Current State of PIne Phone Pro

[brb78]

I've DD'd a PPP on Arch since early December. Getting suspend and MMS working was a game changer. Be prepared with an alternate charger/battery, if you drain the battery good luck recharging it in the PPP. The screen is sturdier and more responsive. USB C PD fast-charging is great. The camera is glass, not plastic - and while the software is understandably behind the PP in maturity, it is far better hardware-wise. Maybe don't manhandle the sim slot? I've had no such sim issue, and I would go so far as to say the PPP sim slot is no worse than any other sim slot and therefore has no defects to acknowledge.

PPP is significantly more responsive than PP. There's a critical mass of devices in user hands that needs to be reached to allow software to mature more rapidly. If you want a more responsive linux phone experience, get a PPP and contribute to that critical mass.

[kmsgli]

Thanks for all the responses folks,

I am a huge supporter and will def be buying a PPP my only hesitation is the original PP had a few hardware revisions before it got to community edition. I don't want to order too soon and end up missing out on something very useful.

It sounds like its close to daily driving but not exactly there yet. I have had it sitting in my cart on and off for the last few weeks I really want that boost of speed because as of right now the only complaint I have for the PP is horsepower. I love how seamless it works with my infrastructure because everything I own is Linux and a Linux phone is a very easy move for me (nextcloud replaces gcloud and you have really everything you would want).

I wonder if pine64 has any talks of a hardware revisions or should I just take the plunge?

[tckosvic]

I'm also a pinephone user, using it as my main phone. I did buy a pinephone pro in january and got it in february. Less than a month after, it was dead. Not dead dead, but the sim card slot is broken, so now it's basically just an overpriced raspberry pi with a touchscreen.

I'm not the only one either, if you look at this forum, you'll find plenty of people mentioning having problems with the sim card slot, which is apparently a poor component. I haven't seen pine64 ackowledging it so far. So I wouldn't recommend to buy it for now, until the problem is acknowledged and fixed.

There is no SIM card slot issue. Occasionally people put empty SIM adapters in the slot or lose the SIM from the adapter (both cases user errors), in which case the contact pins can bent or break if the user applies brute force to remove the card again (second user error). The combined SIM card slot and microSD card reader is used since the original PinePhone and received a slight upgrade with the Pro, so I don't expect Pine64 folks to swap that component (and I doubt there are practical alternatives) to reduce user errors. Just be careful, don't apply force. I think that is common sense.

---

ojimek, please refrain from repeating accusations in further replies and wishing people a broken device, that kind of language is really unasked for. I would suggest you to have a look at the community rules.

It is stated above that there is no sim card issue.  There is no sim card slot issue until you have to use it, and use it, and use it. Then there is a sim card slot issue. Until the boot issues are fixed and you can just boot from eMMC and install a sd card (once) to use for extra storage, sim card slot issues will reappear here.  In 6 or so years with an android phone, I put the sim card in once and an sd card in once and never touched them.  

I have a borked sim card slot in PPP due to repeated inserts/removals.  I can't get pinephone company staff to even supply a part number to get a replacement after multiple emails.  My PPP is on the shelf.  Amazingly my PP is functioning well.  It charges when you connect it through usb rather than discharging.  It runs off of dedicated built-in memory.  It doesn't automatically continually reboot when you are trying to charge it. Everything except MMS works to some extent. Even the camera.  PP is using manjaro-phosh,beta23.

[Dinobot]

I haven't had any SIM slot issues, though I'm pretty careful when inserting/removing it. I personally think the sim slot design is kind of stupid, but whatever.

These are the issues so far keeping me from daily driving the PPP (currently using Arch Plasma):
-phone calls: mic doesn't seem to work with phone app (I know the hardware works as a voice recording app picks up audio just fine)
-power management: standby seems to just turn off the phone, requiring a boot/reboot to get back into the phone
-power management: battery drains fast and device gets hot
-MSM doesn't work yet

I boot up my PPP once or twice a month, install any updates, and tinker with it for a bit. It's currently in a better state than it was the last time I booted it up (2 March). It'll get there; it'll just take some time.

[サーバント]

I am currently daily driving the PPP, and not having any real issues with it, though it didn't start off that way.  Long story short, I'm on my 2nd PPP and I've tried to set myself up for success.

Wiped eMMC to avoid booting into it and have a 32G SD set up with Arch Phosh.  With my first PPP, one of the many unfortunate things that happened is uboot update killing the installed OS and even using the bypass button on the back, was never able to get it to boot from an SD.

I saw the info posted under the Arch software section for using btrfs with the PPP, but didn't have any luck with that yet, though I plan to try again soon.  For now, I'm just pulling backups to a PC every so often.

Just like running Arch on my work laptop, I don't update when I'm not able to take the time to take care of it.  I wait until I'm home and can fix it if needed.  This has caused me to update about once a week, which is plenty.

There's an issue with sound sometimes after suspend.  Basically causes all sound to play in fast forward.  My fix is to just suspend it again and once it wakes up that's generally resolved.

The suspend mentioned previously has a desktop file so it appears on the app drawer.  Due to that bug, this has been necessary because typing it in a terminal would be a pain with how often it occurs.

The last gotcha I have is of course app availability.  I assume this is not an issue if you're currently running the PP, but I have had to create some of my own apps, as well as find some workarounds to deal with using some browser plugins and sites.  Firefox has been my browser of choice and has been doing well for me.  I used Chromium while there was a bug with Firefox 98, and it wasn't quite as good, though the gestures for back, forward, etc. was nice.  Of course, using Chromium will allow you to cast YouTube and whatnot to TV if that's something you care about.  Worked perfectly for me.

Call quality is good enough for me as I don't do many calls.  The speaker is just okay, though I really wish it wasn't on the back as it's not the best experience for media consumption.  Again, it's good enough for me.  I also use it as my alarm clock, so I do have it set to not suspend while charging, and I just leave it on a charger all night.  I'll probably have to replace the battery a little sooner because of that, but at least with these phones that's an option.

Texting has been working fine for me as well.  Both calls and texts are waking the phone from suspend, as far as I know, all the time.  I haven't tried MMS, and I can't guarantee that I haven't missed anything.

Suspend works fine most of the time, though once in a while it will not let me wake, so I have to hold the power button to shutdown and boot back up.  Otherwise, suspend has been great, and I'm able to just charge it when it's convenient, and have the phone all day.

The battery doesn't last forever, but while suspended, it can last quite some time.  I haven't been super active on my PPP like I was with Android, and this is probably my main reason for daily driving it already.  I have found it so peaceful to be away from app notifications, chats, etc.  I can still access everything I need, but my phone doesn't bug me to do anything.  This phone is literally making my life better.

Bluetooth audio in the car has been fine.  I use YouTube Music.  I currently have premium, but that will probably be cancelled soon.  The only problem with this is that I believe the app on Android preloads the next song, while the site is not, so there's a delay between song changes.  On Android, I can switch song after song rather quickly, while the PPP I switch about one song every 5 to 10 seconds.  Again, this is an app vs browser comparison, so probably unfair, but it is what I have to work with.

If you care about the camera, well it doesn't work at all right now, so that could be a killer for you.

Sorry if this is all over the place.  Just spit out thoughts as I thought of them.  I switched from a Pixel 3 XL, and this is a decent summary of my experience.  Once in a while I do have to swap the SIM back when I need to be using Android Auto, or when the family goes geocaching, but these are rare.  There's also some apps that just don't have the option to exist, like Kasa.  Because of that, my Android phone sits around and I try to keep a charge in it, but I just rarely touch it.  Lastly, I'm using Mint Mobile, and everything has seemed great for me.

The microphone on the PPP is non--funtional for phone calls on any distro or even the android test image. Its important to let people know this. The most basic aspect of the PPP does not work. I own a PPP just to be clear. If you are using it as a PDA its fine. But its not a functioning phone at the moment.

[kmsgli]

I am currently daily driving the PPP, and not having any real issues with it, though it didn't start off that way.  Long story short, I'm on my 2nd PPP and I've tried to set myself up for success.

Wiped eMMC to avoid booting into it and have a 32G SD set up with Arch Phosh.  With my first PPP, one of the many unfortunate things that happened is uboot update killing the installed OS and even using the bypass button on the back, was never able to get it to boot from an SD.

I saw the info posted under the Arch software section for using btrfs with the PPP, but didn't have any luck with that yet, though I plan to try again soon.  For now, I'm just pulling backups to a PC every so often.

Just like running Arch on my work laptop, I don't update when I'm not able to take the time to take care of it.  I wait until I'm home and can fix it if needed.  This has caused me to update about once a week, which is plenty.

There's an issue with sound sometimes after suspend.  Basically causes all sound to play in fast forward.  My fix is to just suspend it again and once it wakes up that's generally resolved.

The suspend mentioned previously has a desktop file so it appears on the app drawer.  Due to that bug, this has been necessary because typing it in a terminal would be a pain with how often it occurs.

The last gotcha I have is of course app availability.  I assume this is not an issue if you're currently running the PP, but I have had to create some of my own apps, as well as find some workarounds to deal with using some browser plugins and sites.  Firefox has been my browser of choice and has been doing well for me.  I used Chromium while there was a bug with Firefox 98, and it wasn't quite as good, though the gestures for back, forward, etc. was nice.  Of course, using Chromium will allow you to cast YouTube and whatnot to TV if that's something you care about.  Worked perfectly for me.

Call quality is good enough for me as I don't do many calls.  The speaker is just okay, though I really wish it wasn't on the back as it's not the best experience for media consumption.  Again, it's good enough for me.  I also use it as my alarm clock, so I do have it set to not suspend while charging, and I just leave it on a charger all night.  I'll probably have to replace the battery a little sooner because of that, but at least with these phones that's an option.

Texting has been working fine for me as well.  Both calls and texts are waking the phone from suspend, as far as I know, all the time.  I haven't tried MMS, and I can't guarantee that I haven't missed anything.

Suspend works fine most of the time, though once in a while it will not let me wake, so I have to hold the power button to shutdown and boot back up.  Otherwise, suspend has been great, and I'm able to just charge it when it's convenient, and have the phone all day.

The battery doesn't last forever, but while suspended, it can last quite some time.  I haven't been super active on my PPP like I was with Android, and this is probably my main reason for daily driving it already.  I have found it so peaceful to be away from app notifications, chats, etc.  I can still access everything I need, but my phone doesn't bug me to do anything.  This phone is literally making my life better.

Bluetooth audio in the car has been fine.  I use YouTube Music.  I currently have premium, but that will probably be cancelled soon.  The only problem with this is that I believe the app on Android preloads the next song, while the site is not, so there's a delay between song changes.  On Android, I can switch song after song rather quickly, while the PPP I switch about one song every 5 to 10 seconds.  Again, this is an app vs browser comparison, so probably unfair, but it is what I have to work with.

If you care about the camera, well it doesn't work at all right now, so that could be a killer for you.

Sorry if this is all over the place.  Just spit out thoughts as I thought of them.  I switched from a Pixel 3 XL, and this is a decent summary of my experience.  Once in a while I do have to swap the SIM back when I need to be using Android Auto, or when the family goes geocaching, but these are rare.  There's also some apps that just don't have the option to exist, like Kasa.  Because of that, my Android phone sits around and I try to keep a charge in it, but I just rarely touch it.  Lastly, I'm using Mint Mobile, and everything has seemed great for me.

The microphone on the PPP is non--funtional for phone calls on any distro or even the android test image. Its important to let people know this. The most basic aspect of the PPP does not work. I own a PPP just to be clear. If you are using it as a PDA its fine. But its not a functioning phone at the moment.



This is very useful info. I am going to wait a bit before I order. I honestly have no complaints from the OG pinephone other then not enough horse power.

[Ralt]

The microphone works fine for calls, that guy is just simply wrong. It is 100% a functioning phone. I love mine, the only thing I actually want is longer battery life, and the wireless charging case serves that well enough.

I can call, text, read e-books, look up locations, SSH, what else could I want?

[kmsgli]

The microphone works fine for calls, that guy is just simply wrong. It is 100% a functioning phone. I love mine, the only thing I actually want is longer battery life, and the wireless charging case serves that well enough.

I can call, text, read e-books, look up locations, SSH, what else could I want?

I have read some people having issues with mic's and other not, so maybe he has an issue.

Does anyone know if a hardware revision is in the works like the OG pinephone got, thats really the only thing holding me back at this point?

[bcnaz]

The microphone works fine for calls, that guy is just simply wrong. It is 100% a functioning phone. I love mine, the only thing I actually want is longer battery life, and the wireless charging case serves that well enough.

I can call, text, read e-books, look up locations, SSH, what else could I want?

I am using my new Pro as a home phone for now, running from the sd card(s).

**  I had to turn down the volume on both the speaker and the microphone, for the first time since I have had a cell phone
it was way too loud. !

On Mobian it is freezing everytime it goes into suspend,  but for talk, text, data, the Pro is working good for me.
As it is plugged in, it does not need suspend for now.  Recently I even did a couple of posts here using my Pro.

I do look forward to the Pro's software maturing a bit,  but for now Mobian on a PMOS convergent phone is my
main mobile phone.
--- All running from the sd cards

[expant]

Just trailing the new builds atm good to see the progress being made. One suggestion which i'm sure we could all agree with is don't go scanning wifi on initial startup without user consent? Happy to explain why this can be problematic if necessary.