How are folks using the Pinephone (sim swapping?)
#1
I was just wondering how people who are experimenting with the Pinephone, while also needing a more functional device for day-to-day use, are going about it.  Are you swapping the sim in to the Pinephone when you want to try things, and then putting the sim back into your Android (or other) phone after that?  I definitely want to adopt the Pinephone, but I think I'm going to need to retain a more conventional device for day-to-day use, given the (understandable) lack of maturity in the operating systems available for the Pinephone.  Since my current phone is in need of a refresh, I'm trying to decide which way to go in terms of purchasing a new Android phone together with a Pinephone for experimentation.  Any replies greatly appreciated.
#2
I have my SIM in my PP but I keep a throw away ZTE Android phone which I use for Facebook Messenger to communicate with my wife with. the PP is so/so at being a stable daily driver, if it weren't so poor on battery life.

I haven't needed an actual phone for work since August, when I entered supplementary technical training, so I haven't required a phone for the things I'd traditionally need it for (texting job info, calls to/from foremen/suppliers/the office, pictures of blueprints). because of COVID I haven't been able to return to work due to worker shortage (a company needs 1 journeyman for every 2 apprentices on site), so I haven't been able to see if it would be able to be suitable as an actual daily driver, but it has come a long way in the months that I've had it.
#3
(11-30-2020, 08:57 PM)bartleby Wrote: I was just wondering how people who are experimenting with the Pinephone, while also needing a more functional device for day-to-day use, are going about it.  Are you swapping the sim in to the Pinephone when you want to try things, and then putting the sim back into your Android (or other) phone after that?  I definitely want to adopt the Pinephone, but I think I'm going to need to retain a more conventional device for day-to-day use, given the (understandable) lack of maturity in the operating systems available for the Pinephone.  Since my current phone is in need of a refresh, I'm trying to decide which way to go in terms of purchasing a new Android phone together with a Pinephone for experimentation.  Any replies greatly appreciated.

In my case, I have a second SIM that I used to use as a "secondary number" on my old Redmi Note 3. After I bought the Pinephone, the Redmi Note 3 became my flight computer and the Pinephone now has that sim. It stays all the time at home, and most of the time switched off, though.
Pinephone Braveheart
Pinephone Manjaro CE 3/32Gb
Pinephone Mobian CE 3/32Gb
Pinephone Pro Explorer Edition
#4
2 SD cards for every OS you seriously run & test. This just saved a rebuild for me yesterday. All system upgrades go to the QA card first. My needs are small, but while I manually manipulate the phone for rebooting. GPS kicks, wifi kicks, and modem kicks, I do use it as a true daily driver. As mentioned above, power consumption is extremely poor right now while the hardware people work through the USB/power relationships but it has been reasonable in the past.

I spend more time with problems introduced upstream. For example, if you use Thunderbird on Manjaro, do not let that update (68 ->78) go through. 2 hour restore because the Thunderbird devs figured my 20 years of contacts and calendars were not all that important. I hope they be running fsck alot in the future. Not really, but.......

YMMV
LF
#5
Minus 1 week.
Due to government regulation (not "covid"/common cold, restrictions never had to do with that), it has become very hard to get myself a second SIM card.
Because I can visit a Softbank store, but they demand me to muzzle myself or they refuse assistance.

The other option is to have a SIM card shipped to me, the first time the bots were "unable" to "human verify" my government issued ID 8 times in a row, so they ended up just cancelling my order.
The second time they managed to read the same ID card, but refused to deliver again because the post office put 1 character of my name incorrectly on the label of the enveloppe.
Now we're in the 3rd attempt and will be delivered tomorrow, and I hope they finally fixed all the problems already.

I still have my iPhone, Nexus 5, Pixel phone, Lumia phone, and Kyocera Digmo garake, running iOS 13, UBPorts, Android 9, Windows 10, and stock degoogled Android 6 respectively.
iPhone and Pixel phone are for whatever I can't use on the Pinephone, and I leave them at home, and the iPhone serves as a backup plan in case the Pinephone turns out to be not functional enough (it's still in development software after all).
The garake is for TV, since it has a TV tuner inside which allows me to watch live TV even without internet.
And the other 2 are just because I already had them, and are just fun to toy around with.
#6
In the USA :

Yeah some people do the swap of a sim card from a working phone.

BUT in the USA,  getting a new sim card is not a big deal,  sim cards can be bought online, or from discount stores, Dollar Stores, Big Box stores.
 ( No we do Not (yet) need government I.D. to get a sim card )

Basic service can be purchased for as little as $5 USD per month,  service with data starting at $15-20 USD per month.
 
While some of the main carriers are stricter, 
  Most of the resellers (MVNO's) are fairly Painless and easy to set-up and use,   via "Online" or "On-phone"
#7
(11-30-2020, 10:36 PM)bcnaz Wrote: In the USA :

Yeah some people do the swap of a sim card from a working phone.

BUT in the USA,  getting a new sim card is not a big deal,  sim cards can be bought online, or from discount stores, Dollar Stores, Big Box stores.
 ( No we do Not (yet) need government I.D. to get a sim card )

Basic service can be purchased for as little as $5 USD per month,  service with data starting at $15-20 USD per month.
 
While some of the main carriers are stricter, 
  Most of the resellers (MVNO's) are fairly Painless and easy to set-up and use,   via "Online" or "On-phone"
Sounds like a different world.
Over here we need a government ID, they can only be purchased at ISP providers, and on top of that they cost at least 5000 yen a month, around 3000 yen for the barest minimum.
Big carriers like Softbank need to know your IMEI number before they even send you a SIM card, and lock you into that specific IMEI.
But Rakuten Mobile doesn't need a fixed IMEI, and can be used on any device you want.

There are things like rental SIM cards or data only SIM cards that don't require an ID, but they are generally meant for foreign travelers and other types of tourists, and never come with a real phone number, so they are purely data only.
#8
(11-30-2020, 10:13 PM)ryo Wrote: Due to government regulation (not "covid"/common cold, restrictions never had to do with that), it has become very hard to get myself a second SIM card

And here we are, almost in 2021.
I thought progress was freedom to the people.. but oh well, I guess control and regulation is a lucrative business for the right connected people.
#9
I keep my sim in my pine if it wasn't for the lag and battery life this phone would perfect. I'm free from shitty non user updateable phone OS. This phone has all the power of raspberry pi in a phone format and I have the whole repos of software and is far far more trustworthy play store or as bounded down as the IOS app store
owo notices your distro.
#10
I can't swap SIMs because my flip phone uses a standard-size SIM versus the Pinephone's micro-SIM. So I'm using a Tracfone 30-day pre-paid smartphone plan for experimentation.


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