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

Post by cronix » Sat, Apr 06, 2019, 5:17 PM UTC

type-2 wrote: post #71

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.

firefox os had so much potential, now with pwa's being the next big thing, it seem like firefox os could be a game changer. Too bad they killed it.

Post by pjmlp » Sat, Apr 06, 2019, 5:23 PM UTC

cronix wrote: post #111

type-2 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

firefox os had so much potential, now with pwa's being the next big thing, it seem like firefox os could be a game changer. Too bad they killed it.

It's kind of funny that PWA was Jobs original vision for iOS apps with HTML5, before they came up with the walled garden cash cow approach. > “The full Safari engine is inside of iPhone. And so, you can write amazing Web 2.0 and Ajax apps that look exactly and behave exactly like apps on the iPhone. And these apps can integrate perfectly with iPhone services. And guess what? There’s no SDK that you need! You’ve got e…

Post by Dylan16807 » Sat, Apr 06, 2019, 5:24 PM UTC

berbec wrote: post #45

Spearchucker wrote: post #42

I have the version two Nokia 8110 banana phone with KAIOS. First, web dev isn't good enough for me. I need crypto libraries on the device. Second,unless I've yet to discover how to turn it on, no predictive text input. Third, it ships with Google apps which, combined with the fact that you cannot uninstall apps on KaiOS makes the phone a novelty at best. More like a waste of €60 (none of these issues are obvious befo…

"Edit - battery lasted two weeks between charges" Way to bury the lead! I'd put up with a lot for charge times that long. Or just a backup phpne

Post by pjmlp » Sat, Apr 06, 2019, 5:29 PM UTC

Bayart wrote: post #112

wicket wrote: post #95

It's a stretch to call these "Linux-based" phones. The kernel [1] comes from an old Android fork of Linux 3.10 which is nearly 6 years old. Android kernel code is largely incompatible with mainline Linux which is the reason there are very few phones that can run actually run mainline (real) Linux. [1] https://github.com/kaiostech/kernel_msm-3.10

>which is the reason there are very few phones that can run actually run mainline (real) Linux. You mean the drivers not being in the Linux Kernel/hard to port ? because I have a very hard time believing most smartphones couldn't run the Linux kernel, provided it's compiled to whatever architecture and the drivers are there.

Post by LeoPanthera » Sat, Apr 06, 2019, 5:35 PM UTC

andrey_utkin wrote: post #81

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…

That's right. This already is happening. I got bored of waiting for "Linux smartphone" and accidentally found that it's actually quite easy and affordable to build a wearable computer from scratch. And I built myself one of course. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theverge.com/platform/amp/c... I just used new generation of the same display, and a one handed Twiddler 3 keyboard. Raspberry pi doesn't have cellular, so…