I've had a dozen $35 phones. I've rooted every one of them and installed my own choice of software. Some of them still work. They are HTC, Samsung, and Kyocera. None of the ones I have are eligible yet for non-Android operating systems. Believe me, I've checked.
The first phone I didn't root is the only one I've ever spent $300 on. I can't for the life of me imagine why you think I feel entitled. Honestly, (and not trying to insult) demanding that Pine64 keep prices down, and trying to prevent resellers, is the very definition of entitlement to me. I can't afford a PinePhone at any price point (thanks covid dampanic) and don't expect anyone to give me one. Would I like to have one? Sure, as a toy. In fact, I have very precise intentions to use one as an electronic product I've always wanted, which is not actually a phone. But by the time I can afford one they'll probably be discontinued. I'm okay with that. Really.
09-14-2020, 07:04 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-15-2020, 12:51 AM by bcnaz.)
Just a side note on "availabilty" :
I was there when the PMOS sales opened on July 15th and managed to get my order in despite
the website being a little 'laggy' at that time.
Then in August while looking through the forum and I read a post from Luke that
"They were almost sold out" of Pine phones I purchased another on August 15.
A few days later when visiting the store website both versions were listed as "out of stock"
As I do visit the Pine store almost as often as I visit the forum,
I again saw the PMOS (standard model only) as "in stock" again.
....... hmm, maybe they discovered some unsold phones in stock ?
I ordered one on September 04.
I have since received the phones ordered in July and August, both on the same day, September 03.
I am actually on a very low fixed income, but these will make excellent gifts for my sons.!
"Somebody" probably will have a problem with me "giving away" phones to my kids.
In the PinePhone store I found a new message:
"No products were found matching your selection."
When PinePhone is selected. No out of stock message anymore?
Changing the shipping information in the store arbitrary? Is there an alternative to the PinePhone? A smartphone with preinstalled Linux? Changing the shipping information arbitrarily. This can only do someone who is exploiting a market position who takes advantage of the fact that there is no alternative, and is illegal.
Are these convincing alternatives? What happened to the store?
It depends what you think is convincing. That the list is short and most of them have been discontinued should show you this is a market segment that hasn't yet been sustainable. Nokia came closest but they weren't actively selling a linux phone - they just didn't bury the linux aspect of their platform too deeply. They were also big enough to have influence over their suppliers that nobody else on the list could hope for. I'm hoping the software side of the PinePhone reaches reasonable out-of-box usability before we run out of people who are just interested in a hackable device and accept the current software state.
Pine's batch-based production and sales process probably seems odd if you're expecting a conventional phone model release and sales policy. Pine (and Purism for that matter) are _much_ smaller than any mainstream phone manufacturer, and have to operate differently to make it viable at all. So far we've had a hardware revision in each batch, correcting hardware issues discovered with the previous release as developers worked on the software side. The pause between batches allows the discovery and correction of these issues, as you'll see described in this month's community blog regarding the batch timing for the PineTab. When the hardware revisions stabilise they may move to a more conventional production/availability model, and I expect to be able to upgrade my mainboard from Brave Heart to the final bug-free revision rather than buying a whole new phone. Given the limited availability with the batch orders there may be day to day variations based on things like production yield, order cancellations etc. or just plain errors. This month's blog talks about the upgrade to the store that is currently in progress.
On the shipping side previous blog posts have mentioned some of the restrictions on shipping as local COVID-related rules change, often at short notice. you don't need to take their word for it - there has been press coverage of rule changes due to a DHL pilot not following quarantine rules, pilots refusing to fly to HK because of quarantine changes and an assortment of other logistical problems.
Thank you, wibble, this is very helpful information. Everybody is used to have everything available, immediately. With the PinePhone it is not like this. Good to know the reason for this.
In the forum, there is a big discussion about shipping, is the PinePhone available in this or that country, what happened to this or that shipping batch, and it is difficult to see it through. Good to have a summary what is happening. Especially when someone is interested on the long term on the PinePhone, and does not know on which hardware or software platform he should ground his development, this is helpful information.
I appreciate the discussion in the Pine64 community, which is full of live, and the presence of experts for specific topics. The PinePhone is a device which I am interested on the long term for a project which is a long term project, which might have followers. Therefore it is helpful to get rid of uncertainties. Thank you for your review, wibble.
