09-17-2020, 12:08 PM
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.
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.
