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I give up on free software phones (2019)

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Re: I give up on free software phones (2019)

#81

Post by fooqux »

chongli wrote: post #78
jancsika wrote: post #33

Someone should do a Linux phone that scales way back: 1. you can dial phone numbers somehow 2. you can talk on the phone 3. you can hear the person on the other line 4. the cell reception on the phone is decent quality 5. antenna is properly placed for very good reception 6. basic SMS works, all the time 7. has been extensively tested to work with a single carrier, any other carrier is no warranty 8. boot time and sh…

What do #1-#8 have to do with Linux? As far as I can tell, nothing. A flip phone will cover your use case nicely. Personally, I have no interest in making phone calls. 99% of the time when my phone rings it’s a spam call. The other 1% of the time it’s one of my uncles or aunts, all of whom are in their 80’s or thereabouts. After they pass on, I will have no reason at all to make a phone call, except perhaps to book a…

> Personally, I have no interest in making phone calls.

You say that now, but wait until you need to dial 911.

Re: I give up on free software phones (2019)

#82

Post by BSEdlMMldESB »

chongli wrote: post #80
BSEdlMMldESB wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

no excuse, merely a conspiracy explanation: it simply cannot be permitted. somebody realized PC market/platform made a huge "mistake", letting anybody make software for them and permitting random hardware. this 'mistake' was avoided on smartphones for very pointed, clear, intentions of social control. there exists NO homebrew smartphone hardware like for PCs.

Your conspiracy explanation doesn’t pass the sniff test. There’s a much much simpler explanation: lack of demand. Heck, you’d think people on hacker news would be all over open source alternatives to proprietary hardware, software, and services. Yet take a brief wander over to one of the many (many) recent Reddit crisis threads and you’ll find countless naysayers talking about how lemmy and the like will never succee…

it is really incredible,

how could lack of demand be made to happen?

but I'm not trying to imply anything. I merely wonder if such a thing (to create or destroy demand of something) is possible; and if it were, how would you do it?

surely it involves marketing? but I also want to reflect on the market cap of convenience...

Re: I give up on free software phones (2019)

#84

Post by pwenzel »

fooqux wrote: post #81
chongli wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do #1-#8 have to do with Linux? As far as I can tell, nothing. A flip phone will cover your use case nicely. Personally, I have no interest in making phone calls. 99% of the time when my phone rings it’s a spam call. The other 1% of the time it’s one of my uncles or aunts, all of whom are in their 80’s or thereabouts. After they pass on, I will have no reason at all to make a phone call, except perhaps to book a…

> Personally, I have no interest in making phone calls. You say that now, but wait until you need to dial 911.

[flagged]

Re: I give up on free software phones (2019)

#85

Post by seanp2k2 »

horeszko wrote: post #65
jancsika wrote: post #33

Someone should do a Linux phone that scales way back: 1. you can dial phone numbers somehow 2. you can talk on the phone 3. you can hear the person on the other line 4. the cell reception on the phone is decent quality 5. antenna is properly placed for very good reception 6. basic SMS works, all the time 7. has been extensively tested to work with a single carrier, any other carrier is no warranty 8. boot time and sh…

I've been daily driving a PinePhone running postmarketOS + phosh for the last month and here is what I've found: 1. Yes, has a dialpad. Works as you would expect 2, 3, 4. Yes, works well on my carrier 5. The antenna is along the side of the phone I believe and the reception seems good, I haven't had issues with this 6. I would say SMS only works about 95% percent of the time. The phone does randomly disconnect from t…

Pinephone Pro here, I wanted to use it as a home automation controller around the house, I think I bricked the keyboard case attachment by using the wrong charging port (why is that even a thing??) because it doesn't work, but to be fair, it never did work, and I've tried troubleshooting it for a few hours with no joy, so now I'm just kinda too frustrated with it to sink more time into it and it's sitting in a drawer.

I should probably try postmarketOS on it and use it as a burner travel phone.

Re: I give up on free software phones (2019)

#86

Post by sleepycatgirl »

StingyJelly wrote: post #54

Since 2019 the landscape has deffinitely changed. "Hardcore" Free Software phones like Pinephone, Librem or PostmarketOS are still difficult but if LineageOS is Free-Software-enough for you, don't give up now. There is grapheneOS that should be no-compromises solution with it's sandboxed google apps. (Haven't used it myself.) MicroG now passes safetynet once again and is pretty stable. (Altrough on some phones you ma…

Huh. My new phone doesn't have Google play services, so I kept old OP6 solely for the bank app... but the bank app is also on the huawei app store...

So now I am almost tempted to see if I can get the bank app on my current phone, and then, finally try out postmarketOS on the OP6

Re: I give up on free software phones (2019)

#87

Post by chongli »

pwenzel wrote: post #84
fooqux wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Personally, I have no interest in making phone calls. You say that now, but wait until you need to dial 911.

[flagged]

Cop showed up at my house 2 days ago at 2am. Roommate apparently sleep-dialed 911.

Re: I give up on free software phones (2019)

#88

Post by muppetman »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #32
agloe_dreams wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is silly and false. Google's default android Messaging app in the US on all carriers is Google Messages and it uses RCS to do exactly what you are saying they can't do.

Have you ever booted AOSP on a device or VM? There is a messaging app that is part of AOSP that is not Google Messages

Yes that Google haven't updated for years and is at this point abandoned[1].

1: https://twitter.com/MishaalRahman/status/1669026188399112192

Re: I give up on free software phones (2019)

#89

Post by muppetman »

richiebful1 wrote: post #20
2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. I've read that Google is not allowed put iMessage-like features into the stock messaging app because it would run afoul of antitrust. Ironically, Apple can do this because they own everything.

I'm not sure what the stock messaging app is anymore, but "Messages by Google" accomplishes what we're talking about [1] 1. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.and...

That's a closed source proprietary Google app that relies on Google Play Services to work.

Re: I give up on free software phones (2019)

#90

Post by selectodude »

reddisbad wrote: post #74
pacifika wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for mentioning a device

I'm lucky (?) to live somewhere where 2G isn't going to be turned off any time soon, due to legacy support requirements. Otherwise, I'd have to get one of Nokia's newer "dumb smartphone" devices.

The more recent refresh of the Nokia 105 comes in 4G flavors and supports VoLTE so you’re good to go worldwide.
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