Yes, the hardware is quite old. That’s OK with me though. I think the chip manufacturer has promised ten years of support, so still five more years. I don’t really use a smartphone like a computer myself. Besides, I continue to use an Android phone. Actually, my Braveheart never worked out for me – GSM reception was very weak and even when I had a good signal, there was so much interference that my voice could not be heard on telephone calls. Then the modem stopped working so that’s the end of that for the time being.
I wholly agree with the points made by Djhg2000. I think the little things can be improved and I am confident that they will be. Already USB issues have been addressed with the revised motherboard. The Postmarket edition looks very attractive. If there is, as would seem to be the case, a problem with microphone interference, and if this could be tweaked in future then that would already be great. I don’t know how widespread the problem with dead modems is, but if this is just a firmware corruption after power was cut, then maybe a fix for this could be found too. Then maybe if the GSM reception could be improved with a new antenna printout on the internal frame I would personally be very content with the Pinephone for several years to come. Djhg2000 also mentions battery life. I gather from June update that Pine is looking into ways to improve this. Personally I just want one or more spare batteries of the same size, but the idea of a hot-swap battery is interesting. I presume the second battery would need to be bigger in order to power the first battery, and it would supply 5V to the smaller battery. The conservative charge range for the first battery is a super idea. Each end user could maybe improve the health of the original battery further by isolating it from heat build up. Mine gets quite warm. Maybe some thermal paste between the SOC and the metal plate, and perhaps also between the metal plate and the screen would help with getting the heat away. Maybe some risers on the battery would further isolate it from the metal plate. Some adhesive tape near the corners might do the trick. The main thing I would like when the Pinephone is eventually replaced with a newer version, is a way to swap out SIM cards and SD cards without removing the battery. This is because I will probably continue to use an old Android phone as well as any future Pinephone for some things only on Google Play. The old clasp fixation one used to find in mobile phones would be my personal preference, but maybe this would take up room where the WiFi antenna goes. Oh, and I don’t care about WiFi in a phone if money can be saved without it, but that’s just me. The next phone is sure to have USB 3.0 or higher so that will help a lot with internet in etc.
Forget my comment on a fix for the modem. I've just discovered on a different thread that is restricted only to the Braveheart edition.
I wholly agree with the points made by Djhg2000. I think the little things can be improved and I am confident that they will be. Already USB issues have been addressed with the revised motherboard. The Postmarket edition looks very attractive. If there is, as would seem to be the case, a problem with microphone interference, and if this could be tweaked in future then that would already be great. I don’t know how widespread the problem with dead modems is, but if this is just a firmware corruption after power was cut, then maybe a fix for this could be found too. Then maybe if the GSM reception could be improved with a new antenna printout on the internal frame I would personally be very content with the Pinephone for several years to come. Djhg2000 also mentions battery life. I gather from June update that Pine is looking into ways to improve this. Personally I just want one or more spare batteries of the same size, but the idea of a hot-swap battery is interesting. I presume the second battery would need to be bigger in order to power the first battery, and it would supply 5V to the smaller battery. The conservative charge range for the first battery is a super idea. Each end user could maybe improve the health of the original battery further by isolating it from heat build up. Mine gets quite warm. Maybe some thermal paste between the SOC and the metal plate, and perhaps also between the metal plate and the screen would help with getting the heat away. Maybe some risers on the battery would further isolate it from the metal plate. Some adhesive tape near the corners might do the trick. The main thing I would like when the Pinephone is eventually replaced with a newer version, is a way to swap out SIM cards and SD cards without removing the battery. This is because I will probably continue to use an old Android phone as well as any future Pinephone for some things only on Google Play. The old clasp fixation one used to find in mobile phones would be my personal preference, but maybe this would take up room where the WiFi antenna goes. Oh, and I don’t care about WiFi in a phone if money can be saved without it, but that’s just me. The next phone is sure to have USB 3.0 or higher so that will help a lot with internet in etc.
Forget my comment on a fix for the modem. I've just discovered on a different thread that is restricted only to the Braveheart edition.