Initial thoughts, PinePhone PostMarket edition.

[plainenough]

Just unboxed my postmarket phone. Very nice install script. Allowed me to enable ssh immediately. Working through setup was easy. I may begin testing this device against Verizon soon.

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After running through it a little bit, the pre-installed OS has been snappier than the SD card install I flashed last week. Needed a reboot to actually connect to wifi after initial setup.

[Saliency]

The Postmarket OS is working really nicely for me on my UBports CE phone. Main issue is high pitched noise from the speaker, so I’ve put tape over it. And inaccurate battery readings unless I briefly plug it in. I wonder if both may be due to flaws on the UBports CE phone PCB...

[RTP]

Have you noticed any other 'problems'? I have been considering flashing it (as I really am interested in having luks, and lower memory usage). Trying to figure out the status, and if it makes sense to wait.

I would love to hear others comment on what is working out of box, and what is not. Thanks

[Saliency]

Other issues: Tricky to set time zone because it extends off the screen... but you can use the keyboard to type it in and press enter.

I noticed a bit of static on the speaker during a phone call.

Also to activate cellular data the first time, you’ll have to do (for Verizon):
sudo mmcli -m 0 --create-bearer="apn=vzwinternet"
sudo nmcli c add type gsm ifname cdc-wdm0 con-name vzw apn vzwinternet

[Mark53]

Other issues: Tricky to set time zone because it extends off the screen... but you can use the keyboard to type it in and press enter.

Another quirk I found in Settings was not being able to change my password. For some reason on the screen to change your password, you're required to use at least 6 digits, even though the initial setup only requires 5. Then, when I put in my 5-digit password and my desired new password, the "Change" button wouldn't activate. I had to go through the terminal and use passwd to change it.

Also, changing the language from "none (ASCII)" to "English (United Kingdom)" both prevents you from switching back (I want American formats, but apparently that's not an option) and crashes the Settings app if you click on Formats.

[yves]

Have you noticed any other 'problems'? I have been considering flashing it (as I really am interested in having luks, and lower memory usage). Trying to figure out the status, and if it makes sense to wait.

I would love to hear others comment on what is working out of box, and what is not. Thanks

Received mine yesterday (the 3GB model). It's my first smartphone, I'd been waiting for a long time for something like that! Very nice device and neat packaging.

I haven't put an sd or sim card yet. I hesitated a little bit with the passwords (alphanumeric for encryption and numeric for the PIN), I got errors maybe because I typed too quickly, but now I know it must work, that's fine.

What doesn't work for me for the moment:

• Software app. The Update tab shows "no plugin could handle get-updates". In the Explore tab, all categories are empty. I do have a working wifi connection...
  
• Cheese (webcam). There is an endless spinning widget.
  
• Firefox crashes often.
  
• No GPS or any location support in Firefox, I think.
  
• The docking station.
  

I'll edit or post more if I have corrections. I'm eager to read others' experience.

[plainenough]

My thoughts from an out of the box testing experience.

postmarket/2020-09-02-Verizon.html


I am testing this on Verizon, so there is no 3G functionality available. This phone is not a daily driver out of the box as delivered.

Using a mouse on a smartphone is a little odd not going to lie. The monitor functionality didn't appear to work. Didn't test Ethernet.

Overall device looks good. Has been running for 22 hours and was still responsive and connected to internet.

OS feature seem a little slim.

[plainenough]

Also, I have yet to find in the interface a way to switch from the stable channel. I haven't spent much time on this os yet, but I will definitely want to test against dev/edge.

[bcnaz]

I got a pair of the PMOS Convergence Package phones,  I am running Mobian Nightly on one,   and the factory PMOS on the other phone.....

I must say it is rather feature light on the installed Post Market, but so far at least,  everything is working ok, except the first 2 calls, but now it is functioning fine.

I purchased a Tracfone $25 smartphone card and $1 sim kit, just so I could test it.  Once I dug up the correct APN info I was able to connect to cellular data

and I even did a short test of the 'Hotspot'  and that worked.     Everything "Out of the Box" seems to just work.

The version of Firefox on it kinda sux, and it says it is controlled by some organization ??     But I downloaded 'Gnome web' and that works 'ok'.

Seems to be a  "bare bones daily driver"  so to speak.  Just add a flashlight and camera/viewer apps and it would probably be 'good nuf' for me for now.

I have not had it long enough to know how dependable it will be.

Will you be doing your official test sheet on this one ?


Add:  I see some other posters saying the APN settings page was "off the screen"  or they had a hard time with setting the time. ?
 
I found the settings page to be almost identical to the settings page on Mobian. Though I did not go with encryption, at least for now I am just testing.

The hardest part of 'set-up' was 'finding' the correct APN information,   entering it into the phone was quite painless.

And Epiphany (Gnome web) really is way better than the installed version of Firefox.

[vandys]

Have you noticed any other 'problems'? I have been considering flashing it (as I really am interested in having luks, and lower memory usage). Trying to figure out the status, and if it makes sense to wait.

I would love to hear others comment on what is working out of box, and what is not. Thanks

Many screens do not fit physically across the phone display (they're truncated on the right).  This includes Firefox.  You can manuall tap the top and switch orientation.  But then the on-screen keyboard eats all but a very thin slice of display.

No audio on phone calls.  Texting works.  I could git in an Access Point name, but not all the extra dope.  So suspect MMS won't work.  Texting did.

The software center hides all but installed package names.  From shell you can use apk to install.  Contacts had no import function, but I installed Evolution and was able to import from that.  Same problem with ill fit to screen.

The online account config would not accept my SMTP server without auth.  Kept saying port unreachable.  I suspect auth-less SMTP still doesn't use port 25.

XMPP messaging would not sign on to my Prosody server.  Would ask for OK on cert, then fail.

I feel like the phone is very close to daily drive.  Probably a dozen bugs left to nail.