Linux-based 4G phones with Google Assistant sold for $7 in Indonesia • Hacker News Board

Re: Linux-based 4G phones with Google Assistant sold for $7 in Indonesia

#51

Post by RasputinsBro » Sat, Apr 06, 2019, 2:12 PM UTC

Another instance of google propping up puppet competitors.

Re: Linux-based 4G phones with Google Assistant sold for $7 in Indonesia

#52

Post by tootie » Sat, Apr 06, 2019, 2:13 PM UTC

tluyben2 wrote: post #44

tootie wrote: post #3

I'd buy a few of these for my kids.

I have no kids myself, but from friends who do have kids I hear they get teased (and sometimes bullied) if they don't have a half decent smartphone. And some of these friends are living in poorer ('non western') countries even. I guess my friends are not lying, but not sure how widespread that is.

Kids get made fun of for whatever nonsense is available as ammunition. I've never seen kids get laughed at over phones though.

Re: Linux-based 4G phones with Google Assistant sold for $7 in Indonesia

#53

Post by hopler » Sat, Apr 06, 2019, 2:14 PM UTC

jeswin wrote: post #14

Having spent a couple of years building apps for KaiOS (which is really Firefox OS), I can say that it's probably the easiest development platform out there - mostly pure web; with some proprietary extensions. I wish Firefox OS hadn't thrown in the towel so early. These devices are selling millions of units every month.

Like the old Palm Pre?

Re: Linux-based 4G phones with Google Assistant sold for $7 in Indonesia

#54

Post by JoelEmbiid » Sat, Apr 06, 2019, 2:14 PM UTC

Intresting Really want to buy this one...!

Re: Linux-based 4G phones with Google Assistant sold for $7 in Indonesia

#55

Post by pjmlp » Sat, Apr 06, 2019, 2:14 PM UTC

jeswin wrote: post #41

fzzzy wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The non-touch concept was under development when firefox os was cancelled.

Yup. FFOS actually convinced me that even high-end devices built on open web technologies could work quite well enough for today's usecases. I'd buy one today if I could - not a low end device but a Snapdragon 8xx device. Web is good enough for 90% of apps, and a bare metal SDK would be needed for games.

PWAs did it for me.

Even WebGL 2.0 alongside WebAssembly will be good enough for Flash like games (Google Chrome team will give a talk about WebGPU at IO).

Re: Linux-based 4G phones with Google Assistant sold for $7 in Indonesia

#56

Post by tootie » Sat, Apr 06, 2019, 2:15 PM UTC

auslander wrote: post #25

tootie wrote: post #3

I'd buy a few of these for my kids.

Kids will tell you years later that it was wrong giving their data to Google, an Ad company, with core business of monetizing people's data.

I don't see why. I wasn't using my data for anything so it seems like a win-win if someone will pay for it. Also, NB this phone runs KaiOS, not Android.

Re: Linux-based 4G phones with Google Assistant sold for $7 in Indonesia

#57

Post by ForHackernews » Sat, Apr 06, 2019, 2:15 PM UTC

I saw an interesting YouTube video about KaiOS a while back: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OA_g2bQgOXY

Re: Linux-based 4G phones with Google Assistant sold for $7 in Indonesia

#58

Post by cunidev » Sat, Apr 06, 2019, 2:15 PM UTC

morganvachon wrote: post #5

Apart from the Google tie-in, I've been wanting a KaiOS phone ever since they were announced. I actually miss the days of my Nokia E71; a stripped down but modern feature phone with battery life measured in days instead of hours would be a blessing. Unfortunately these are not marketed at all in the Western world and probably wouldn't work on domestic carriers.

Agreed. The only one is Nokia 8110, which doesn't support WhatsApp and which is actually somewhat overpriced IMO (a Nokia 1 with Android costs less and the "keyboard cover" doesn't make too much sense to me). The new 3310 would have made more sense.

Re: Linux-based 4G phones with Google Assistant sold for $7 in Indonesia

#59

Post by froindt » Sat, Apr 06, 2019, 2:15 PM UTC

tluyben2 wrote: post #44

tootie wrote: post #3

I'd buy a few of these for my kids.

I have no kids myself, but from friends who do have kids I hear they get teased (and sometimes bullied) if they don't have a half decent smartphone. And some of these friends are living in poorer ('non western') countries even. I guess my friends are not lying, but not sure how widespread that is.

>...I hear they get teased (and sometimes bullied) if they don't have a half decent smartphone.

I've also heard of kids getting left out of things socially for the same reason. One family tried the "you don't need a smart phone until sometime in high school" thing, but their kid started missing invitations to everything because the plans developed on whatsapp, snapchat, or Facebook - all of which the kid didn't have real-time access to.

They relented and got their middle school kid a smartphone.

Way too much of the social world of students goes through phones to be able to keep up without a smart phone.

Re: Linux-based 4G phones with Google Assistant sold for $7 in Indonesia

#60

Post by hopler » Sat, Apr 06, 2019, 2:15 PM UTC

squarefoot wrote: post #46

We're likely approaching the day when it'll be more cheap to attempt to build an open Linux phone from scratch rather than keep waiting for a manufacturer to listen to a few thousand techies who don't want their personal data chewed by proprietary OSes. That milestone will almost certainly be marked by the availability of cheap 3/4G modems (I'd be perfectly fine with 3G if it was the only option). We're not there but…

What about cheap cellular data service for your hackphone?