better pinephone

[zetabeta]

this is my preliminary view and mostly likely will change.

i pre-ordered pinephone. this is some kind of testing purchase and i hope open platforms will become serious possibility in the future. i have some ...uhum... opinions about two dominant platform at the moment.

pine probably should introduce improved pinephone, which is similar to pinebook pro https://www.pine64.org/pinebook-pro/ . particularly i'm concerced of following issues: small battery, lack of wifi ac (5GHz), small mmc, lack of fullhd and small ram. of course price would go higher but pinebook pro is selling at ~200$, so i don't think it would be much higher. most likely physical size will increase as well. with current pinephone specs i don't think pinephone is usable for long time.

edit: 2020-09-30

after using pinephone for little while, little bit manjaro and postmarket. maybe the specs of pinephone should be left at where there are now. slight exception of wifi n, wifi ac should be considered. o.s.'s are too immature for more expensive model.

plus model could be considered in around next year, when o.s. (o.s.'s) matures.

[User 18618]

This topic has been discussed previously. As a rundown:

• The battery is user replaceable.
  
• I don't believe this to be an issue; 2.4GHz is more common than 5GHz.
  
• The RockPRO64 is not suitable for use in another iteration of the PinePhone, says @Luke.
  
• The Librem 5 (from Purism) is available if you require superior specifications.
  

The PinePhone's design and certification processes were not without cost; it's unlikely we'll see another iteration within the next five years.

[bcnaz]

I think Linux is "Lighter on resource needs" than its M.S.,  Google and Apple counter-parts, with their many root tracker and background apps. that cannot be user controlled and firmware/hardware.
Perhaps someday a "Gamer Linux phone" may come to be..?
Anyway, I think the Pine phone is an excellent piece of hardware for this "point in time".

BUT, actually "perhaps"  Linux can achieve enough gains in software performance to equal or exceed changing the hardware....?

Years ago I read in the online 'PC Magazine':  a letter from Microsoft to the hardware manufacturers,
stating they guaranteed Windows will continue to need more and more 'Powerful hardware' to run their operating systems.
 Seems to me more efficient software could actually use less power,  possibly ?
Look at 'PineTime' doing more with very little power.

[lot378]

The PinePhone today is great just the way it is; it's already stirred a lot of attention and for good reason.

@zetabeta you and others, it has to be said, are conditioned by common consumerism in to thinking "bigger, faster, more" is always better.

To me, every year that passes, makes current smartphones more and more ridiculous. A $1,000+ smartphone? $1,500? A "flagship kiiller" for $500? The icing on the cake is Purism selling their phone in to the same price ranges with their "USA" phone more than double the cost of their ordinary phone being the cherry on top of the icing on that cake. Or may be it was Google neutering their latest Pixel phones to disable video over USB-C (obviously afraid of their phones being used for convergence) that's another that could claim the prize.

Consumers are not placed first, it's the vendors bottom line but that's another story.

What is amazing to me about the PinePhone is the community that is has drawn together to resolve circuit board issues, develop and port software.

Making the battery charge last longer means the battery is just fine.

[zetabeta]

@zetabeta you and others, it has to be said, are conditioned by common consumerism in to thinking "bigger, faster, more" is always better.

actually no. i don't think more is better, but it doesn't mean going too low is good either. i have one chinese manufacturer's android phone approximately 300 euros and i think specs are just fine. maybe some lucky day someone has ported postmarketos to it.

lot378

The PinePhone today is great just the way it is; it's already stirred a lot of attention and for good reason.

@zetabeta you and others, it has to be said, are conditioned by common consumerism in to thinking "bigger, faster, more" is always better.

To me, every year that passes, makes current smartphones more and more ridiculous. A $1,000+ smartphone? $1,500? A "flagship kiiller" for $500? The icing on the cake is Purism selling their phone in to the same price ranges with their "USA" phone more than double the cost of their ordinary phone being the cherry on top of the icing on that cake. Or may be it was Google neutering their latest Pixel phones to disable video over USB-C (obviously afraid of their phones being used for convergence) that's another that could claim the prize.

Consumers are not placed first, it's the vendors bottom line but that's another story.

What is amazing to me about the PinePhone is the community that is has drawn together to resolve circuit board issues, develop and port software.

Making the battery charge last longer means the battery is just fine.

even i think wasting more than 1000 dollars or euros for smartphone start sound like ...wasting money. but still for future if pinephone turns out to be succesful, i think there should be slightly better pinephone approximately 300$. there could be two models and i may end of having both. for 150 dollars is still suprisingly capable. as of now no rush decisions should be made, so let's see first.

however, i still wonder lack of wifi ac because 2.4GHz starting to be congested too much.

lot378

Consumers are not placed first, it's the vendors bottom line but that's another story.

this is a problem with two unnamed platforms, although price may not be a final issue, it is lack of control over o.s. and phone.

[RTP]

this is my preliminary view and mostly likely will change.

i pre-ordered pinephone. this is some kind of testing purchase and i hope open platforms will become serious possibility in the future. i have some ...uhum... opinions about two dominant platform at the moment.

pine probably should introduce improved pinephone, which is similar to pinebook pro https://www.pine64.org/pinebook-pro/ . particularly i'm concerced of following issues: small battery, lack of wifi ac (5GHz), small mmc, lack of fullhd and small ram. of course price would go higher but pinebook pro is selling at ~200$, so i don't think it would be much higher. most likely physical size will increase as well. with current pinephone specs i don't think pinephone is usable for long time.

I understand what you are saying but personally I think Pine64 has navigated perfectly.

I have watched/experienced the improvements in software on the Pinephone and for a phone I believe it has everything it needs hardware wise. The software can still improve. I wouldn't judge the hardware based on any current bugs you may be experiencing.

For many people $300 is too much for a phone (if you want to reach the largest Linux phone market possible).

By making a $150 phone (especially first entrance Linux phone) the amount of people reached will be much greater than a more expensive phone's entrance to the market. Keeping in mind a greater number of phones means not just more users but also developers. The more people who can afford a Pinephone, the better the Pinephone can become (given software is community based).

I believe the goal was never to compete with Android/iPhone hardware. This would be a losing battle.

While sure, you can get a cheaper Android phone (like $100 for BLU), tradeoff is that phone installing malware, wifi scanning for mac addresses in your home, and syphoning your data during updates. On a similarly priced Android phone you really don't know what you are getting.

I'm sure it has been said before, but I believe this is the right time for privacy respecting phones. People at large are becoming more aware of the way our data is weaponized against us. The ability to control your software remains a major bonus for potential Pinephone users. Pinephone appeals to everyday people who just want more control of what their phone is up to. Not everyone wants to run games.

Personally I think they have a winning strategy vs more upgraded hardware, being able to reach many users and developers at an affordable cost should in theory, lead to a better product.

Of course this is just my opinion.

[Veraendert]

Let´ s optimize the software first. Afterwards we´ll see if and when hardware improvements are needed. If we alter hardware specs first, it will much harder to improve the software as there will be multiple versions to deal with.

I´m old enough to remember both the C=64 and the Amiga. Hardware-wise both of these were trash. But they tweaked the software until you were able to play great games (were talking about ancient times and therefore about ancient games here) on them.

[bcnaz]

If you think of the Pine phone as a "PC" and the Librem5 as a "Mac"
When you compare Librem5 with the "Convergence Edition" of Pine phone they are pretty close in the "Specs"...
Some buyers are going to think more expense equals a better device.
The Main thing is they both promote "Linux" !
The Pure OS developers have contributed to the open source community. (unlike Mac contributing to Windows)...
I think that just gives Linux users more choices.

Which is better ? That is YOUR "Choice"

[lot378]

@zetabeta you and others, it has to be said, are conditioned by common consumerism in to thinking "bigger, faster, more" is always better.

actually no. i don't think more is better, but it doesn't mean going too low is good either. i have one chinese manufacturer's android phone approximately 300 euros and i think specs are just fine. maybe some lucky day someone has ported postmarketos to it.

even i think wasting more than 1000 dollars or euros for smartphone start sound like ...wasting money. but still for future if pinephone turns out to be succesful, i think there should be slightly better pinephone approximately 300$. there could be two models and i may end of having both. for 150 dollars is still suprisingly capable. as of now no rush decisions should be made, so let's see first.

Well, isn't that actually the definition of consumerism at play there? And I think it's answers how smartphones got in to the mess they are in i.e. "I want feature x, y, z for $amount" and kept creeping upwards every year. May be try to look at it from the Pine64 and community perspective for an idea of what it's really all about.

I´m old enough to remember both the C=64 and the Amiga

The great thing about Vic20, C64, Pet, Amiga, BBC Micro etc (might as well include the original Apple II) they introduced people to computers, programming, hardware teaking and mods. May be they went from there to learn about C and Unix? And regretted seeing the world go down the Windows rabbit hole ...

Personally, the bottom line is I don't see Pine64 getting in to another PinePhone (2, Pro or whatever) for a while because the current one has a lot of mileage to go yet - 2-3 years at least. May be then the SoC world will have shifted - ARM becoming toxic because of Apple and/or NVidia, RISC the new Pine64 go to - who knows?

[zetabeta]

change at 2020-09-30

after using pinephone for little while, little bit manjaro and postmarket. maybe the specs of pinephone should be left at where there are now. slight exception of wifi n, wifi ac should be considered. o.s.'s are too immature for more expensive model.

plus model could be considered in around next year, when o.s. (o.s.'s) matures.