PinePhone – Beta Edition Linux SmartPhone Preorder

Post by linmob » Wed, Mar 24, 2021, 3:01 PM UTC

danShumway wrote: post #81

amelius wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To take one example: the interaction with your bank goes through a web-browser, I suppose? You probably need a special device for 2FA? In most bank apps, you can simply log in using a PIN-code and do things like check your balance, make small wire transfers, and make payments in stores through NFC. Doing these things in a web-browser on a mobile phone with a separate 2FA device is much more cumbersome. (I use Linux e…

:shrug: I don't have a bank app installed on my phone right now. And there are absolutely going to be Open Source 2FA apps being built for Pinephone, so I'm good there. Currently, I don't use a banking app because I don't trust my bank to have that level of access to my phone with a proprietary app, and because my bank's app isn't particularly good in the first place. So I'm not really losing out by using Pinephone.…

Post by ddevault » Wed, Mar 24, 2021, 3:02 PM UTC

jordache wrote: post #101

swiley wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope the pinephone never has app stores. The "work with the community to merge your software into the repo" model is much better for things that actually help people. Apple's AppStore is best for extracting money from people while siloing their data.

> The "work with the community to merge your software into the repo" model is much better for things that actually help people. So you ratchet up the friction for entry, that helps devs? Say what you want about the app store, but across all the devs for iOS, how many would go through the trouble of self distributing their product? Marketing, infrastructure, payment system etc... ? The app store is a tremendously low…

Post by grey_earthling » Wed, Mar 24, 2021, 3:03 PM UTC

viro wrote: post #80

fsflover wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is nothing wrong with App Stores. See: F-Droid and GNU/Linux repositories. The problem is in multinational monopolies.

People use iOS/iPhones BECAUSE of how tightly controlled the App Store is. It's like Atari vs Nintendo. If I wanted pure "freedom" I would have gotten an android, since they have at least fixed their performance issues now.

Post by seba_dos1 » Wed, Mar 24, 2021, 3:04 PM UTC

Luker88 wrote: post #47

wwarner wrote: post #20

I personally think that the effort to create open source phones is the single most important technology project going on out there. We have open source browsers, we have open source social apps, but we definitely do not have open source phones. Phones that can be truly owned and controlled by users will reshape the privacy discourse, from one of complaining and legal coercion, to one of choices and markets.

Last month they even managed to fully open parts of the modem, and do calls without the closed blob for the firmware! https://twitter.com/biktorgj/status/1357217053745250304 (edit: caveat: they might not be able to actually ship the firmware since laws on this are very strict basically everywhere) The app store(s) is a bit of a problem, but in time it might be solved. Not a big problem for me.... But I'd also like to…

Post by blendergeek » Wed, Mar 24, 2021, 3:07 PM UTC

squarefoot wrote: post #65

fsflover wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the made-in-USA edition. How much alternative phones from the USA cost? Standard edition costs $800.

This is still 4 times more expensive than the biggest Pinephone, which of course is a lot more limited in computing power, memory, storage and other areas, but sometimes people just want the bare minimum to enter the world of open phones. I wonder what's the reason behind Purism ignoring the low end market completely.