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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)

#161

Post by dreamcompiler »

This answers a question that's been bugging me: Why TF can I not find a Calendar app on the Play Store that does not depend on Google Calendar? I used to have one 5 years ago that was completely separate, but now I'm apparently not allowed to have a calendar app that does not send all my calendar info to Google.

So now I have this very nice Android phone that does not have a Calendar app because Google won't allow such a thing to exist unless they get to see my appointments. Guess I'll have to write some kind of web app calendar thing if I want a freaking calendar on my phone.

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

#162

Post by josephcsible »

dreamcompiler wrote: post #161

This answers a question that's been bugging me: Why TF can I not find a Calendar app on the Play Store that does not depend on Google Calendar? I used to have one 5 years ago that was completely separate, but now I'm apparently not allowed to have a calendar app that does not send all my calendar info to Google. So now I have this very nice Android phone that does not have a Calendar app because Google won't allow su…

Doesn't LineageOS come with such an app? Even if you don't want to use LineageOS, you might be able to just extract that .apk from it and use it on stock Android.

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

#163

Post by dugite-code »

dreamcompiler wrote: post #161

This answers a question that's been bugging me: Why TF can I not find a Calendar app on the Play Store that does not depend on Google Calendar? I used to have one 5 years ago that was completely separate, but now I'm apparently not allowed to have a calendar app that does not send all my calendar info to Google. So now I have this very nice Android phone that does not have a Calendar app because Google won't allow su…

All the simple tools apps are good and the calendar is quite nice these days. You can sync with google calendar with it but it can be local only if you like. I sync to my Nextcloud server with Davx5 https://play.google.com/store/apps/dev?id=907029638802258926...

Also helps they are open source and can be installed via F-droid if needed

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

#164

Post by chongli »

api wrote: post #140
chongli wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The naysayers are jaded folks who have watched two generations trade all privacy, freedom, honesty, transparency, openness, and even ownership of their own data for convenience. Judging by consumer behavior it appears that ease of use is more important than virtually any other concern. People who really care about things like privacy and freedom are too few in number to tilt the market, and this is compounded by the…

I think the intersection of people who were outraged at Reddit’s API change and “average consumers” is very small. They honestly aren’t important to me because for the most part they’re lurkers anyway.

The people I care about are the power users, the posters, the creators. People put effort into building communities. Those folks are very few in number but extremely important. They can create a community anywhere they go.

They’re also willing to put in effort to begin with so it’s generally easier to get them to move to lemmy when the experience may not be as polished.

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

#165

Post by Gigachad »

api wrote: post #153
Gigachad wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It wouldn't surprise me if Apple has spent more time and money on the iOS keyboard than Purism spent on the entire phone + software. Modern phones are probably the most advanced products humanity has ever produced.

What efforts like Purism should do is greatly reduce their scope. Make a device that does the basics which would be phone, text, basic web, and maybe a media player or support in the web browser for this use case. At first anything else could be accessed via the web, and maybe look at introducing PWAs as a way to do basic apps. Keep the GUI as simple as possible with the smallest number of options and features as pos…

At this point I think the task is simply impossible, the minimum required features on a phone are too high now. If it doesn't have all day battery life, maps, and have a good camera, it's useless. So all you'll still have a real phone with you anyway.

We may as well be talking about an open source, community developed trip to the moon. There are no viable intermediary steps. You either have billions of dollars to find it, or you can't do it.

If you only care about a portable hackable device, the steamdeck is probably the product for you.

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

#166

Post by cookiengineer »

harry8 wrote: post #141
AndyKelley wrote: post #75

I got my librem in the mail last week after waiting several years(!!) for shipping. It's complete trash. The software is shit, the battery is shit, it's expensive, low specs, completely unusable. I'm willing to compromise a lot in order to go with the free software approach, but my god, just do better. There's no excuse for how un-functional this thing is. Try harder. I had the same reaction with the pine phone a cou…

Reminder whenever this comes up that the Nokia N900 was a beautiful, functional thing running linux and Free software 10 years ago. No really. Best phone I've ever owned. Better than apple or android. It's loss was immense.

Also kudos to the scene in Die Hard 4.0 showing off Linux/Maemo at the time.

The N900 was my dream device, and the prototype of the latest model still is on eBay for ridiculous price ranges.

I wish the pinephone would be exactly like the N900, but with better CPU specs.

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

#167

Post by AndyKelley »

crote wrote: post #144
AndyKelley wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

tell me more?

It had a well-polished Linux-based OS, developed in-house by Nokia. Excellent hardware for the time, and a keyboard which was a delight to use. It got pretty decent reviews - even outside of the Linux fanboy bubble. It's just a good phone which happens to run Linux, not a mediocre phone hyped because it is one of the few Linux options available.

I mean, Android is mostly Linux. I don't think the kernel is the issue. The issue with librem is that they put very little effort into the basic user experience of the software.

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

#168

Post by [deleted] »

AndyKelley wrote: post #75

I got my librem in the mail last week after waiting several years(!!) for shipping. It's complete trash. The software is shit, the battery is shit, it's expensive, low specs, completely unusable. I'm willing to compromise a lot in order to go with the free software approach, but my god, just do better. There's no excuse for how un-functional this thing is. Try harder. I had the same reaction with the pine phone a cou…

[deleted]

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

#169

Post by jancsika »

anonym29 wrote: post #45
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…

https://www.punkt.ch/en/products/mp02-4g-mobile-phone/ Not advocating for this, I do not own one, but I'm pretty sure this substantially covers all goals listed minus #8 (plus an unlisted one - Signal integration). I investigated and considered this option carefully. Ultimately ended up doing a Pixel running GrapheneOS (no microG) as a stop-gap until I buy either a Pinephone or Librem, once those are a little more us…

Says it can receive MMS but cannot forward them to other recipients. Does that hold for SMS or just MMS?

Also, is it free software? I know I only said "Linux phone" but we are in the realm of FOSS on this thread...

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

#170

Post by jancsika »

NovaDudely wrote: post #114
anonym29 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.punkt.ch/en/products/mp02-4g-mobile-phone/ Not advocating for this, I do not own one, but I'm pretty sure this substantially covers all goals listed minus #8 (plus an unlisted one - Signal integration). I investigated and considered this option carefully. Ultimately ended up doing a Pixel running GrapheneOS (no microG) as a stop-gap until I buy either a Pinephone or Librem, once those are a little more us…

Punkt if it had an open software stack would have a sizable market, not main stream but definitely something reasonable. Something else that platforms like that, and for everyone else, is a standardized means of communicating with banks. That way it is not up to the bank to build and maintain apps for seperate platforms. That one devices like Punkt could build alternative apps to do these kinds of functions. Great in…

> lot of promoting their alarm clock (whatever)

Maybe we should back up before smartphones.

Even back up before desktops.

Could 2023 be the year of the Linux alarm clock?

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