Live data from Hacker News

PinePhone Pro Announced

pine64.org

261–270 of 375 posts

Re: PinePhone Pro Announced

#261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then literally everyone you know is dependent on either Apple or Google.

Probably. But I don't think those requirements are unreasonable. It feels like it largely boils down to "I buy a smartphone to accomplish certain tasks easily". If you eliminate many of those tasks, is it a useful device for those people anymore?

> banking applications

I'd rather use the web app, it gives them less information about me

Re: PinePhone Pro Announced

#262
post #163

It is frustrating to me that despite the blunt verbiage about it being a beta device for software and hardware developers, people even here are griping about it being not ready for everyday use. If a free and open-source mobile operating system is missing software support for a feature you want, please contribute to its development.

I bought a "beta edition" regular PinePhone and it seemed anything but "beta." Random crashes after boot every 30 seconds, even with "workarounds" such as patching the memory frequency (really?). This may have been a hardware defect but one of the nice things about calling everything a "beta" as an excuse for the flakiness I'll never know. It was essentially a paperweight, not something that would enable me to become a "contributor."

Re: PinePhone Pro Announced

#263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People with presbyopia [0] rarely do. This is a pretty common condition with older folks. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presbyopia

Pretty common is an understatement. Everyone I have met over 50 used reading glasses. It starts somewhere between 40 and 45, but the number of people without presbyopia over 50 must be minuscule.

I used reading glasses, for years. I don't need them anymore.

Sometime last year I started drinking kombucha, a pint most days. That is the only thing I can think of to credit the change to. My diastolic blood pressure also went down, from 90 to 70.

Re: PinePhone Pro Announced

#264
post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the message / take away is : developers, developers, developers. Something that quickly evolves by the shared power of a lot of minds. If you are buying it, toss it away and don’t contribute, this will hamper future succes.

Is there a way to sell apps?

I don’t know. My old phone is still working, and holding out as long as I can. Then I will buy a Linux Phone.

Re: PinePhone Pro Announced

#265

I've recently ordered a PinePhone. At 200 bucks I consider it a donation. I encourage other people to also buy one, even if it is not what you expect. This along the Framework laptops is definitely the way to think about consumer products. I wish appliances were also manufactured open source. Imagine fridges, microwaves, toasters, etc. Things that you can open, understand and learn from and maybe eventually build you…

I don't think Pine64 donates part of the profit anymore from the Beta sales. I think this change was announced in one of the previous community updates.

I guess you mean "donation" to Pine64 to encourage them to do more fun HW development? :)

Re: PinePhone Pro Announced

#266
If I buy this phone today, in {6 months, 1 year, 5 years} when Linux is ready for phones, will I be supported in that future still?

I'd hate to buy this phone to support a project and then never have access to what I wished the product was.

Re: PinePhone Pro Announced

#267
post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a owner of many pine64 products I wish there was a clear path to learning how to contribute. My last time coding was C++ class over 16 years ago and I wish I had some sort of idea on how to get started with hobby programming in my spare time as an adult. Edit// Especially since I've jumped on the ARM bandwagon and replaced my desktop with an M1 mac and my laptop with a Pinebook Pro.

Create apps! This is the most needed. We created a tutorial for Kirigami here: https://develop.kde.org/docs/kirigami/ . There are also a few tutorials for GTK/libhandy with e.g. https://tuxphones.com/tutorial-developing-responsive-linux-s... Also join the developer channels on matrix: #plasmamobile:kde.org (not sure that the address for the GNOME one)

Cool! This is the kind of thing I've wondered about for a while. This looks like some handy info.

Is there an option to use a higher level language like Python and these QT libraries still? I don't have a ton of time to contribute, but this might be a way forward for me someday.

EDIT: Your 2nd link is literally what I was asking about, although it's using Gtk3. I'm not familiar with either in depth, so I'm not picky there. That's really useful. Thanks for this!

Re: PinePhone Pro Announced

#268

Disappointed they didn't take this opportunity to make hardware switches more conveniently accessible without removing the rear cover, like the Librem 5. Maybe that's not such a priority when you're fully aware the thing isn't actually usable as a daily driver one might be regularly toggling cell/wifi/camera on.

Compatibility with all the pinephone back covers and the upcoming keyboard is more important, I guess.

Re: PinePhone Pro Announced

#269
post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a lot of C, C++, assembly skills - this is what it meant to mess around with computers! I can't believe this is getting upvoted on HN. What kind of gatekeeping elitist bullshit is this?

I don't see anything elitist. Anyone can learn assembly language, C, and even C++ and Rust with a bit more dedication. Anyway, much of the work getting these phones ready as daily drivers is in getting apps that run on them mature. There are lots of languages adequate for apps.

Or learn Swift or Kotlin, and target iOS or Android instead.

Re: PinePhone Pro Announced

#270
post #163

It is frustrating to me that despite the blunt verbiage about it being a beta device for software and hardware developers, people even here are griping about it being not ready for everyday use. If a free and open-source mobile operating system is missing software support for a feature you want, please contribute to its development.

How many hundreds or thousands of enthusiasts are needed before it's suitable to be a daily driver? I see the fragmented approach on the software side as a major hindrance to the goal of achieving a device that can be used by a normal person as a reasonable replacement for other smart phones. I check in on it every l every 6 months or so, update my pinephone and give it a few days. So far, it doesn't meet reliability…

TBH I think having a flutter port for this operating mobile system is probably the most likely way for it to succeed. That way you can do a flutter app and it will work on this too, while still having mainline OS support.

Then you would need to fill in some common services like push and such.

Post reply on HN