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PinePhone – Open Source Smart Phone Supported by Major Linux Phone Projects

pine64.org

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Re: PinePhone – Open Source Smart Phone Supported by Major Linux Phone Projects

#71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm coming to the realisation that open source projects will always provide a lower quality than commercial ones That's demonstrably wrong. Examples are so abundant and obvious that I'm not sure I need to mention any, but for the sake of argument. In software: Linux, Gimp, Firefox, VLC, Blender, OpenOffice, ... In hardware: Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Beagleboard, UltiMaker, Adafruit products, Sparkfun Electronics produ…

> Examples are so abundant and obvious that I'm not sure I need to mention any, but for the sake of argument. In software: Linux, Gimp, Firefox, VLC, Blender, OpenOffice If you picked an average computer user at random (read: not people on HN) and had them try out Linux, Gimp, and OpenOffice, I don't think they'd agree with you that they're as high-quality as their commercial alternatives.

My relatives are using Linux with LibreOffice just fine, no complains. You will only have problems if you must use proprietary apps from monopolies which actively fight against freedom.

Re: PinePhone – Open Source Smart Phone Supported by Major Linux Phone Projects

#72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>That is not true. As far as I am concerned Linux is clearly superior OS for my laptop over commercial alternatives. I would argue Linux is only superior from the IT software perspective. This is a very narrow perspective that is only inflated if you're in IT or on an IT related site like HN. From almost every other dimension Linux is inferior and therefore from an Overall perspective it is inferior. The most importa…

I used to feel the exact same way until 2 years ago. But my experience has been absolutely brilliant with Linux mint in the last 2 years. No driver issues, super nice UI and everything just works now! As a matter of fact the only use I have for Windows now is for playing games (also Photoshop). Otoh the amount of clutter and issues I have to deal in Win10 is just bad. I digress but thankfully there is a tool called "…

For anyone interested, here's the homepage of Linux Mint: https://linuxmint.com/

It is based on Ubuntu and uses the Cinnamon desktop by default, however personally i also rather enjoy the XFCE spin, for example: https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=4103

To that end, i also enjoy smaller distributions like Xubuntu, which are just customized Ubuntu, should someone not necessarily want to use Mint in particular: https://xubuntu.org/

Of course, the purists out there could also enjoy Debian because it relies more on free software instead of having proprietary drivers, but outside of the server space your experience might vary: https://www.debian.org/

Also, the Windows tool in question is O&O ShutUp10: https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10

However, it's unfortunate to have to run it after the occasional update, because Windows is kind enough to enable its spyware functionality automatically sometimes. /s

Re: PinePhone – Open Source Smart Phone Supported by Major Linux Phone Projects

#73
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"DangerOS required all applications to be written in Java..." Was Java a requirement of the OS or was it just a design choice by the developers. The OS was NetBSD AFAIK; of course one can run a JVM on NetBSD but that's not a requirement; I never do. Is Pinephone limited only to running Java applications. I want more programming options than just Java.

No end user could run anything on a DangerOS device that didn't come from the store; nothing went into the store that wasn't written in Java and met their guidelines. Pinephone is completely orthogonal to this.

[deleted]

Re: PinePhone – Open Source Smart Phone Supported by Major Linux Phone Projects

#74
post #38

The pinephone is great, in fact I'm typing this comment from mine. That said, fair warning to anyone thinking about getting one: it's slow, buggy, and flat out unreliable if you need to be able to receive / answer calls and texts for anything important (e.g. work). Once they get the software worked out over the next few years though, it'll be the best thing out there. No ads, no bullshit, just a phone with a mainline…

> buggy, and flat out unreliable if you need to be able to receive / answer calls and texts for anything important (e.g. work). Out of curiosity, how do these bugs/unreliability manifest in realty? I've been fiddling around with making a mobile Linux distro specifically for a car navigation/entertainment system so I'm curious to get some circumstantial feedback.

I have a Pinephone. It works well most of the time, but occasionally apps crash, or it cannot connect to WiFi, or becomes very slow. Reboot usually helps.

A good thing is that even if you buy it now and decide it's not reliable enough, you can be sure that the development will never stop and at some point it will be better than Android in every way. I would say in a year.

Re: PinePhone – Open Source Smart Phone Supported by Major Linux Phone Projects

#75
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reading the comments, and weighing your comment, you say we need to have Android to be successful. Before that you say “we need apps”, that’s the heart of your comment. It can be successfully argued that we don’t need more of what we already have (aka closed walled, ad ridden, privacy off by default - solutions) We (as in developers) should start believing in these projects and adopt them. Blender for a long time cou…

Blender also had a massive investment that PinePhone does not have.

...that pine phone doesn't have "yet".

Fingers crossed that the coming pine phone 2.0 or 3.0 sails through on enhanced/xtended funding.

Re: PinePhone – Open Source Smart Phone Supported by Major Linux Phone Projects

#76
post #54

The store page mentions dead pixels; It's the first time I'm seeing a disclaimer like this on a smartphone. Is this normal? Why aren't other manufacturers mentioning this? Source: https://pine64.com/product/pinephone-beta-edition-with-conve... > A small numbers of stuck or dead pixels (1-3) can be a characteristic of LCD screens. While rare, this should not be considered a defect. If you think that a minor dissatisfa…

In the early days of LCD screens different vendors and even resellers had different warranty and return policies for dead pixels, even going as far as cluster vs spread out. E.G. in circa 2007 Dell had a 5 dead pixels policy but if 3 were in a cluster you could replace the monitor too.

The reason why Apple or Samsung can have a 0 dead pixel policy is because they have money to buy higher quality screens in the first place and eat the cost of replacing phones / screens because they have a lot of money and a mature supply and sales chain.

PinePhone doesn’t it would potentially cost them as much to replace a phone post sale as the hardware in the phone is worth so they are making it clear to people that they shouldn’t expect a perfect device.

Would this actually pass consumer protection laws probably not.

Re: PinePhone – Open Source Smart Phone Supported by Major Linux Phone Projects

#78
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"DangerOS required all applications to be written in Java..." Was Java a requirement of the OS or was it just a design choice by the developers. The OS was NetBSD AFAIK; of course one can run a JVM on NetBSD but that's not a requirement; I never do. Is Pinephone limited only to running Java applications. I want more programming options than just Java.

No end user could run anything on a DangerOS device that didn't come from the store; nothing went into the store that wasn't written in Java and met their guidelines. Pinephone is completely orthogonal to this.

"Pinephone is completely orthogonal to this."

Do you mean Pine64 has no intention of trying to control what people do with the device?

Did anyone ever try to "root" the Sidekick? Always interested to hear more about it.

Re: PinePhone – Open Source Smart Phone Supported by Major Linux Phone Projects

#79
post #54

The store page mentions dead pixels; It's the first time I'm seeing a disclaimer like this on a smartphone. Is this normal? Why aren't other manufacturers mentioning this? Source: https://pine64.com/product/pinephone-beta-edition-with-conve... > A small numbers of stuck or dead pixels (1-3) can be a characteristic of LCD screens. While rare, this should not be considered a defect. If you think that a minor dissatisfa…

Displays are frequently binned based on quality. They are probably just buying the cheapest they can, and end up with a lot of prematurely dead pixels.
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