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

Will Linux phones stay around this time?

linmob.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

201–210 of 491 posts

Re: Will Linux phones stay around this time?

#201

Post by squarefoot »

> But let's start by making a short list of main reasons of failure per effort, starting with the companies involved:

> ...

> Nokia (Maemo/Meego): Change in corporate strategy (new CEO),

> ...

Nokia Linux based phones didn't fail simply because of a new CEO, but because of a partnership with Microsoft that brought a CEO and a deal with Windows Mobile on Nokia phones in exchange for phasing out of Linux and Symbian devices. If it wasn't for Microsoft, Linux on Nokia phones would have succeeded.

Remember this every time you work with WSL thinking that Microsoft loves Linux and the Open Source model; they don't. They simply aim at controlling it, this time also from the inside (see Linux Foundation Platinum membership).

Re: Will Linux phones stay around this time?

#203

Post by dagw »

squarefoot wrote: post #201

> But let's start by making a short list of main reasons of failure per effort, starting with the companies involved: > ... > Nokia (Maemo/Meego): Change in corporate strategy (new CEO), > ... Nokia Linux based phones didn't fail simply because of a new CEO, but because of a partnership with Microsoft that brought a CEO and a deal with Windows Mobile on Nokia phones in exchange for phasing out of Linux and Symbian de…

If it wasn't for Microsoft, Linux on Nokia phones would have succeeded.

That seems wildly optimistic.

I owned an N900 and used an N9 for a while, and while I loved them for all their nerdy glory, they where not ready for prime time. Why do you think Nokia would have done better with Meego than they did with WP?

Re: Will Linux phones stay around this time?

#204

Post by mattl »

mattl wrote: post #13

Of course not. Nobody wants to run that on their phone except a tiny few. Android isn’t the same, but even then nobody knowingly wants to run Android.

To be clear: I don’t think anyone who is interested in Linux on a phone wants to run Android.

It is Linux but not in any real way. It could just as easily be not-Linux.

Re: Will Linux phones stay around this time?

#205

Post by tluyben2 »

2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #165
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.

If it worked well enough, and was stable enough, I think a lot of tech enthusiasts might make the switch. Same we we put up with Linux distros. A friend has a pine phone and it’s just not good enough as a daily driver. Forget UI. It needs a reboot regularly.

I have a pinephone; it is not good enough. Very unstable; everything (apps/wm) just keep crashing randomly; I send in crash reports. And I try the latest images every month.

But yes, I think it would work. I would be happy with a phone that can run Linux desktop software with HDMI. It would need to be powerful enough (which the pinephone is very much not at all), not eat so much battery when the USB dock is plugged in with HDMI and, most importantly as you say, be stable as Linux. The pinephone feels very far removed from any of this.

Personally, I don't really care about the size of the phone; I gladly give up weight for more battery life (I will have to carry a battery anyway otherwise so why not inside the phone). I guess I would rather the (6.5inch) phone have an eInk display but plug into a screen for a full Linux desktop. But sure, there is no real money in that for phone makers as only people like me would buy them. With Android they are next to useless for me though, which is annoying as there are nice Android (eInk) phones out there if they would run Linux.

Re: Will Linux phones stay around this time?

#206

Post by curt15 »

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.

I sometimes find it hard to understand the GNOME's design rationale. When GNOME 40 moved the dock from the left side to the bottom of the screen, it created an ergonomic problem for mouse users, who now need two large mouse gestures to switch apps -- first to the upper left corner to reveal the dock, then all the way to the bottom. And in the issue thread[1], Gnome's designers seem to be carefully avoiding the obvious solution of a hot bottom edge, proposed by several commenters, which is how Mac OS has always handled an auto-hiding dock.

https://gitlab.gnome.org/Teams/Design/os-mockups/-/issues/68

Re: Will Linux phones stay around this time?

#208

Post by skvark »

m4rtink wrote: post #76
hpoe wrote: post #5

Anyone know of any good Linux phones. Mine is going to be dead soon and for a while I liked Pixel because it didn't have all the Samsung or Motorola or anytime else bloatware, but with what Google has been doing I'd prefer a full Linux phone. I've looked a Librem but $1500 is kind of hard to justify when I have all my other expenses that come with a young family. Anyone have any suggestions?

I have been using the officially supported Sailfis OS on Sony Xperia devices for years as my main device: https://jolla.com/sailfishx/ The idea is you buy one of the supported Xperia phones, buy a Sailfish OS license and flash it on the phone. The license you bought pays for continued software updates (new features & security fixes) as well some external software they integrate (predictive typing support & android ap…

I have currently Sony XA2 with Sailfish OS. Just ordered Xperia 10 II so I have it ready when they publish the official version for it. I have been using Sailfish as my daily driver since the original Jolla phone was released in 2013.

The only issue that I might see as a blocker for some users is that the Android layer is not perfect. It does not support Bluetooth properly so pretty much any Android app that connects to some external peripheral like smart watch will not work. Additionally, you might need to install for example microG to run some apps via the Android layer.

Re: Will Linux phones stay around this time?

#209

Post by jacquesm »

orf wrote: post #185
jacquesm wrote: post #183

Android phones are Linux phones. The fact that Android marketing gets away with misrepresenting this fact is highly annoying, and it is one of the more ugly cases of the open source engine underneath each Android phone being used by what is essentially to all intents and purposes a closed source device. This is precisely what the FOSS community has been advocating against and in my opinion isn't any worse or better t…

In android’s case the use of Linux is an implementation detail though.

Without Linux Android wouldn't have gotten off the ground.

Re: Will Linux phones stay around this time?

#210

Post by orf »

jacquesm wrote: post #209
orf wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In android’s case the use of Linux is an implementation detail though.

Without Linux Android wouldn't have gotten off the ground.

Cool, but not relevant to the point being made.

Without Linux Facebook wouldn’t have got off the ground either. That doesn’t mean Facebook is a Linux service, their use of Linux (like Android) is entirely an implementation detail.

Post reply on HN