this seems cool if distros become more polished from what i have seen this could be amazing
PinePhone – Open Source Smart Phone Supported by Major Linux Phone Projects
11–20 of 265 posts
Re: PinePhone – Open Source Smart Phone Supported by Major Linux Phone Projects
#12The pinephone is great, in fact I'm typing this comment from mine. That said, fair warning to anyone thinking about getting one: it's slow, buggy, and flat out unreliable if you need to be able to receive / answer calls and texts for anything important (e.g. work). Once they get the software worked out over the next few years though, it'll be the best thing out there. No ads, no bullshit, just a phone with a mainline…
> Once they get the software worked out over the next few years though, it'll be the best thing out there. No ads, no bullshit, just a phone with a mainline linux distribution.
I'm coming to the realisation that open source projects will always provide a lower quality than comerical ones. How can we honestly expect a small team of developers to compete with the larger teams a commerical project can afford? The reality is, we can't. And we'll always compare PinePhone and other things to iOS and Android and they'll always come up short.
Also, a large part of using a smart phone is the apps. Without apps the phone is just really a phone.
For me, to want to use PinePhone they would need to make it super easy to have Android on there.
Re: PinePhone – Open Source Smart Phone Supported by Major Linux Phone Projects
#13The pinephone is great, in fact I'm typing this comment from mine. That said, fair warning to anyone thinking about getting one: it's slow, buggy, and flat out unreliable if you need to be able to receive / answer calls and texts for anything important (e.g. work). Once they get the software worked out over the next few years though, it'll be the best thing out there. No ads, no bullshit, just a phone with a mainline…
"... jut a phone and a mainline linux distribution." From the OP: "... the PinePhone runs mainline Linux as well as anything else you'll get it to run." Linux is great but being able to run several different OS is, IMO, on a whole `nother level. For example, I am interested in running NetBSD. About 12 years ago, there was a phone called the T-Mobile Sidekick. What OS did it run. That phone was allegedly the first to…
The Danger Hiptop was branded as the T-Mobile Sidekick; later T-Mo used the Sidekick name for some other devices.
DangerOS required all applications to be written in Java and distributed via their store; if you stopped paying your subscription fee you would lose access to the store and to the online backup service as well.
Microsoft bought Danger and eventually closed it, killing all usage.
For a while it was the best device for sysadmins and the Deaf community -- because it had a keyboard and an SSH application.
Re: PinePhone – Open Source Smart Phone Supported by Major Linux Phone Projects
#14I wouldn't buy this, simply based on experience of their other products. I bought one of their laptops. It was terribly slow to the point of unusability for the three days it was working before a child knocked the power plug and ripped the socket assembly off the mainboard, rendering the machine unsalvageable. The whole thing felt poorly built.
Contrast the ZX Spectrum Next, built by enthusiasts as a Kickstarter, which is rock solid and has stood up to children for years now.
Re: PinePhone – Open Source Smart Phone Supported by Major Linux Phone Projects
#15The pinephone is great, in fact I'm typing this comment from mine. That said, fair warning to anyone thinking about getting one: it's slow, buggy, and flat out unreliable if you need to be able to receive / answer calls and texts for anything important (e.g. work). Once they get the software worked out over the next few years though, it'll be the best thing out there. No ads, no bullshit, just a phone with a mainline…
> Once they get the software worked out over the next few years though, it'll be the best thing out there. No ads, no bullshit, just a phone with a mainline linux distribution. I'm coming to the realisation that open source projects will always provide a lower quality than comerical ones. How can we honestly expect a small team of developers to compete with the larger teams a commerical project can afford? The realit…
> I'm coming to the realisation that open source projects will always provide a lower quality than comerical ones.
That is not true. As far as I am concerned Linux is clearly superior OS for my laptop over commercial alternatives.
> How can we honestly expect a small team of developers to compete with the larger teams a commerical project can afford?
In many cases they win by default. If "no leaking of personal data" is on mandatory feature list then Pinephones are already better than Android!
And there are many projects where there is simply no commercial product at all and is unlikely to ever appear.
Re: PinePhone – Open Source Smart Phone Supported by Major Linux Phone Projects
#16The pinephone is great, in fact I'm typing this comment from mine. That said, fair warning to anyone thinking about getting one: it's slow, buggy, and flat out unreliable if you need to be able to receive / answer calls and texts for anything important (e.g. work). Once they get the software worked out over the next few years though, it'll be the best thing out there. No ads, no bullshit, just a phone with a mainline…
> Once they get the software worked out over the next few years though, it'll be the best thing out there. No ads, no bullshit, just a phone with a mainline linux distribution. I'm coming to the realisation that open source projects will always provide a lower quality than comerical ones. How can we honestly expect a small team of developers to compete with the larger teams a commerical project can afford? The realit…
> I'm coming to the realisation that open source projects will always provide a lower quality than commercial ones
That's demonstrably wrong. Examples are so abundant and obvious that I'm not sure I need to mention any, but for the sake of argument. In software: Linux, Gimp, Firefox, VLC, Blender, OpenOffice, ... In hardware: Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Beagleboard, UltiMaker, Adafruit products, Sparkfun Electronics products, etc...
Re: PinePhone – Open Source Smart Phone Supported by Major Linux Phone Projects
#17The pinephone is great, in fact I'm typing this comment from mine. That said, fair warning to anyone thinking about getting one: it's slow, buggy, and flat out unreliable if you need to be able to receive / answer calls and texts for anything important (e.g. work). Once they get the software worked out over the next few years though, it'll be the best thing out there. No ads, no bullshit, just a phone with a mainline…
> Once they get the software worked out over the next few years though, it'll be the best thing out there. No ads, no bullshit, just a phone with a mainline linux distribution. I'm coming to the realisation that open source projects will always provide a lower quality than comerical ones. How can we honestly expect a small team of developers to compete with the larger teams a commerical project can afford? The realit…
Are you just trolling?
Re: PinePhone – Open Source Smart Phone Supported by Major Linux Phone Projects
#18I'd would not like to run "other operating systems", but rather Android/Replicant[1]. The PinePhone is listed as a supported device[2], but I'm finding next to no reports on how it is actually working.
Re: PinePhone – Open Source Smart Phone Supported by Major Linux Phone Projects
#19The pinephone is great, in fact I'm typing this comment from mine. That said, fair warning to anyone thinking about getting one: it's slow, buggy, and flat out unreliable if you need to be able to receive / answer calls and texts for anything important (e.g. work). Once they get the software worked out over the next few years though, it'll be the best thing out there. No ads, no bullshit, just a phone with a mainline…
> Once they get the software worked out over the next few years though, it'll be the best thing out there. No ads, no bullshit, just a phone with a mainline linux distribution. I'm coming to the realisation that open source projects will always provide a lower quality than comerical ones. How can we honestly expect a small team of developers to compete with the larger teams a commerical project can afford? The realit…
I'm with you, but this is the wrong place to come and say that. That attacks the ego of many people on here.
EDIT: But read the other comments on here and they actually prove you right: First hand reports of low build quality by the same manufacturer (downvoted, of course), someone saying "someone should just add X feature and I'd buy it" (as opposed to true-to-open-source "I'll add X feature, which will make it it a kick ass product")." Another comment that says "Yeah it runs many distros, but none of them polished". It all just sort of proves what you are saying.
Re: PinePhone – Open Source Smart Phone Supported by Major Linux Phone Projects
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Once they get the software worked out over the next few years though, it'll be the best thing out there. No ads, no bullshit, just a phone with a mainline linux distribution. I'm coming to the realisation that open source projects will always provide a lower quality than comerical ones. How can we honestly expect a small team of developers to compete with the larger teams a commerical project can afford? The realit…
> I'm coming to the realisation that open source projects will always provide a lower quality than comerical ones. That is not true. As far as I am concerned Linux is clearly superior OS for my laptop over commercial alternatives. > How can we honestly expect a small team of developers to compete with the larger teams a commerical project can afford? In many cases they win by default. If "no leaking of personal data"…
>That is not true. As far as I am concerned Linux is clearly superior OS for my laptop over commercial alternatives.
I would argue Linux is only superior from the IT software perspective. This is a very narrow perspective that is only inflated if you're in IT or on an IT related site like HN. From almost every other dimension Linux is inferior and therefore from an Overall perspective it is inferior.
The most important dimensions for an operating system are usability and compatibility. Average users are like this while hard core masochist programmers are willing to spend years decoding an interface