Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

PinePhone Review

drewdevault.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 268 posts

Re: PinePhone Review

#151

Post by pjc50 »

thekyle wrote: post #124
dmitriid wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You greatly overestimate the number of users who care about how closed or how open an ecosystem is. If the user can't interact with their bank, whatchu YouTube, talk to their friends and parents over Snapchat or Skype, call Uber, play Spotify, etc etc etc, it doesn't matter in the least if your phone is 100% open source. Microsoft had sunk billions into trying to get the ecosystem off the ground. What makes you think…

> If the user can't interact with their bank, whatchu YouTube, talk to their friends and parents over Snapchat or Skype, call Uber, play Spotify, etc etc etc, it doesn't matter in the least if your phone is 100% open source. Most of this should be available on the PinePhone at launch (albeit not as nicely as on Android). Bank - should have a website (and if they don't have a website they most likely don't have an app…

My bank app has significantly better usability than the website because it can mostly cache credentials and support a short login procedure. Or use the fingerprint scanner.

Re: PinePhone Review

#152

Post by pjc50 »

afandian wrote: post #103
moksly wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don’t need your Raspberry PI to run your bank app, handle your payments or your bus-tickets. I’m not sure how I’d even purchase a non digital ticket for quite a few things in Denmark. Don’t get me wrong, I really hope something like PinePhone sees enough adoption to get the apps I need a smartphone to run so I can break away from the two monopolies. I just don’t believe it will happen when Microsoft couldn’t do i…

So how do people without phones participate in society? I don't use a google account on my phone, so that means no App Store. I'm trying to one day get rid of my google account too. It doesn't cause me many issues in the UK though I can't use things like Uber, and that's no loss to me. How would I get on in Denmark?

The UK government "settled status" application procedure for EU nationals resident after Brexit was only available as an Android app. Otherwise you had to apply in person at a specific site.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/feb/03/mps-slam-an...

Re: PinePhone Review

#153

Post by Tepix »

dorfsmay wrote: post #52
lern_too_spel wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Openmoko sold 13000 phones, which is much more than "dozens." Commercial failure does not necessarily mean you can fit all the customers in a room.

Mine was unusable until I installed Android, at which point I bought an Android phone a quarter of the thickness and mass, and better screen resolution (and likely better radios as well). I too bought it because I thought I'd hack around and "maybe contribute" which quickly turn in "why am I wasting so much time on something that will probably never work".

The screen resolution of the OpenMoko was very good at the time: It had a 640x480 2.8" screen which means a very good 286ppi.

Re: PinePhone Review

#154

Post by thenewnewguy »

dmitriid wrote: post #106
Erlich_Bachman wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft couldn't do it because everyone new (of the users) that even if they put in their effort to switch and wait for the ecosystem to grow, they will end up with just the same crap: another closed-source monopoly with it's own quirks. We won't have just two overlords, but instead 3 of the same. Wow such a difference... Now an truly open system might make a difference. Not saying it will, it has it's own problems…

You greatly overestimate the number of users who care about how closed or how open an ecosystem is. If the user can't interact with their bank, whatchu YouTube, talk to their friends and parents over Snapchat or Skype, call Uber, play Spotify, etc etc etc, it doesn't matter in the least if your phone is 100% open source. Microsoft had sunk billions into trying to get the ecosystem off the ground. What makes you think…

People on HN seem to hate them, but honestly progressive web apps have potential to solve most/all of those usecases.

Re: PinePhone Review

#155

Post by vhodges »

spurgu wrote: post #117
tomger wrote: post #57

Now if they’d create an iPhone SE sized one... I’d have enough passion to figure out how to run Linux on it ;)

This! I am so sad to see that practically all mobile devices on the market right now are 5+ inches. I could even go with 5, which is considered "small" nowadays, but PinePhone and Librem5 are 5.95" and 5.7" respectively. Why did phablets become the norm, at least give us a choice... :(

Somewhat (?) related:

https://palm.com/

Perhaps PostmarketOS or at least Lineage might support it one day (or now?!? Didn't look)

Re: PinePhone Review

#156

Post by MartijnBraam »

SirHound wrote: post #89

> rumor has it that a call has successfully been placed This has been my perception of Linux in general.

There have been calls made with the PinePhone hardware, it just needs some more integration and we're having some issues with call audio on the speaker on the pinephone.

Re: PinePhone Review

#157

Post by smichel17 »

SirHound wrote: post #89

> rumor has it that a call has successfully been placed This has been my perception of Linux in general.

If you're referring to desktop Linux, it's very much not this way, for the last 5 or so years.

Installation Just Works unless you're dual booting, in which case it Just Works until Windows updates and overwrites boot files because it assumes it's the only OS installed. Drivers Just Work as long as you're not using some obscure hardware. Installing apps Just Works. Anything web (and let's face it, that's a lot of things nowadays) Just Works.

The only times when "rumor has it someone made it work" happens, that I've come across, is running a subset of Windows games in wine. Specifically, games that use invasive client-side anticheat (eg, EAC, which loads a kernel driver to do its snooping).

Re: PinePhone Review

#158

Post by spurgu »

vhodges wrote: post #155
spurgu wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This! I am so sad to see that practically all mobile devices on the market right now are 5+ inches. I could even go with 5, which is considered "small" nowadays, but PinePhone and Librem5 are 5.95" and 5.7" respectively. Why did phablets become the norm, at least give us a choice... :(

Somewhat (?) related: https://palm.com/ Perhaps PostmarketOS or at least Lineage might support it one day (or now?!? Didn't look)

Haha, hate to be that guy, but that's too small. The iPhone SE is about as small as I would go in order to still be able to type somewhat comfortably on a keyboard in portrait mode.

Re: PinePhone Review

#159

Post by ocdtrekkie »

Abishek_Muthian wrote: post #71
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Windows Mobile gave up just prior to the best chance of breaking the duopoly: PWAs. Most app developers will never want to support a half a dozen phone OSes. The solution will inevitably, eventually, be the web.

I'm not sure how much effort went into supporting PWAs for Windows Phone, I used to develop for that ecosystem during 8.x and the browser was a mess; cordova apps for WP required specific hacks to basic elements such as header, footer etc. Besides, they where making good progress with supporting android apps in WP with 'Project Astoria' and iOS apps with 'Project islandwood'; both of those were pulled off abruptly. T…

Proper support for PWAs in Windows 10 came the release after the last Windows Mobile release. It never supported them.

Also, I have an Astoria phone in a drawer somewhere. Worked fantastically.

Re: PinePhone Review

#160

Post by jdright »

_-o-_ wrote: post #135
thekyle wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If the user can't interact with their bank, whatchu YouTube, talk to their friends and parents over Snapchat or Skype, call Uber, play Spotify, etc etc etc, it doesn't matter in the least if your phone is 100% open source. Most of this should be available on the PinePhone at launch (albeit not as nicely as on Android). Bank - should have a website (and if they don't have a website they most likely don't have an app…

> Bank - should have a website (and if they don't have a website they most likely don't have an app anyway) In my experience mobile banking is more often than not provided via app exclusively.

Funnily enough, my last bank and two current ones, the app is increasingly a front for a mobile web version. With each new update I see more functionality moving to web.
Post reply on HN