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Will Linux phones stay around this time?

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Re: Will Linux phones stay around this time?

#191

Post by strictfp »

AussieWog93 wrote: post #139

I'd be shocked if it took off. The FOSS development paradigm seems to be allergic to good UI design, and this is far more important for people on mobile than desktop.

It's not like the competitors are any better, in the desktop space at least.

The problem in my eyes is plateauing. Once a project moves past the first couple of iterations, it rarely interests the original authors enough to make incremental improvements. And since there is no financial incentive to continue, the project usually cools down to eventually be replaced by the following iteration. This means that you rarely get mature software.

Re: Will Linux phones stay around this time?

#192

Post by jokoon »

realusername wrote: post #115
j-james wrote: post #114

I don't understand the desire for a Linux phone as so described in the article as a daily driver. The Android platform represents an enormous amount of work that encompasses a more secure base kernel, an unparalleled selection of applications designed for mobile usage and written in a memory-safe language, fantastic sandboxing and user privacy features leagues ahead of any desktop operating system, and great diversit…

Because Android is Google's own property, it's not like a standard Linux distribution by any stretch of imagination. I'm not even against proprietary apps (just against proprietary drivers of course), it's just that transforming Android to make it behave normally is just more and more work every year. Some people (including myself) would prefer to have the same system they have on their desktop on their phone, with t…

You mean Google always has dominant expertise when it comes to android, but it's still open source.

I would still rather prefer using learn that reinventing a whole mobile OS.

Hard to say if Google tries to complexify android to avoid rivals.

I often say google has the same situation of microsoft when it comes to drivers.

Re: Will Linux phones stay around this time?

#193

Post by strzibny »

AussieWog93 wrote: post #139

I'd be shocked if it took off. The FOSS development paradigm seems to be allergic to good UI design, and this is far more important for people on mobile than desktop.

We have GNOME 40 now which is beautiful.

I can imagine it would be beautiful on mobile pretty soon as well.

Re: Will Linux phones stay around this time?

#194

Post by hutzlibu »

cookiengineer wrote: post #103

This is kind of anecdotal to Meego, WebOS, FirefoxOS and all the other forms of them that happened in the past. I don't think that people will use the phone solely because it's Linux. They'll use it if it can solve their tasks at hand. Personally I think that Linux will never take off if we won't create financial incentives to make and deploy apps, additionally to fix the mess that's user rights/permission management…

"I don't think that people will use the phone solely because it's Linux. "

Of course they will. It is just that hardcore linux people are not enough, to bring enough money in.

" Privacy and Security and Openness is just no argument for the average"

And it actually is a argument for average users, it is just that their priorities to get their tasks done are higher, which is rational.

And since their tasks usually involve whatsapp and co. they won't be able to use a Linux phone.

Re: Will Linux phones stay around this time?

#195

Post by underscore_ku »

strzibny wrote: post #193
AussieWog93 wrote: post #139

I'd be shocked if it took off. The FOSS development paradigm seems to be allergic to good UI design, and this is far more important for people on mobile than desktop.

We have GNOME 40 now which is beautiful. I can imagine it would be beautiful on mobile pretty soon as well.

if you thing gnome4 is good design then linux phone is dead

Re: Will Linux phones stay around this time?

#196

Post by izacus »

zibzab wrote: post #187
Andrew_nenakhov wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By the way, my colleague has some crappy Huawei phone, which previously killed background apps [1], but this week received an update that changed the behaviour to simply disabling them from accessing the internet. [1]: https://dontkillmyapp.com

This is a simple but wonderful idea! Hope more vendors follow. Google changing permission model to allow any app internet access was the stupidest decision made by a company in this millennium

Is there ANY OS out there that doesn't allow apps to the internet by default?

Seriously, you throw around things like "sociopaths" for a pretty standard and expected user behaviour in all OSes out there?

Re: Will Linux phones stay around this time?

#197

Post by lewiscollard »

matkoniecz wrote: post #125
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…

> And don’t give me the obvious and trite answer of “privacy”. Note that small pool of people actually caring may be enough. See whoever buys Pinephone and Purism-Librem.

Exactly this. There are many predictable comments in this thread about why they think mass adoption of Linux phones won't happen. I even agree with them, but they are missing what I think is the point. I don't care if they take over the world; I want a means by which those of us that do care about privacy and openness and control can opt out.

Re: Will Linux phones stay around this time?

#199

Post by izacus »

apatheticonion wrote: post #116

I want a phone that's Android in the hand but when I plug it into a usb-c hub, it projects full a fat linux distro on my external monitor(s). Though I love Linux, it's not because it's Linux - I just want to live the one device life. If IPhones could run MacOS on external monitors, I'd buy an iPhone. Alternatively, a web-based OS (with desktop linux on a hub) would be awesome if all my apps were available as web apps…

Samsung implemented exactly what you want under the name Samsung DeX - https://beebom.com/install-linux-on-dex

However it seemed to not been interesting to the users because noone really used it and they cancelled the project.

Their phones (the Galaxy series) still do support projecting a desktop mode when you plug the phone into a USB-C monitor. They now run "just" Android apps though.

Re: Will Linux phones stay around this time?

#200

Post by ShinyRice »

Freak_NL wrote: post #118
realusername wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because Android is Google's own property, it's not like a standard Linux distribution by any stretch of imagination. I'm not even against proprietary apps (just against proprietary drivers of course), it's just that transforming Android to make it behave normally is just more and more work every year. Some people (including myself) would prefer to have the same system they have on their desktop on their phone, with t…

A compatibility layer for Android apps would really make it viable. I just don't want to fight my OS to be recognized and treated as its owner. In that respect I really like how I can run Windows games on Linux via Proton and Steam; an otherwise good game can ship with all kinds of crap (like having their own launchers stuck in the system tray), but when I'm done the whole Wine-sandbox collapses and I'm back in a Lin…

Sure, the stuff in the tray goes away, but Wine is not a sandbox. Software can still look into your filesystem and processes. You need Flatpak for proper sandboxing.
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