Next evolution motherboard for Pine Phone
07-12-2020, 05:01 PM
I "second" the request for more info regarding the plan for correcting the hardware error in the UB CE version of the phone. I hope the upcoming monthly status update will contain such info. I was extremely disappointed when I very recently learned of the USB-C circuitry errors as they mean the phone is not actually able to live up to some of the advertised features. Obviously, I am very understanding of how this sort of thing could happen on relatively early hardware, but I still think it is rather unacceptable to ship hardware that cannot fulfill the advertised features. I'd imagine Pine was not aware of the problem until after the UBPorts production run had been completed, but I do hope Pine64 has some plan for a way to fix/correct this problem in people's phones. If this were the Braveheart Edition - which was advertised as having non-final hardware, known bugs/errors disclosed, and note that there are likely other problems yet to be discovered - I would of course feel no sense of entitlement for a fix to this. But the UBPorts edition was not advertised in that way, so I do feel a bit "burned" by this, as do the folks at Pine, I'm sure.
I really feel this error should have been disclosed in the June 15 update. I know the error had been discovered before then, as some digging reveals notes in forum posts and wiki edits going back at least to early June, but it wasn't advertised in that post or anywhere especially prominent as I only very recently became aware of it. If Pine had prominently disclosed this in the June 15 update and/or other prominent channels, I would have cancelled my order and waited for a future revision of the hardware that had sorted out the issue. I imagine there are plenty of people who do not care about the missing functionality, and who would happily buy the phones from canceled orders rather than wait an additional couple of months for the PostMarket edition. So it would have been relatively painless for Pine64 if people who really wanted the Display Out functionality had cancelled their orders on June 15. But now my phone has finally shipped, and I will either have to attempt to repair it myself or claim warranty fault, or something in order to gain the functionality I paid for.
Obviously I'm a big believer and supporter of what the PinePhone seeks to achieve, and I aim to be flexible and accommodating, but I do want to have the capabilities that were advertised. I know tone can get lost in text, so I want to make clear I'm not vitriolic at all. I do not mean to "tear down" anyone. Any criticism comes from a desire to raise the bar and improve things for all parties.
I really feel this error should have been disclosed in the June 15 update. I know the error had been discovered before then, as some digging reveals notes in forum posts and wiki edits going back at least to early June, but it wasn't advertised in that post or anywhere especially prominent as I only very recently became aware of it. If Pine had prominently disclosed this in the June 15 update and/or other prominent channels, I would have cancelled my order and waited for a future revision of the hardware that had sorted out the issue. I imagine there are plenty of people who do not care about the missing functionality, and who would happily buy the phones from canceled orders rather than wait an additional couple of months for the PostMarket edition. So it would have been relatively painless for Pine64 if people who really wanted the Display Out functionality had cancelled their orders on June 15. But now my phone has finally shipped, and I will either have to attempt to repair it myself or claim warranty fault, or something in order to gain the functionality I paid for.
Obviously I'm a big believer and supporter of what the PinePhone seeks to achieve, and I aim to be flexible and accommodating, but I do want to have the capabilities that were advertised. I know tone can get lost in text, so I want to make clear I'm not vitriolic at all. I do not mean to "tear down" anyone. Any criticism comes from a desire to raise the bar and improve things for all parties.
