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Will Linux phones stay around this time?

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Re: Will Linux phones stay around this time?

#81

Post by cocoa19 »

serf wrote: post #50
robolange wrote: post #19

Openmoko failed for so much more than financial reasons. It's been a while since I've thought of that fiasco, but my memories: * The leadership was terrible. They had no clue what it took to make a mass market product. They just assumed that they would sell hardware and a community would provide a working operating system and apps magically. * The hardware was buggy. There was one issue that if you let the battery dr…

>I was so done with it that I just dropped it in the trash (after wiping it, of course). next time you have an urge to throw a battery-equipped device into the trash(!?), consider donation. you may not like the device but someone out there may be thrilled at the chance to de-solder some useful components.

It might also be illegal to throw away lithium batteries in the trash, depending on where you live.

Re: Will Linux phones stay around this time?

#82

Post by ndiddy »

benatkin wrote: post #36
perardi wrote: post #35

So how would a Linux phone possibly gain momentum? I have no idea how it solves any job to be done for almost anyone. Does it have the apps I want, including for my bank? Does it have a great camera? Does it have fantastic battery life? Right now, the answer to all of that is definitely not , and it becomes a chicken and an egg problem, where you don’t have the investment to build all that. And don’t give me the obvi…

You may have a point, but Android and Apple phones are also, quite frankly, garbage. I open the maps app on my Android phone, and I get a bunch of ads littered around, for places like 7/11, even for locations that are closed! I have a 64gb phone and the map for the city I'm in could be quite easily downloaded, but nope, it must contain Google's malware.

There's a bunch of offline maps apps for Android, I use maps.me for example.

Re: Will Linux phones stay around this time?

#83

Post by leshow »

marcodiego wrote: post #37

Being good enough is enough. Linux on the desktop could be better, but for more than a decade it has been good enough. If linux phones became as usable as linux on the desktop, that would be good enough.

Depends what you're looking for I guess. Linux desktops can be highly configurable and give you an environment that's not attainable on any other OS. Think like tiling wms & polybar/rofi/customized terminals.

Unless you mean "how well is Linux able to create an experience like windows." Which isn't a metric I particularly care about, but probably means more to non-technical users.

Re: Will Linux phones stay around this time?

#84

Post by officeplant »

I've tried and tinkered with all but the newest pinephone release. I sucks vs a similarly priced android phone but its working way more than I ever expected it to work this early on.

Hopefully we can get some solid modern hardware support in a linux handheld eventually. It would be nice if Qualcomm could open up a few things and make it easier for open source phone hobbyists to get things going.

The Pine64 community has been steadily growing and at least gives me confidence in what they can do with the older hardware the pinephone is working with.

Re: Will Linux phones stay around this time?

#85

Post by fuzxi »

lostmsu wrote: post #38
kgwxd wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't think of an Android app I'd prefer over a Linux alternative. Edit: Maybe Google Maps, but that's it.

What would you like for Email on your phone from the Linux world? A web browser? Contacts app? These are essentials for the phone. What about an RSS client?

>What would you like for Email on your phone from the Linux world?

Thunderbird

>A web browser?

Firefox/Chromium

>Contacts app?

kAddressBook

Re: Will Linux phones stay around this time?

#87

Post by noisy_boy »

On the topic of Linux phones, I have expressed my desire for more powerful hardware in the past. However, when I think about it, starting with modest specs means that things would have to be made to work properly on those. That means eventually when we move to more powerful hardware, the performance would be that much more better. Atleast that is how I imagine the silver lining to be.

Re: Will Linux phones stay around this time?

#89

Post by noisy_boy »

throwawaaarrgh wrote: post #86

A Linux smartphone is like a Linux car. If Linux is the important part to you, your priorities might be a bit off

I think the analogy is a bit off. I don't expect to mess around with my car the same way I do with my phone. A messed up software setup in a car can actually kill me instead of just having to restore from recovery in a phone. Purpose of phones have expanded greatly from just making calls and receiving messages to being in the center of our digital activities which means my expectations there have greatly grown and Linux fills the gap of freedom/flexibility. However, irrespective of the software, a car's overarching purpose is still getting one from point A to B; sure, great if I can also ssh into it but that is way lower down the usual list of things you expect to do with your car.

Re: Will Linux phones stay around this time?

#90

Post by esperent »

throwawaaarrgh wrote: post #86

A Linux smartphone is like a Linux car. If Linux is the important part to you, your priorities might be a bit off

Why would it have to be someone's "most important priority"? That's such needlessly superlative phrasing.

I would choose a Linux phone because I want a platform that's not controlled by a single profit-drive company which is so huge they are essentially unaccountable for any harm they do to their users, developers, or even society at large. It's not the "most important priority" in my life or anything, it's just something I'd like.

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