏 how are there SOMEHOW kim glazers in this planet

[@gamerslive1974]

Haven't found one person who said that. As far as I can remember, people were actually trying to get Microsoft to get rid of it due to privacy concerns. Literally every article that talks about Recall, has said it's useless and a huge invasion of privacy. Just because Microsoft said we should accept it, doesn't mean anyone did. Stop digging for problems that don't exist. It's why society today has an average IQ of a dog turd.

[@jannuarytrash]

i like the screen size being measured in inches even in north korea

[@noobartz0890]

measuring screen in some nonexistent unit is so stupid can't believe north Korea couldn't rectify that issue

[@SrirachaChugChallenge747-jq7by]

metric copium

[@immikeurnot]

@@noobartz0890 Of course using a non-existent unit is stupid. That's why they used inches.

[@noobartz0890]

@@immikeurnot but it is non existent unit

[@dieseldragon6756]

@@noobartz0890 You've never visited the UK, have you?... 📏🇬🇧😉

[@Skelig]

I like both computers and football and 4:47 onwards left me conflicted

[@DragonTheOneDZA]

Watch it twice and give him double the money

[@aYTcommenter]

Me too😂

[@noUGames]

Dang...defender got a yellowcard

[@citratune7830]

I found that tiny terrible airline site once. It has a lot of buttons and features like "Contact" or "Information", but shockingly, the only page that actually shows anything is their main page. And it flies to nowhere useful.

[@Tyranitar66501]

reveal the airline pls

[@Zerbey]

@@Tyranitar66501 It's called Air Koryo and it only flies between North Korea, Russia and China.

[@Tyranitar66501]

@@Zerbey I've heard of that one before.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

The biggest difference is that they can't choose who is spying on them.

[@SpongeBob_circle_pants]

But we can and I choose google

[@Adam-326]

4:47 Unironically, this is really cool. Would be nice to see a deeper look at the tech and how it works.

[@yoyoyonono]

There were a few very in-depth talks given at 33c3 and 27c3, but if you just search ccc north korea you should find them.

[@dyanalovesnutella]

3:25 BEN MENTIONED 🦅🦅

[@Colour_beaks]

8:18 Super Mario Galaxy on .....mobile!

[@SHUTENSEPC]

I've played it in like 2015 or so, it's just a simple emulator

[@ronnelacido1711]

I prefer tetris

[@michelobala6846]

If Japan find out they use Super Mario without license Koreea will be conquered again by Japan (only north this time)😂😂😂

[@demon6937]

@@michelobala6846that’s WW3 for sure

[@NationalCapitalRegionOfManila]

The Weird, Terrible Smartphones they only have in North Korea. Meanwhile the ratings in the thumbnail: *4.7 stars*

[@kaziridwanrahik497]

Actual app store to shop 💀

[@typeofguyto]

00:55 There are "land mines" in more than a few parts of the country...

[@dieseldragon6756]

Both yes and no: The land _lines_ were implemented using surplus equipment bought from the GPO when they upgraded to System X. Of course - In conformance with various international trade laws - The UK only sent equipment which met their interpretation of North Korean technical standards... ☎💥😉

[@youtubehandlesareannoying]

their phones coming with a free mario galaxy emulator and five different versions of angry birds is probably the first time I've felt jealous of the north korean people

[@melsbacksfriend]

Kim Jong Un can help me end the reign of the Nintendo Ninjas.

[@emperortgp2424]

would it even run mario at full speed

[@lonestarr1490]

Especially because those Angry Birds games are almost surely not made completely unplayable by ads and aggressive monetization.

[@unbeknownstprofile]

and then it runs like a slideshow at 3 frames per second

[@melsbacksfriend]

@@emperortgp2424 If it has a modern SoC, which it most likely doesn't have a modern one. Modern Samsung flagships for example can run Dolphin Emulator just fine.

[@HanifNGX]

What’s freedom, if you can’t access a ripped off version of Candy Crush??

[@丫o]

What’s a ripped off version of Candy Crush, if you can’t access freedom?

[@UwePieper]

You can connect most Android phones to a full sized Keyboard through USB OTG with an adapter cable or dock.

[@aa-tx7th]

change 'most' to 'all' android perpheral support is superior to window's. why? you can connect ANY bluetooth accessory instantly. windows needs drivers, troubleshooting, additional downloads (malware spyware), manufaturer launchers (ads ads ads, more malware and spyware), the right planetary alignment, and some booze and a cigarrette before it "lets" you connect ANYTHING.

[@Xiquinhodasilva99]

Symbian was already doing this in 2007/08. My first phone with USB otg was a Nokia x2-00 from 2010. When phones were nice and you had control over them

[@kingeling]

Tons of phones didn't support OTG until the late 2010s

[@Xiquinhodasilva99]

@@kingeling n800 2008 Nokia n900 2009 Nokia x2-00, n8-00, c3-00, x7-00, e6-00, e7-00, c6-01, c7, c3-01 and x3-02 touch and type all this one's from 2010 smartphones and feature phones Before android reached version 2.3 gingerbread. Symbian was a good system but came Elop from Microsoft to Nokia and killed Symbian and made all Nokia phones run Windows phone. It had a huge development from 2010 to 2011 and still he decided to kill symbian, meltemi and meego. Anything Nokia n9 was doing in 2011 android or ios didn't reach till 2017. And not to forget it wouldn't connect to the Internet without your authorisation.

[@Xiquinhodasilva99]

@@kingeling nokia n800 2008 Phones in 2009 and 2010 With and without symbian or maemo

[@steventravels4035]

Once the Nebula ad comes up: Level 3 detected Automatic disconnect

[@EliotHochberg]

going into a physical store to get an app installed sounds horrible, but also sounds kind of like the best. Imagine if app developers knew that people had to go into the store to get Updates. They would be much more careful about rolling out an update, and we'd have less buggy software I suspect. It's a shame that it takes a totalitarian nation to slow stuff down like that

[@cloed0ll]

It sounds so early 2000s 😭

[@spartaninvirginia]

So Microsoft stole the idea for Recall from the North Koreans. Sweet, very cool.

[@smalltime0]

I had the same thought.

[@teodormarin2143]

The Nintendo vs North Korea Lawsuit will be craizy💀💀💀

[@dominic.h.3363]

My condolences to the North Koreans. As a Hungarian I know with absolute certainty based on experience that everything technological sucks even first hand, so anything that is a hand-me-down from us, must be a nightmare experience...

[@Muffin_Masher]

Could be worse... they could have bought/stolen it from Australia :D

[@dominic.h.3363]

​@@Muffin_Masher Yea, I really wouldn't like your internet. The ONE thing I can't complain about is my 500/300 fiber... ... but it's 2024 and if I take a call at my desk, the line just drops because I don't have enough bars to actually talk, I have to move around the house. I live a measly 11 kilometers from the county seat they call "gate to the west", so my coverage should be decent. Now imagine what kind of technology we sold second-hand 10 years ago, if this is what we have right now.

[@dieseldragon6756]

@@dominic.h.3363 Our government in the UK has made a lot of noise for its plans to _„Level up“_ Britain to take it into a new post-EU generation... 🇬🇧🔈📈 ...Given this means the UK will probably do away with mobile networks, restore landline telephone service to manual operators and get rid of all that „automation“ witchcraft, there's probably going to be a *lot* of used, CE-compliant mobile network equipment coming into the market fairly soon... 😉 _„Number, please?“_ ☎🇬🇧😋

[@User31129]

2008 is actually earlier than i expected. I in the USA didnt have a cell phone until Summer 2004, and didnt really ramp up use of it until 2006. I didn't have a modern smartphone until late 2014.

[@itryen7632]

1:20 Typical vodafone

[@Blister_G]

6:25 who tried to skip the ads 😂

[@igormarcos687]

The part of the video that talks about North Korean phones ends without ending, it feels like Nebula stole it and makes me hate nebula. Why did you interrupt the train of thought to make an ad and never concluded? What an unsatisfying ending.

[@nicitha]

There isn't anything more on Nebula though.

[@nicitha]

”because I can't see the holder of evidence”, is the last he says. You hating Nebula is your own problem (and I'm not sure why you make things up about it?).

[@mfaizsyahmi]

Mom, can we get a Samsung phone? We have Samsung phone at home. Samsung phone at home: 3:12

[@imsamiurrahman]

Plot twist: North Korean phones come with Kim Jong Un's picture as the default wallpaper.

[@huebirdfan2.0]

They would actually do that tho.

[@Brasswatchman]

5:25 Which also means they can track images to the exact phone that took them, provided no one strips out that metadata. Interesting.

[@KJSCalderon]

Now wait till Linus Tech Tips gets that phone

[@丫o]

why HAI got it 1st

[@mrkrabsx8669]

He's good in computers but not in phones

[@Caesim9]

And then what? Produce content slop with a soyjak thumbnail where he installs random APKs?

[@Gameplayer55055]

North Korea: 1984 The US: Brave New World

[@丫o]

North Korea: It’s whatever year Dear Leader says it is The US: But that new limited edition drop tho

[@gui18bif]

"Terrible" says the dude who buys iph*nes

[@joogox]

What’s terrible about them from your perspective?

[@zombos22222]

0:19 this illusionry happyface screams "help me"

[@DaPlenThing]

0:00 ok but that clock thing is actually smart

[@sirajnakhuda5446]

would have preferred Subway Surfer instead of football

[@DCecil21]

I agree! Chicago DOES suck.

[@cdvideodump]

Don’t you dare diss the best city in the world

[@rachelredden6682]

So do you.🙎‍♀️

[@KafshakTashtak]

​@@cdvideodump Who was dissing Pyongyang? We were talking about Chicago.

[@Gogeta70]

Of course it sucks, it's run by Democrats.

[@cdvideodump]

@@KafshakTashtak Haha real funny tankie

[@EcoMouseChannel]

So, basically they have "Parole/Probation Phones" where they track everything, and know when you try to deviate from the prescribed user experience.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Let's hope Apple doesn't hear about that

[@w.reidripley1968]

Camazotz south of the Yalu.

[@Xiquinhodasilva99]

Android and IOS inspired

[@narfharder]

I wonder if they actually have the option of _not_ having a phone?

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

@@narfharder there is always the option of not using it. that way there is no monitoring of messages, photos and app usage and only location info.

[@p_o_]

It's not sold in North Korea this model is from 2017(151)/2018(171)

[@konayasai]

I don't know about Apple phones, but Android and Windows phones can be connected to full size keyboards just fine. Some even have mouse support, which looks really funky.

[@kjh23gk]

"Windows phones" 🤣

[@brenthaymon280]

Do people really use Windows phones? 🤔

[@SynthRockViking]

Am I wrong for really, wanting one? I actually don't care if I screen-share with Mr. Jong himself, be my guest

[@Hetvasava-um5qv]

day 6995 of thanking god i am atleast not born in North Korea

[@monnakothaleo8789]

🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣

[@yme_1323]

I mean I would love having Mario Galaxy pre installed in my phone

[@mateuss8402]

Whats inclued: *_No Privacy_* ☠️☠️

[@celciones]

"Limited Apps, No Privacy, 24/7 Tracking" - so, not that different from the phones sold in any other country. I get it.

[@brenthaymon280]

🤣 🤣

[@technoguyx]

6:15 Did people already forget about Google making all user data they collect from you available in a convenient folder full of creepy audio recordings?

[@UberSpah]

Didn't know that. Any sources? I know that Google gathers lots of private data, but I hear for the first time that they make it available in a convenient folder.

[@MrHorkster]

It's one thing to think all the phones are locked and the apps are secure cuz they want to keep people out but it's another to think they don't want another outside government to constantly fuck with their phone service as well. Take your pick or both.

[@davidjamesshaver]

It's an incredibly biased video and I wouldn't be surprised one bit if it was funded one way or another by the US Government.

[@DavidKen878]

That doesn't make sense.

[@Meitary]

THEY HAVE THE ORIGINAL ANGRY BIRDS GAMES? I'm buying one.

[@yuchan063]

South: Samsumg North: Samtaesong

[@BudikahYT]

... but do they come with a 3.5mm audio jack?

[@FrancisLitanofficialJAPINOY]

Yes

[@couruu]

Of course Ben would do that

[@林義軒-j7q]

Mmmm… about that “red flag” part, it reminds me something standing with re-, end with -call. Still, not sure what it is.

[@丫o]

Might have something to do with something standing with Microsoft-, end with -Windows. Still, not sure what it is.

[@Jetsetlemming]

there's not really any reason why they couldn't make the phones in North Korea. They country has to have a tech sector already for the military and to make that custom android OS. Are they making their own chips? No way. But you can buy those an overseas fab, just like all the international corporations buying from TSMC. The actual requirement to put the different pieces of a phone together really isn't that much, and it'd be cheaper than buying full retail phones, taking them apart, reflashing them and rebranding them, and putting it all back together and repackaging. It'd end up looking like every other low end Chinese android phone of course, because they're probably buying the parts from the same sellers. I kinda admire the ambition NK has under Kim Jung Un, honestly. They've come a long way from the starvation and the public executions of the 1990s. Now they even got phones that can play mario lol.

[@DerDai1]

I don't think they buy the basic phone and then just rebrand and flash everything. They just tell them what and how they want it and done. Just with like any other rebrand out there. North Korea has some pretty good relations with China.

[@Xiquinhodasilva99]

You forgot the sanctions they have?? One of the most sanctioned countries in the world would have access to tsmc lol

[@丫o]

And yet you still can’t live there, lol Sucks for you I guess

[@LawrenceTimme]

@@Xiquinhodasilva99 such great self suffixes, independent countries like north Korea and soviet Russia aren't affected by sanctions like weak dependent Westerns nations would be.

[@jaynz-mp9vn]

North Korea's new phone: Samtaesong South Korea: 🗿🗿🗿

[@chegadesuade]

"I may eat grass to survive, but at least I have the Pyongyang X on the 5G Wireless Koryo network" - North Korean commercial

[@andrewkovnat]

The narration was recorded in a NK concrete holding cell.

[@LegoSM737]

2020: Everybody except people in north korea: RIP Angry birds rio, classic, star wars, and epic. You will be most missed and will be the topic of Rovio hate chats for eternity. Meanwhile in Kim jong in’s super train: Hoobadah! (Plays Angry birds) Everybody else: Why is there an angry birds themed bubble pop?

[@Thefrogbread]

He actually said football!!!! ⚽️

[@CockerelOfficial]

Get Nintendo to sue North Korea for stealing Mario. That is my master plan.

[@mr.number9279]

I like how halfway through the video it has nothing to do with North Korean smartphones and it's just an ad for some unknown website. North Korean indeed.