12-03-2021, 08:09 AM
Since I broke my android phone, I figured I would give the pinephone a shot at being my daily driver. The specs to start off:
Pinephone : postmarketOS Edition 3gb
Distro: Arm Arch for the last 7 months. First month was PMos.
Carrier: Google Fi talk/text/data unlimited
Two pinephone batteries
First off, nothing wrong with PMos. It worked without issue. I just happen to be an insufferable "Arch BTW" user on everything else I own so it was too good to pass up yet another reason to irritate people with talk about Arch. Installed directly to EMMC.
The SIM dropped in with a size converter kit and functioned on startup. I didn't have to change anything in settings to get it working. Has good enough signal for me not to notice outages.
I explicitly stated two pinephone batteries because if you aren't planning on charging it mid-day then it will absolutely die before a normal 8 hour work shift. Now, I will assume that since I work in a basement and it is constantly trying to find a signal, that is draining the battery faster than it usually would. But even on the weekends with very light usage during the day it will die before I would normally plug my original phone in. I would unplug and pocket it at about 6:30-7 AM, if I use it a few times a day to browse reddit or look up a recipe, it will die by about 8PM. All that considered, I pocket the battery out of my braveheart edition just in case I need it. I am hoping that the keyboard+battery will remedy this and remove the need of having to carry a 2nd battery. Time and luck getting one will tell.
A few months back I didn't realize I wasn't getting text messages. A concerned visit from my parents isn't how I would've liked to find that out but in any case... The modem had filled up with text messages stuck in "receiving" and I had to use mmcli to remove them. I am uncertain if they are texts that I received and read/replied to, or if they were stuck in limbo and I was never able read them. It is a concern that I still harbor now, they may be something serious that I never receive. Currently my fix for this is to just check it myself daily. I should make a script to auto remove anything stuck, I just haven't got around to it.
I have no evidence to back this up other than speculation. But I believe this is due to text messages getting queued up while the phone is dead and just doesn't know what to do with all of them when the phone is cut on. The modem firmware update that I've read about may fix this, but as this is currently my main phone I don't have alternatives if I brick it.
Other than that hiccup, the call quality is quite nice and I haven't had issues with receiving/sending calls.
Performance with web browsing and applications isn't great, but I barely use a smartphone for more than phone calls and texts. When I do need to use it I can definitely tell I am waiting a while longer than even a 5+ year old mediocre android phone. Not a deal breaker for me and the pinephone pro looks like it will remedy this issue just fine.
All things considered, I will say if you are prepared to deal with a few inconveniences, the pinephone can definitely be used as a daily driver. If you use your phone constantly everyday for social media, videos or anything really I would have to recommend at least waiting til the keyboard+battery comes out and hope it gives it enough juice to keep up all day. If you hate pressing a button and waiting any length of time I would wait for the pro and hope for the best. For someone like me who just uses texting/phone and maybe one or two webpages a day this is a fantastic device. Hopefully I can get a pro and keyboard to use as a daily driver as I think they will invalidate all the negatives.
Pinephone : postmarketOS Edition 3gb
Distro: Arm Arch for the last 7 months. First month was PMos.
Carrier: Google Fi talk/text/data unlimited
Two pinephone batteries
First off, nothing wrong with PMos. It worked without issue. I just happen to be an insufferable "Arch BTW" user on everything else I own so it was too good to pass up yet another reason to irritate people with talk about Arch. Installed directly to EMMC.
The SIM dropped in with a size converter kit and functioned on startup. I didn't have to change anything in settings to get it working. Has good enough signal for me not to notice outages.
I explicitly stated two pinephone batteries because if you aren't planning on charging it mid-day then it will absolutely die before a normal 8 hour work shift. Now, I will assume that since I work in a basement and it is constantly trying to find a signal, that is draining the battery faster than it usually would. But even on the weekends with very light usage during the day it will die before I would normally plug my original phone in. I would unplug and pocket it at about 6:30-7 AM, if I use it a few times a day to browse reddit or look up a recipe, it will die by about 8PM. All that considered, I pocket the battery out of my braveheart edition just in case I need it. I am hoping that the keyboard+battery will remedy this and remove the need of having to carry a 2nd battery. Time and luck getting one will tell.
A few months back I didn't realize I wasn't getting text messages. A concerned visit from my parents isn't how I would've liked to find that out but in any case... The modem had filled up with text messages stuck in "receiving" and I had to use mmcli to remove them. I am uncertain if they are texts that I received and read/replied to, or if they were stuck in limbo and I was never able read them. It is a concern that I still harbor now, they may be something serious that I never receive. Currently my fix for this is to just check it myself daily. I should make a script to auto remove anything stuck, I just haven't got around to it.
I have no evidence to back this up other than speculation. But I believe this is due to text messages getting queued up while the phone is dead and just doesn't know what to do with all of them when the phone is cut on. The modem firmware update that I've read about may fix this, but as this is currently my main phone I don't have alternatives if I brick it.
Other than that hiccup, the call quality is quite nice and I haven't had issues with receiving/sending calls.
Performance with web browsing and applications isn't great, but I barely use a smartphone for more than phone calls and texts. When I do need to use it I can definitely tell I am waiting a while longer than even a 5+ year old mediocre android phone. Not a deal breaker for me and the pinephone pro looks like it will remedy this issue just fine.
All things considered, I will say if you are prepared to deal with a few inconveniences, the pinephone can definitely be used as a daily driver. If you use your phone constantly everyday for social media, videos or anything really I would have to recommend at least waiting til the keyboard+battery comes out and hope it gives it enough juice to keep up all day. If you hate pressing a button and waiting any length of time I would wait for the pro and hope for the best. For someone like me who just uses texting/phone and maybe one or two webpages a day this is a fantastic device. Hopefully I can get a pro and keyboard to use as a daily driver as I think they will invalidate all the negatives.