Pinephone Pro vs Pinephone Parts

[ypd]

I read that megi has one with an RK3399, but the real product will have an RK3399S, and that this should at least help with the power consumption in some way.

[lot378]

I read that megi has one with an RK3399, but the real product will have an RK3399S, and that this should at least help with the power consumption in some way.

I saw the same claim. In Megi's report the CPU cores were all running at 1.42 GHz so disputing the claim. I'd have expected to see the A72s running up to 2.0GHz if it was not the S part. In any case, power readings were taken on just CPU with multiple combinations of cores in use and final words section readings were taken on just one core to give idea of lowest expectation.

[lot378]

Luke held an AMA on Reddit and confirmed the prototypes were fitted with off the shelf RK3399 CPUs; the developer units that are in production at the moment will be the first Pinephone Pros fitted with RK3399S CPUs. It will be interesting to see what, if any, differences there are in power consumption when Megi gets a developer unit.

See: https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/...&context=3

[bcnaz]

Back in the Brave Heart days :    
  Pine64 had said  "it would be possible to upgrade the Pinephone mainboard someday".

**  The Pinephone Pro mainboard was NOT designed as an upgrade for the original Pinephone.

>So unless they are secretly designing a 'Pinephone' upgrade mainboard, <

<<  I guess they have abandoned that idea..? >>  
 
    (((NO more hardware fixes or upgrades for the original phones)))

[Zebulon Walton]

It may not have been possible to make the Pro board work in the original Pinephone with the other upgrades being done, like the better screen.

The Pro version sounds interesting but I'm just not in a position to spend $400 on a phone. (If anything I'd like to get a spare regular Pinephone in case something happens to the one I have.)

[ivanB1975]

I am also disappointed with the fact that I cannot upgrade the pinephone. And I am very worried that the developers will ditch the pinephone in favour of the pro. So double disappointment.

[linmob]

I doubt that the PinePhone will see less development as a result of the PinePhone Pro being around - except for maybe less work on the kernel, as it seems to be largely the same people working on the kernel for PinePhone and PinePhone Pro. Other than that, most software (all software that's not requiring specific hardware features the PinePhone Pro has) developed for the PinePhone Pro is going to work on the PinePhone, just a little slower.

With regards to upgrading: The main problem here is heat dissipation - the PinePhone Pro is thicker for a reason. This situation might be entirely different for the PinePhone 2 (currently the likeliest SoC for that is the RK3566, which is said to run quite cool). Still, it if you want better cameras, fitting those might also kill the dream of "I'll only upgrade the motherboard".

Making full upgradability possible mid-long term would likely require a different base design, that is more modular and flexible (e.g. like Fairphone do it, although they've also changed their device design four times already). But: Designing such a case, creating the molds etc. is extremely costly and thus unlikely to happen.