pine64 opensource dumbphone

[Phie]

I really waaant a pine64 (flip) dumb phone with a very light OS like the one in the pinetime, perhaps with a bit of a better hardware to be able to listen to music but that's it !!
There was another discussion about this but it went full political about something else, so I opening this here

I don't know if you've already thought about it, kaios phones are really not satisfying enough from an open source point of view since most manufacturers don't release sources

dumbphone are really becoming a thing again, lots of us rely on bad dumbphone we can't really hack into

[RandB]

I really waaant a pine64 (flip) dumb phone with a very light OS like the one in the pinetime, perhaps with a bit of a better hardware to be able to listen to music but that's it !!

dumbphone are really becoming a thing again, lots of us rely on bad dumbphone we can't really hack into

I have thought for some time that a rock solid "dumbphone" operating system for the pinephone would be useful and preferable to the various distro images currently available. One that just works super reliably for talk and text and also maximizes the battery life.

Basically I want a simple, reliable phone that will not connect to data, seldom will need updates, and is not apt to fail when updated. Just give me talk and text. I think a pinephone operating system that "just works" and is optimized to that purpose would be useful.

To that basic operating system I might add a video player, calculator, calendar, a music player, and a browser to use when connected to wifi. Or I might not as the main purpose of the phone is talk and text.

[zetabeta]

starting to know enough of pinephone and pp pro inner workings, i think basic flip phone is a bad idea unless there is at least 5000 mAh battery inside. in that point, it is heavy flip phone.

following is a different kind of idea.
https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=18247

[KC9UDX]

I always hated Phlipfones. The stupid flip always breaks off. A hardware keyboard like Motorola had in the end of the "dumbphone" days would be much nicer. I think a Pinephone with that and a stripped down operating system would be adequate.

[Kevin Kofler]

I have thought for some time that a rock solid "dumbphone" operating system for the  pinephone would be useful  and preferable to the various distro images currently available.  One that just works super reliably for talk and text and also maximizes the battery life.

In principle, that is exactly what the NuttX port wants to be. In practice though, with only 2 people working on it, I doubt it will move from a proof of concept to "rock solid" any time soon.

[Phie]

starting to know enough of pinephone and pp pro inner workings, i think basic flip phone is a bad idea unless there is at least 5000 mAh battery inside. in that point, it is heavy flip phone.

following is a different kind of idea.
https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=18247

Why ? I'm talking about a real dumbphone, not a dumbized smartphone, something small, like a wiphone or the ones from Punkt

[zetabeta]

starting to know enough of pinephone and pp pro inner workings, i think basic flip phone is a bad idea unless there is at least 5000 mAh battery inside. in that point, it is heavy flip phone.

following is a different kind of idea.
https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=18247

Why ? I'm talking about a real dumbphone, not a dumbized smartphone, something small, like a wiphone or the ones from Punkt

some speak software optimization, linux tend to be little bulky. but i don't think lot of can be done to save battery power. and of course when users start to use apps like listening music or browsing internet, it eats battery.

bigger issue is hardware. if pinephone or pro is the basis, pp just consumes power, suspend helps though. eg25 modem chip is designed more for iot devices, which is another culprit. pinetab-v has risc-v cpu, so it might be better for this.

don't get me wrong, basic phone which can updated is a good idea. but thinking about software status and possible hardware as of now, not worth pursuing.

wiphone has esp32 and punkt has snapdragon. both are more battery efficient (what i know).

[RandB]

starting to know enough of pinephone and pp pro inner workings, i think basic flip phone is a bad idea unless there is at least 5000 mAh battery inside. in that point, it is heavy flip phone.

following is a different kind of idea.
https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=18247

Why ? I'm talking about a real dumbphone, not a dumbized smartphone, something small, like a wiphone or the ones from Punkt

some speak software optimization, linux tend to be little bulky. but i don't think lot of can be done to save battery power. and of course when users start to use apps like listening music or browsing internet, it eats battery.

bigger issue is hardware. if pinephone or pro is the basis, pp just consumes power, suspend helps though. eg25 modem chip is designed more for iot devices, which is another culprit. pinetab-v has risc-v cpu, so it might be better for this.

don't get me wrong, basic phone which can updated is a good idea. but thinking about software status and possible hardware as of now, not worth pursuing.

wiphone has esp32 and punkt has snapdragon. both are more battery efficient (what i know).

OK, I am talking about a dumbized pinephone that does well what a cellphone is supposed to do well.  One that does not consume nearly as much power as the pinephones with smart operating systems.  Possibly it will not be running Linux.  The nuttX solution looks interesting. If I understand it correctly we do not need to run X or Wayland or even Linux with nuttX although we can do so.  Could this get us a couple of days or more out of the pinephone battery?

As I see it the advantage of having a "dumbized pinephone operating system" is the possibility of setting up the phone with two operating systems. One would be the dumbized operating system, which ideally will boot-up almost instantly and reliably give talk and text. The other would be a smartphone operating system which after using I would either turn off, put into hibernate, or put into sleep, while having the dumbized operating system boot-up and run automatically as part of the process.  Most of the time there would be no reason for the "smart operating system" to be running.

[Arwen]

Some people have 2 cell-phones. In many places we stopped getting "land lines", (aka wired phones). But, if your cell-phone stops working, (even for trivial reasons), what do you do?

When my old Samsung flip phone started acting up, I was SOL. Had to drive into the office :-(. Later, I activated my un-locked Android phone that I used as a miniature media tablet. Having 2 small tablet phones takes up space. So when I had to replace my old 3G Samsung flip phone, I bought another flip phone, (but with 4G). Except it's starting to fail and it's battery life really sucks.

Having something as small as a flip phone, with dumbed down features, is perfect for me. It acts as a backup in case of problems. For me, it only needs these features;
- Phone
- Messaging
- Contacts
- Wired headphones
- Bluetooth headphones
- Reasonable standby battery life, like 5 days to 1 week
- Reliable

Ideal it would also support VoIP, like my current, (failing), flip phone.

Having an Open Source OS & Apps would be a good thing too.

[zetabeta]

OK, I am talking about a dumbized pinephone that does well what a cellphone is supposed to do well.  One that does not consume nearly as much power as the pinephones with smart operating systems.  Possibly it will not be running Linux.  The nuttX solution looks interesting. If I understand it correctly we do not need to run X or Wayland or even Linux with nuttX although we can do so.  Could this get us a couple of days or more out of the pinephone battery?

couple of days! i doubt it. in case of pinephone, i don't think it's possible even with simple operating system. but it would be good to see some results because those simple systems are running somewhat.

As I see it the advantage of having a "dumbized pinephone operating system" is the possibility of setting up the phone with two operating systems. One would be the dumbized operating system, which ideally will boot-up almost instantly and reliably give talk and text. The other would be a smartphone operating system which after using I would either turn off, put into hibernate, or put into sleep, while having the dumbized operating system boot-up and run automatically as part of the process.  Most of the time there would be no reason for the "smart operating system" to be running.

in virtualization previous is possible, although i don't know how good arm64 virtualization is, including battery saving. so practically, no. another option is dual booting, which tends to be slow, because it requires reboots.