PinePhone Manufacturer

[4hilton@gmail.com]

I have been inspired to make my own phone and really like my Pinephone.

As I start on this journey I am looking for some friendly guidance. I would really like to chat with some of the folks in the Pine64 hardware team so that I can learn a bit more and even see how viable my idea is or if there is any synergy between out projects.

Right now I am looking for a manufacturer to make me an android phone with hardware similar to the Pinephone in many ways so I thought that this community would be a great place to start.

I would be very appreciative to chat with anyone with manufacturing experience making phones especially with a community based model.

[barray]

(Not somebody who is Pine64 or part of any hardware.)

Right now I am looking for a manufacturer to make me an android phone with hardware similar to the Pinephone in many ways so I thought that this community would be a great place to start.

This is not a small undertaking - it's a multi-person, multi-year project and expensive project. A phone is essentially a fully fledged computer. Even if you manage to get the hardware in some working order, there is still a bunch of work you will need to do to get Android working correctly.

If you seriously want to go down this path - As with most things, plan a MVP (minimal viable product). What's the least resource expensive actions you can take to prove out the most risky/difficult parts of the project?

FYI I voted 'no' on your poll. I would suggest to spend some time working on an existing device first. For example, try to manufacture a replacement motherboard for your PinePhone (a massive undertaking).

[TRS-80]

If you have to ask...

[ryo]

I vote blank.
On the one hand the first Linux phones are still not fully here, and maybe for the better if we just keep it at PinePhone (can't really count Librem 5 as one simply because they still don't ship after so many years), and let the normies stick with Android or iPhone, because a niche product is always healthier than a mainstream one.
On the other hand choice and competition is always a good thing, so perhaps a good idea to have more people make their own phone hardware once everything works fine on the PinePhone, so let's assume the PinePhone as the prototype to Linux phones just like how the G1 was to Android phones (or that BlackBerry looking prototype that never got released).

[CharlieGordon]

Right now I am looking for a manufacturer to make me an android phone with hardware similar to the Pinephone in many ways so I thought that this community would be a great place to start.

What would be the main differences between your phone and a PinePhone?

Without that information, it seems impossible to give you a meaningful answer.

[bcnaz]

No Mention about the firmware within your Google hardware ?

There is much more to a cell phone than just the operating system sitting on top.

A clean operating system on top does not automatically mean your phone respects your privacy.

[ryo]

No Mention about the firmware within your Google hardware  ?

There is much more to a cell phone than just the operating system sitting on top.

A clean operating system on top does not automatically mean your phone respects your privacy.

If you need full privacy, your best bet would be to use a regular PC with an ethernet connection, WiFi and Bluetooth turned off (preferrably never inserted in the first place), and when possible a RISP-based processor (ARM is fine too, but RISP is actually the fully open source one).
Phones have so many anthennas that would otherwise make it unusable as a phone, so full privacy is impossible on a phone, though it is possible to limit in certain ways.
With software you remove Google and/or Apple out of the equation (unless you decide to add them in the form of apps, so use common sense), you can remove your SIM card to remove your mobile ISP too, and then using the hardware kill switches you can turn the anthennas off (if you're willing to not use any connectivity whatsoever that is).

[bcnaz]

If you have the Time, Energy, and the money go for it.

But it seems more like a "Bar Room Discussion" ... ?

[zetabeta]

I have been inspired to make my own phone and really like my Pinephone.

As I start on this journey I am looking for some friendly guidance. I would really like to chat with some of the folks in the Pine64 hardware team so that I can learn a bit more and even see how viable my idea is or if there is any synergy between out projects.

Right now I am looking for a manufacturer to make me an android phone with hardware similar to the Pinephone in many ways so I thought that this community would be a great place to start.

I would be very appreciative to chat with anyone with manufacturing experience making phones especially with a community based model.

first, i do not represent pine organization at all. i'm just pinephone user (and buyer).

i voted no. sound like you want individually crafted phone. in today's world, it's not practically impossible. there is design, physical design, circuit board, chips and components. and it needs some kind of assembly line, e.g. mass production. planning a design and building a assembly line for one product sounds like, design and assembly cost more than phone components.

android o.s. wonders me. android is ... sort of available to pinephone, but because users are more interested getting away from goodroid (and ios), i don't think that android will be highly maintained. is it you want more like android partitioning system with fastboot and bootloader, shortly, android bootloader is too controlled. i actually like about pinephones bootloader, it gives more user's control, not their control.

however, if diffenrences are minor, i think it's possible to have some variations. if variations fit to existing product, then it might be feasable some way.

googoo corporation did have modular phone plan in the past. it seems that, it was not succesful and google dumped it.

i think you probably should say roughly what you want, we and others can give better answers.

you probably see this one already:
https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PinePhone#P...ifications