101–110 of 193 posts
Sincere question: Can someone explain how you develop the skills and knowledge required to pull this off? I'm no genius, but I'm reasonably sure I'm not a slouch either. I've got a masters in theoretical physics, I've worked with and written software for four years, I take an interest in anything techy I come across. I've picked up the basics of population genomics and molecular genetics without assistance. I still f…
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Here's what I don't get: why can't we have a modern one? It doesn't need to blow flagship smartphones out of the water. It doesn't even need to have a GSM baseband – I'd rather just connect through my "normal" smartphone than deal with all the complications of having a whole extra computer in there. Surely this is getting close to realizable by hobbyists or a niche company?
This is absolutely doable by a niche company. The problem is that you need to run this as a business . What plagues every free/open/libre project is that they're not run as a business; so they get distracted in all different directions trying to cater to ideals about free/libre licensing and so on, and end up missing the big picture. You need to operate this as a business first , with the freedom part being a nice bo…
But then again, experience shows I'm wrong.
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In Europe we keep 2G as a failsafe, deprecating only 3G.
Not true, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2G#Phase-out Many countries/carriers in europe have already shut down 2G, many will shut it down in 2027. A few will keep it a few years more.
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This is absolutely doable by a niche company. The problem is that you need to run this as a business . What plagues every free/open/libre project is that they're not run as a business; so they get distracted in all different directions trying to cater to ideals about free/libre licensing and so on, and end up missing the big picture. You need to operate this as a business first , with the freedom part being a nice bo…
Maybe you're right. But at the same time I feel (based on nothing) that even the performance of an entry-level Android phone, coupled with libre hardware and software, and a tiny little keyboard like the N900's, running an ordinary Linux distro, actually would find a market. A small market made up of us weirdos who find this HN thread interesting. But then again, experience shows I'm wrong.
I still have one in a drawer from when I worked at Nokia around 2009. Great device. I also had the N800 before that. What made them interesting wasn't the hardware, though the full keyboard on the N900 was useful but the fact that it was Linux phone based on Debian complete with the ability to apt-get install whatever the hell you wanted. Including compilers, developer tools, openssh, and whatever you could think of.…
There sorta was and still is, just it uses the same endpoint as APN/APS so if any telecom wanted to block it all iphone users on their network would lose push notifications too.
I'm glad telecoms got put in their place, used to be a give them an inch and they'd take a mile type situation. I dont miss their games.
Sincere question: Can someone explain how you develop the skills and knowledge required to pull this off? I'm no genius, but I'm reasonably sure I'm not a slouch either. I've got a masters in theoretical physics, I've worked with and written software for four years, I take an interest in anything techy I come across. I've picked up the basics of population genomics and molecular genetics without assistance. I still f…
Can't claim to know the specifics, but there's some supporting links for both the battery and bootloader stuff in the article. The supercapacitor (can be a regular cap too, but would be physically much larger) is for buffering the power supply to prevent the device from shutting off if there's a momentary draw that causes the voltage to drop.
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Not true, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2G#Phase-out Many countries/carriers in europe have already shut down 2G, many will shut it down in 2027. A few will keep it a few years more.
It's a hot mess too. When you have an American carrier / phone number on an international plan and they shut down all radios in the case of an emergency in the EU, you still get 2G/3G service abroad while everyone's phones around you is dead.
The whole point is to free up spectrum, how would that work if that spectrum is still in use for the American carriers in countries that shut down the service for domestic use? Why would service be maintained for such a niche usecase?
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Here's what I don't get: why can't we have a modern one? It doesn't need to blow flagship smartphones out of the water. It doesn't even need to have a GSM baseband – I'd rather just connect through my "normal" smartphone than deal with all the complications of having a whole extra computer in there. Surely this is getting close to realizable by hobbyists or a niche company?
Have you seen the Jolla preorder? It was on hn a few days ago. That is the spiritual successor of the N9XX line. https://commerce.jolla.com/products/jolla-phone-preorder