I just ordered mine out of curiosity.
Use case: I just want to sit on the front seat in the development of this thing and want to contribute to the coding.
Expectations:
- I expect that little will work that I am used to (like calling and whatsapp etc.), but that the fact that there is linux on there will compensate it
- I expect that I will poor more time into this thing than I should, but that it will be great.
- I am happy that I can finally stop worrying that my phone is spying on me.
Hope to contribute to this phone and this amazing project!
I'm just looking forward to tinkering with it for now. I like the fact that you can try different operating systems by simply swapping the SD card.
My hopes would be to eventually get basic phone calls, SMS/MMS, Firefox, email/contacts/calendar, podcast/music player, and GPS/maps working. If it can do all that I could see making it my daily driver.
My fear is that it won't have the performance to ever really fulfill the role of being my primary phone. But for the price, it should still be fun to tinker with and hopefully will provide a great dev platform to build on for future linux phones.
I would really like to have a phone/sms/email device that can play music from the micro-SD card. I could honestly care less about any other apps or utilities. I just want a phone that carries my music with it. I'm very much considering ordering the PinePhone but want to wait for reviews that mention music playback.
I just hope for it to be a viable alternative to the budget phones on the major prepaid carriers in the US(MetroPCS, Cricket, Boost)...
Well, pretty much everything I want to say has been said above.
voice, text, browser, map&gps, text editor ... even this minimal list would represent an upgrade from the vintage flip-phone that I use now.
As someone mentioned elsewhere, if devs would be very specific about which logs and other information to supply with bug reports it would help me to help them.
Probably most important to me is the idea of a device that is under my control.
I would like to suggest:
When you do find an OS that suits you, Contribute to their Cause..!
Almost all of the OSes are available for free download, but also they have
PayPal donation buttons on their sites. * Some accept other methods as well. *
LINUX = CHOICES
**BCnAZ**
Donate to $upport
your favorite OS Team
What can I say.. I have been using a Nokia 3310 ever since I was 8 years old. I replaced the battery once, but it's still working.
I never liked Android and Apple smartphones due to the lack of source code and general modem isolation, nor did I like the way smartphones have influenced - especially young - people.
I have always used devices that are 100% FOSS down to the firmware level. So my computers are all Lenovo X200's, T400's and T500's with coreboot and no Intel ME firmware. My routers all run OpenWrt on ath79 SoC's, so nothing requires blobs.
Due to my dislike for the whole "apps" and "social media" paradigm, I'm not locked into any ecosystem. And I don't intend to change that either. My current Nokia 3310 does calls and SMS, so everything more is already an upgrade. I would be happy with very basic features:
- Calls
- SMS
- E-mail
- Telegram / Matrix
- Basic web browsing
- Taking pictures
- Checking my CalDAV calendar
I think the PinePhone will serve me fine. I now use a GL.iNet MiFi LTE hotspot with OpenWrt for mobile internet on the road, and I'll probably hook up the PinePhone on its WiFi. My employer gives me unlimited data anyway. Maybe I'll get a small data subscription for my personal SIM in the PinePhone, like 1-2GB per month, for when I'm on the road without my hotspot. (I already have unlimited calls and SMS.)
Performance is not really something I care about at all. I mean, my Nokia 3310 has a 13MHz CPU with 1kB of RAM...
My Objectives:
Get control of my phone again, software as hardware
Get rid of GAFAM services
Achieve security and privacy not possible with just about any other phone
Help and support the pine64 community
My plan is to use it right away as my primary and only phone, so I hope I will be able to install the OS on the eMMC at the soonest.
My hopes for "basic" functions like:
- Initiate and accept calls
- Send / Receive SMS
- a workable browser (ideally Firefox) to cover the few apps I actually use
- the ability of use a terminal
my hopes hardware related
- to find available original spare parts over a long period, including screen and battery to be able to repair it for a loooooong time
- to find a suitable solution to match with a day of my power consumption, even if I need an extra battery in the cover, or a bigger one in the phone
my hopes for more advanced functions :
- synchronise contacts, calendar, and more with my nextcloud server
- easily tunnel all data connection through VPN or CJDNS
- have fun tweaking, testing distros, hacking software, using the extra pin
- to backup my phone easily
Fears:
- basic function are not working or not reliable
- the performance of Pinephone would be slow
- battery could not last for a working day
- I have to use SD cards for a long time and they are getting corrupted
- I struggle to get access web services because it is only intended to be available on android & iOS
