PinePhone: trying out a Linux-based smartphone

Posted Feb 10, 2022 5:51 UTC (Thu) by halla (subscriber, #14185)
In reply to: PinePhone: trying out a Linux-based smartphone by KJ7RRV
Parent article: PinePhone: trying out a Linux-based smartphone

If I were still interested in mobile linux, I'd get a pinephone for sure. But between subscribing to the librem fundraiser and 2022, I kinda lost interest.

PinePhone: trying out a Linux-based smartphone

Posted Feb 10, 2022 6:41 UTC (Thu) by jebba (guest, #4439) [Link] (3 responses)

@halla
> I kinda lost interest.

You lost so much interest you're posting three times in a thread about it, dumping on the two leading free software / open source mobile solutions?

PinePhone: trying out a Linux-based smartphone

Posted Feb 10, 2022 8:14 UTC (Thu) by halla (subscriber, #14185) [Link] (2 responses)

Yeah, I'm just sharing my experience. Note that I did *not* dump on the pinephone: I'm just saying that the librem isn't worth what's being asked for.

PinePhone: trying out a Linux-based smartphone

Posted Feb 10, 2022 13:35 UTC (Thu) by MatejLach (guest, #84942) [Link] (1 responses)

As a counterpoint from someone who's also a backer of the Librem, but also has a PinePhone; worth nothing that much of the software ecosystem that exists on the PP is thanks to Purism developing its software stack originally meant for the Librem5. So the way I see it, backing the Librem5 was worth it for the software ecosystem it sprang, be it the PP is in a better shape as far as hardware goes atm.

PinePhone: trying out a Linux-based smartphone

Posted Feb 11, 2022 20:41 UTC (Fri) by KJ7RRV (subscriber, #153595) [Link]

Yes, much of the software for the PinePhone, including Phosh, was originally written for the Librem 5. I haven't used a Librem 5; I've seen mixed reviews about the hardware.

PinePhone: trying out a Linux-based smartphone

Posted Feb 16, 2022 9:52 UTC (Wed) by WolfWings (subscriber, #56790) [Link]

TBH neither of the "mainstream" Linux smartphone vendors seemed like good ideas to me, both are... shockingly underpowered for their CPU? Especially at their price points?

Like I get it, they were highly limited trying to get the RYF mark and Pine was chasing price, but that ends up crippling them in various ways from the lower powered CPU to the song-and-dance with having to shove binary blobs to the super-low-power CPU core and disabling that CPU core from the rest of the system as a result: https://puri.sm/posts/librem5-solving-the-first-fsf-ryf-h...

But for an actual usable phone that can make and take phone calls and handle text messages but is otherwise Just A Linux Computer with a CPU on par or beating mid-range Snapdragons? And can dual-boot between true Android (rooted OR not) and a Linux distro?

I ended up with a Cosmo Communicator, and while a lot say it's "clunky" or "huge" it's about the same size as any other smartphone I've had once you slap a case on it. It's a computer first, phone second, I get that since it's a PDA form factor, but boy howdy it makes a good Linux netbook when ya' drop it on a desk somewhere. The P70 chipset is no slouch.

We're still a few years away from a truly usable Linux smartphone that isn't either crippled with closed-source components or performance issues unfortunately. It's improving, but there's a VERY long way to go yet when something as required as the memory initialization firmware ends up having to sacrifice an entire CPU core due to terminology mumbo-jumbo since it's still a closed-source blob.