Why the 12/15/2020 build is no where near a daily driver yet

[daniel]

Update: Issue 1 is no longer an issue. I flashed the Pine Phone with the 12/28 nightly build and the software app now updates the packages under the "Updates" tab. However, if you go to the "Explore" tab in the software app and press any of the categories the software app crashes. 

Back in the summer when I received my new Pine Phone I had high hopes that it could be a daily driver so I could break free from Samsung/Apple. Of course, this was a pipe dream as none of the Linux OS's for Pine Phone were even close to being acceptable as a daily driver. So I came back just now in December to see the progress of Mobian over the last 3 or 4 months. 

Unfortunately, I think Mobian has gotten worse over the last 3 to 4 months as an overall product with the December 15th build with the exception of the battery life. I think they've done great work there as I can now go a day with normal use on one charge. That is great improvement over what it used to be 3 or 4 months ago. 

Here is a list of major things I noticed without even looking.

1. The software app is a disaster. You go to updates and let it find new updates for your phone and then you try to update it and you get an error about some package that isn't installed. What makes it worse is that the package name is in black and can't be read so I don't even know which package it's talking about.

2. The chat app, which is how you send/receive texts, is a disaster.
     a. I received a text that wasn't in my address book. I then tried to add the contact from the chat app, but that option did nothing.  
     b.I then went to the command line and updated this app to the latest version to see if they fixed functionality to add a contact and it erased all my texts and then  
        it wouldn't even let me create a new text!

3. The web browsing experience is beyond terrible. I'm sure everyone knows about this already, but browsing the web with either the included Gnome browser or Firefox ESR takes FOREVER. This would have to improve by 50% to even be usable on a daily basis.

4. Convergence still doesn't work for me. I have read that it works for some people, but when I plug in my monitor all I see is a blank screen with only the wall paper of my phone showing. There are no apps for me to click. This is actually an improvement from 4 months ago because 4 months ago I didn't even see anything from my phone. My monitor wouldn't even get a signal. This is very disappointing because I dream of one day using my phone for almost all day to day tasks which include some development and creating docs.


This is not a comprehensive list, as there are many smaller bugs that aren't even worth talking about yet. If the people developing Mobian can focus on items 1 thru 3 first, I think it will be in a state where people can start using it as a daily driver. Until then, the state of the OS is not very good. 

I don't mean to be harsh and I really do appreciate all the work being put into this project. I know this is a very difficult project to undertake. I'll be back in 3 months to see how things are going and give another review at the end of March. 

Thanks

I personally appreciate your post. I am not sure why so many people attacked your post. I agree that pointing weak points is not a bad thing. Not against developers, not against volunteers, no against the pinephone project. I do not think anyone should feel ofended...

This is a very nice project, but it is a long way. Some of us were seduced by the idea, and in our ignorance many of us thought this was going to be fully functional phone in a few months. Now, I already understood that this is a "supercool" project, but I am not expecting to use this phone as I dreamt before. I stopped flashing my microSD everyday, to do it every week, or 2... 3... 4 weeks.

I still support the project (not just words, I also donate).

I also thanks Pine64 because they understood the need, and make it possible with an economic phone, and let many of us to be part of this dream.

Developers are moving this project forward. Some people use it as main phone . For many of us is not realistic because we depend on a reliable phone with functional calendar, email, text, phone, camera, etc But still, I would buy it again to support this fantastic project.

[pajux]

4. Convergence still doesn't work for me. I have read that it works for some people, but when I plug in my monitor all I see is a blank screen with only the wall paper of my phone showing. There are no apps for me to click. This is actually an improvement from 4 months ago because 4 months ago I didn't even see anything from my phone. My monitor wouldn't even get a signal. This is very disappointing because I dream of one day using my phone for almost all day to day tasks which include some development and creating docs.

this means convergence is working, in its current state. Open an app and you can drag its window to the larger screen. Convergence on Phosh does not yet use the external as main monitor...

Not by default anyway, you can make the external monitor the main one in the settings

I did not think of that, will have to try!

[Cree]

 
I personally appreciate your post. I am not sure why so many people attacked your post. I agree that pointing weak points is not a bad thing. Not against developers, not against volunteers, no against the pinephone project. I do not think anyone should feel ofended...

This is a very nice project, but it is a long way. Some of us were seduced by the idea, and in our ignorance many of us thought this was going to be fully functional phone in a few months. Now, I already understood that this is a "supercool" project, but I am not expecting to use this phone as I dreamt before. I stopped flashing my microSD everyday, to do it every week, or 2... 3... 4 weeks.

I still support the project (not just words, I also donate).

I also thanks Pine64 because they understood the need, and make it possible with an economic phone, and let many of us to be part of this dream.

Developers are moving this project forward. Some people use it as main phone . For many of us is not realistic because we depend on a reliable phone with functional calendar, email, text, phone, camera, etc But still, I would buy it again to support this fantastic project.

Thank you Daniel!

I'd actually like to post this in the general area since it applies to all threads, but this seems to be where it's particularly pertinent.

This Isn't an msm commentary show for entertaining peasants where we can pat ourselves on the back for attacking each other thinking we are somehow defending a victim whilst CIA intern Anderson cooper stokes the fire.

We're working on a project together. This is collaborative and open sourced. It is a work in progress, and yet a brilliant project. Its not easy, comes with challenges, and certainly not perfect. To add constructive criticism is of the utmost importance. Others should be aware of realistic status, and devs need stuff brought to their attention. Lots flies under the radar when people don't inform us. The original post was a service to the devs, and the community. I dont think anyone took it personally or was butt hurt so we dont need people acting like some knight in shining armour coming to the defence of the devs. This post was completely impersonal, objective and non-offensive. Acting as if it was offensive in fact detracts from the progress we need To make on this project, and hiding flaws or failures under the rug is a surefire way to fail. All of us who want the project to succeed must be objective.

[dukla2000]

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".... The camera is good enough for me to record bits and in fact takes OK pictures if there is sufficient light. ..."

@dukla2000 , by the way, my USB tether finally worked, like a charm, after the Nov 6 update.  It remains a mystery how yours had worked way before , and now maybe it's the same with the camera app.  My Megapixel has been getting worse, not better.  now it is distorted (elongated, sort of cinematic perspective), and has a bluish hue.  Plus, it doesn't seem to save the picture.  How do you get yours to work?

For the record: megapixels update to 0.13.1-2 today on Mobian saves pictures again. Still need to swap front/back/front to get perspective correct.

[HLing]

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".... The camera is good enough for me to record bits and in fact takes OK pictures if there is sufficient light. ..."

@dukla2000 , by the way, my USB tether finally worked, like a charm, after the Nov 6 update.  It remains a mystery how yours had worked way before , and now maybe it's the same with the camera app.  My Megapixel has been getting worse, not better.  now it is distorted (elongated, sort of cinematic perspective), and has a bluish hue.  Plus, it doesn't seem to save the picture.  How do you get yours to work?

For the record: megapixels update to 0.13.1-2 today on Mobian saves pictures again. Still need to swap front/back/front to get perspective correct.

I just tried it and it works!  Thanks for the note, @dukla2000 !!