Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

PinePhone – Beta Edition Linux SmartPhone Preorder

pine64.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

241–250 of 308 posts

Re: PinePhone – Beta Edition Linux SmartPhone Preorder

#241

Post by herogreen »

aroman wrote: post #155
fsflover wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don’t see why people other than ideological technologists would want to use this phone. AFAIK every single change in tech starts from such people.

Sure, they start there but they eventually expand beyond that initial core group to the wider population. I’m saying that in this case, I don’t think it will expand beyond that initial group. Why would non-idealists use this phone when the alternative they already have in their pocket and know how to use can do everything the PinePhone can do?

Some reasons why non-technical folks might be interested in the Pinephone:

1) avoid the privacy issues of Android & iOS 2) have the confidence that as long as their hardware work, they will have updates 3) buy from a brand that will allow you (or a third party) to fix your hardware (Pine64 sells you spare parts, and at reasonable prices!) 4) have an user-replaceable battery 5) have an affordable smartphone (I know, there are 30$ android phones but they tick none of the above points)

The points 2 to 4 will interest an increasing number of people this century, imo

edit: typos

Re: PinePhone – Beta Edition Linux SmartPhone Preorder

#242

Post by megous »

ryankrage77 wrote: post #217
ece wrote: post #118

This is great, and I plan on getting one to support the project. I do however wish there was a smaller screen one (perhaps EInk) with more 4G bands like band 71, and with Anbox/microG support to run apps like Signal. I would like to know what apps people are using for video chat, if they aren't using Signal.

I very much doubt the hardware in this can keep up with a video chat. It can barely play a YouTube video at 480p.

PinePhone can play FullHD video at 60FPS on an external 1440p monitor (incl. the up-scaling to 1440p) smoothly, without breaking a sweat. So as long as the codec is something supported, like H.264, video is no issue at all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHOgVmxH_dA

SW is lacking somewhat, still.

Re: PinePhone – Beta Edition Linux SmartPhone Preorder

#243

Post by mpol »

bullen wrote: post #151
fsflover wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This one supports OpenGL ES 3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Librem_5 .

Yeah but it's $800!

And a Sony Xperia with Sailfish OS? Or is it not FOSS enough? That might be. I bought mine second hand and spent the same amount as a Pinephone would be.

Re: PinePhone – Beta Edition Linux SmartPhone Preorder

#244

Post by megous »

simfree wrote: post #216
megous wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To clarify, 4G modem modules (like the one in PinePhone) are usually based on stripped down smartphone SoCs, running Linux on ARM + a huge multi-milion lines FW blobs running on some DSP, that's actually implementing most of the functionality you expect from the modem. So what this means is that PinePhone is basically a smartphone withing smartphone, and what's opensourced is the Linux kernel running on the modem's S…

Yes, but with the Quectel EC25 modem used the blobs are isolated on the modem itself, your device does not need to load any binary blobs to bring up a usable cellular connection.

The point is that you can't tinker with the modem, fix issues, implement new features, or remove misfeatures introduced by Quectel, if you have to use the blob.

Where the blob is running is maybe only relevant to how much control it has over the rest of the system.

Re: PinePhone – Beta Edition Linux SmartPhone Preorder

#245

Post by mpol »

skinnyasianboi wrote: post #193
ognarb wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Before it was the community editions, now it's the beta edition produced in a large quantity but still the same performance.

I have the community edition and I asked myself the same question. A performance boost would have been nice. I would love and pay to have a better performance some day.

It took 2 or 3 years for the Pinebook Pro to appear after the original Pinebook. I can imagine a phone is a lot harder to manufacture and support in software. I would be open to buying a Pinebook Pro, if I needed a laptop now. I will just wait patiently what happens with the next Pinephone :)

Re: PinePhone – Beta Edition Linux SmartPhone Preorder

#246

Post by mindcrime »

int_19h wrote: post #202
mindcrime wrote: post #94

Just (pre)-ordered mine. And I have to say, this has me feeling that I'm on the cusp of fulfilling a dream that I've had for around a decade (or more?) now. Every since the days of the OpenMoko[1] I've wanted a real "open source mobile device" - something that runs Linux (or a BSD, or FreeDOS, or ReactOS or something open), that can make/receive calls, get on the net, and that I can carry in my pocket. Not being ludi…

FWIW, these things aren't really usable as daily drivers yet. The battery life is horrible, for one thing.

I know. But I get the impression these are closer to valid "daily drivers" than something like the OpenMoko Freerunner was; and buying one now is a way to show support for the project.

Re: PinePhone – Beta Edition Linux SmartPhone Preorder

#247

Post by sergeykish »

offtop5 wrote: post #234
sergeykish wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Devices > postmarketOS now boots on over 200 phones and tablets (as of 6 May 2020) That, I believe, is about mainline kernel. And only boot. [1] https://tuxphones.com/postmarketos-boots-200-linux-phones-ta...

Awesome response, it looks like most of these phones are still rather old though. I know that some cheaper Chinese phones have bootloader as you can completely unlock without going through the OEM process.

OnePlus 7 released in 2019, I would not call that old. Table with release year https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/All_devices

I've clicked several pages, each of them contains "How to enter flash mode", usually some combination of the buttons.

Re: PinePhone – Beta Edition Linux SmartPhone Preorder

#248

Post by clarge1120 »

CivBase wrote: post #209
clarge1120 wrote: post #132

The phone marketplace rewards performance, and there are only two ways to compete: either tightly integrate the OS and processing hardware (like Apple does) or throw processing hardware specs at an unintegrated OS (like Samsung, Google, et.al. does with Android). At this point, given the existing application ecosystem, the best (only) option for a new phone maker is to tightly integrate inexpensive processing hardwar…

PinePhone doesn't need to become a mainstream smartphone to be valuable just like Linux OSes don't need to become mainstream to be valuable.

It certainly does need to become mainstream, just like Linux did. The PinePhone, like its various alternatives, will have to find footing in the marketplace in the same way Linux did: with superior performance for the price. No mobile phone will sell enough to survive by offering low-performance hardware and off-the-shelf software no matter how open it is.

Re: PinePhone – Beta Edition Linux SmartPhone Preorder

#249

Post by ohmeego »

viro wrote: post #76
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.

This is so divorced from reality I don't know where to start. There is effectively no difference between "apt install widget-a" and installing it from a "App Store" other than the App Store option lets the dev feed his family if he needs to to. at least from a user stand point.

In fact with the last go round of Linux phones(Nokia N900/N9), the app store was just a gui in front of apt.

Re: PinePhone – Beta Edition Linux SmartPhone Preorder

#250

Post by simonh »

jokethrowaway wrote: post #238
simonh wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The root problem is that redistributive systems are inherently coercive. If your system has money and commerce of any kind, more money will end up in some hands than others. I'm not making a fundamental judgement on this, all laws are coercive in some sense, capitalist systems often have redistributive features, taxes and such. However redistribution in the extreme and complete sense in communism is often characteris…

While I agree with the sentiment of your post, you seem to be conflating capitalism with what countries you believe to be capitalist implement. Most countries I can think of implement a mix of capitalism and socialism. Some features are capitalism, some are features of socialism. Coercion and taxation are not capitalism, taxation is just theft operated by the state. I consider the "no true scotsman" argument for comm…

I mostly agree with you, every country employs some mix of different economic systems.

I agree communism is impossible, that's why I think no true scotsman is an invalid criticism. My post was largely an attempt to explain why I think it's impossible and also actually undesirable. That's all just semantics though, I think we agree on the actual issue.

I disagree with your last paragraph. I oppose socialism as an ideology, as it is pursued by dyed in the wool socialists, but don't necessarily oppose all policies implemented in the name of socialism. I oppose ideologies generally, politically I support policies that have turned out to work, whatever the reasons might be.

For example I do believe in the power of free markets and that capitalism is essentially based on individual liberty. However for example here in the UK we have a very effective and beloved national health service. It's not perfect and might not be the system I would choose from scratch, with unlimited power to make it as I wished, but it works and I would oppose any attempts to radically reform it. There's just too much that's good about it that we could break. Maggie, one of my political heroes, tried to reform it along market lines in the 80s and it was disastrous.

But then there are historical reasons why Britain has some of it's economic and political settlements. Social consensus is important and what works for us might not work for others with different traditions, institutions and expectations.

Post reply on HN