Pinephone Pro development
#1
Hi all,

I came back after a year or so of inactivity in the Pinephone world; I've always dreamed about a free (as in freedom) Linux phone, and when the Pinephone came out, it was incredible for me (I had a Librem 5 order that I cancelled for a Braveheart, which I sold and eventually bought the Mobian edition). The beginning of the community program was terrific; excellent stuff came out, and a lot of enthusiasm. Unfortunately, after a couple of years, my impression is that the development and popularity of this fantastic piece of hardware have plummeted, or at least it's what I feel following from the outside. The development of the platform has become relatively slow-paced.

In the meantime, Pine64 announced the Pinephone Pro, another dream that came true, with a better camera (I USE my phone camera), improved CPU (another sad part of the Pinephone) and, on paper, the numbers to do very well. I ordered one of the first Explorer Edition, but after receiving it, I didn't have any time to play with it (personal matters of various natures), so I put it aside. Recently, I started learning Python, and I was attracted by the idea of using my PPP with the keyboard as a small portable learning device. I've started looking around, and I've read and heard so many bad things about both of the devices (PPP AND keyboard), particularly the latter with serious hardware issues that make it, as far as I've understood, pretty much unusable.
There are plenty of issues with drivers, battery and stability in general. I would've expected that the Pro would get a better start after the experience with the Pinephone, but it doesn't seem so yet. This is terrible news; I was hoping that the PPP would rock.

I'm wondering if it wouldn't be a good idea to launch a similar program as for the original Pinephone with the Pro version to boost the development of, for example, battery management, modem and camera drivers, to start with the most annoying issues that this device suffers.
Pinephone Braveheart
Pinephone Manjaro CE 3/32Gb
Pinephone Mobian CE 3/32Gb
Pinephone Pro Explorer Edition
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#2
The problem is that while Pine64 originally took the quite good route of supporting multiple distros, they currently only give money to Manjaro, which does no development at all and had a financial scandal in the past (not related to Pine64), which doesn't make them good keeper of Pine64's money.
Other distros and projects like Mobian or PostmarketOS which did a lot for PinePhone don't get anything and rely on volunteer time.
Please read https://drewdevault.com/2022/08/18/PINE6...-down.html

While I was initially very enthusiastic about Pine64 (I have Pinephone, PineTime and Pinebook Pro) I feel like they somehow lost their way recently with useless gadgets like earphones while the useful hardware is in the woods.
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#3
(10-11-2022, 04:43 AM)pkubaj Wrote: While I was initially very enthusiastic about Pine64 (I have Pinephone, PineTime and Pinebook Pro) I feel like they somehow lost their way recently with useless gadgets like earphones while the useful hardware is in the woods.

This is so sad... Thanks for the update.
Pinephone Braveheart
Pinephone Manjaro CE 3/32Gb
Pinephone Mobian CE 3/32Gb
Pinephone Pro Explorer Edition
  Reply
#4
I agree!  I was completely into the pinephone pro making over 125 posts, spending many many hours here, and making dozens of software changes. I made so many software changes through sim/sd, that sim/sd card insert hardware broke and the phone will not now make calls as it can't read the sim.  The same sim card makes calls after being inserted into original pinephone.  I also have never received the replacement sim/sd replacement hardware promised by pinephone and that I applied for.

Even more exasperating is that after 2000 posts on this site, pinephone has ignored all this info and has, apparently, not made any chamges to what they are selling.  I can tell from the questions of newbies that they are having the same problems experienced by the january shipment purchasers.  I think my time with pinephone is over.  They've completely ignored their customers.

Waiting for a new batch of the brax2 phones to come out.  I have heard good things about that de-googled phone using opensource android; not linux

tom kosvic
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#5
Well, the warranty is 1 month so you can't really blame them for that.
And regarding the warranty, I must praise them for it being real - when I received my Pinebook Pro, it arrived with a broken screen (I got artifacts during high load, e.g. during compilation). I reported it about two weeks after I got the laptop and got a new screen for free. It still works great.
Regarding brax2, it uses Android, so no. I'll probably stay on Pinephone until it breaks and then maybe Pinephone Pro will be already good enough for everyday use.
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#6
I have a PPP that sits in a box with battery out - stored.
I have 2 PP Convergence one with Postmarket Plasma and that works well
and the other is Arch Linux Phosh which I use as a PDA. It has a sim card
but I don't enable the sim.
For a phone I use my BlackBerry Classic with BB10 o.s. which is secure.
Everything works perfectly from this perspective. The PPC is an excellent PDA.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TESTED: Arch Plasma, Arch Phosh , Manjaro Phosh, Manjaro Plasma
Fedora, Mobian, Postmarket Plasma, Postmarket Phosh, Kali, SXMO.
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#7
(10-12-2022, 12:33 PM)tckosvic Wrote: I agree!  I was completely into the pinephone pro making over 125 posts, spending many many hours here, and making dozens of software changes. I made so many software changes through sim/sd, that sim/sd card insert hardware broke and the phone will not now make calls as it can't read the sim.  The same sim card makes calls after being inserted into original pinephone.  I also have never received the replacement sim/sd replacement hardware promised by pinephone and that I applied for.

Even more exasperating is that after 2000 posts on this site, pinephone has ignored all this info and has, apparently, not made any chamges to what they are selling.  I can tell from the questions of newbies that they are having the same problems experienced by the january shipment purchasers.  I think my time with pinephone is over.  They've completely ignored their customers.

...

tom kosvic
this https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PinePhone_Pro says "The PinePhone Pros shipped prior to the end of July 2022 come with a micro-SIM slot instead of a nano-SIM slot.".

(10-12-2022, 12:33 PM)tckosvic Wrote: Waiting for a new batch of the brax2 phones to come out.  I have heard good things about that de-googled phone using opensource android; not linux

tom kosvic
i have this rhetorical question: how you de-google something which is developed by google!? yeah, sure, aosp does not have google's closed stuff, but its development is still controlled by google.

if i look after three years, i think google has done changes in android which makes unlocking, rooting, debloating practically impossible. requiring some closed source stuff as a dependency in aosp is enough to close android. i also think fuchsia kernel eventually replace android kernel. fuchsia's license is more permissive.

for the short term de-googled android might be good idea for privacy and control, but it still uses google's code and api indirectly. i essentially got sick of debloating and degoogling stuff and end up to this pinephone stuff.

for the longer term, linux phones have real possibility now. i can think now that i'm not necessarily stuck in two monopolistic platforms.
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#8
(10-12-2022, 07:07 PM)zetabeta Wrote:
(10-12-2022, 12:33 PM)tckosvic Wrote: I agree!  I was completely into the pinephone pro making over 125 posts, spending many many hours here, and making dozens of software changes. I made so many software changes through sim/sd, that sim/sd card insert hardware broke and the phone will not now make calls as it can't read the sim.  The same sim card makes calls after being inserted into original pinephone.  I also have never received the replacement sim/sd replacement hardware promised by pinephone and that I applied for.

Even more exasperating is that after 2000 posts on this site, pinephone has ignored all this info and has, apparently, not made any chamges to what they are selling.  I can tell from the questions of newbies that they are having the same problems experienced by the january shipment purchasers.  I think my time with pinephone is over.  They've completely ignored their customers.

...

tom kosvic
this https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PinePhone_Pro says "The PinePhone Pros shipped prior to the end of July 2022 come with a micro-SIM slot instead of a nano-SIM slot.".

The core components used by brax2 are taken from the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), which is free and open-source software (FOSS) primarily licensed under the Apache License.  I don't think there are any google elements either above-board or hidden in it.  There are substitute apps that are not supplied by goodle.

tom kosvic

(10-12-2022, 12:33 PM)tckosvic Wrote: Waiting for a new batch of the brax2 phones to come out.  I have heard good things about that de-googled phone using opensource android; not linux

tom kosvic
i have this rhetorical question: how you de-google something which is developed by google!? yeah, sure, aosp does not have google's closed stuff, but its development is still controlled by google.

if i look after three years, i think google has done changes in android which makes unlocking, rooting, debloating practically impossible. requiring some closed source stuff as a dependency in aosp is enough to close android. i also think fuchsia kernel eventually replace android kernel. fuchsia's license is more permissive.

for the short term de-googled android might be good idea for privacy and control, but it still uses google's code and api indirectly. i essentially got sick of debloating and degoogling stuff and end up to this pinephone stuff.

for the longer term, linux phones have real possibility now. i can think now that i'm not necessarily stuck in two monopolistic platforms.
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