10-23-2020, 05:36 AM
I have just caught up with this thread and agree with most of the sentiments.
Here are two further points nobody seems to touch upon:
1. Using the Pinephone as a daily driver is a major shift for a user: They either have to swap their SIM card over or need to tell all their contacts the new number they are using. Add to that the fact that they may want to keep some records, such as SMS sent and received, contact lists etc. and it is clear that most people will only do this if they feel they can trust the phone. For this reason, the Pinephone remains a toy for me. I actually carry it with me when I go out, but have not given its number to anyone.
I really only have it with me in case my main phone dies on the way.
2. Most of the frustration expressed in this thread stems from the fact that nobody seems to know what is going on. I am mostly using UT and look into Mobian from time to time, using my "Switchboot" script (as I am tired of physically peeling off the back of the phone to change SD cards. This should have been designed differently!). UT provides updates almost daily, sometimes twice daily. And each time I see another 17MB to download, I'm getting excited: "Wow, they did something!". But this being a toy phone (see above), I have no way to find out what the new features are. Any app that is updated in the app store carries some brief "What's new" description, even though it may only say "Translations updated. Thank you translators!" - Not so the UT updates. There is nothing. I am not interested in too much technical detail, but a simple "Improvements to XYZ" would go a long way and could actually prompt me to give feedback. But as it is, I am not going to test every single phone feature just for the sake of it. I do the update, watch if the mobile and wifi signals come on and switch it off again.
In summary: I have no idea what has actually improved in UT and am simply waiting for someone to say: "Hooray, it's ready to be used."
Here are two further points nobody seems to touch upon:
1. Using the Pinephone as a daily driver is a major shift for a user: They either have to swap their SIM card over or need to tell all their contacts the new number they are using. Add to that the fact that they may want to keep some records, such as SMS sent and received, contact lists etc. and it is clear that most people will only do this if they feel they can trust the phone. For this reason, the Pinephone remains a toy for me. I actually carry it with me when I go out, but have not given its number to anyone.
I really only have it with me in case my main phone dies on the way.
2. Most of the frustration expressed in this thread stems from the fact that nobody seems to know what is going on. I am mostly using UT and look into Mobian from time to time, using my "Switchboot" script (as I am tired of physically peeling off the back of the phone to change SD cards. This should have been designed differently!). UT provides updates almost daily, sometimes twice daily. And each time I see another 17MB to download, I'm getting excited: "Wow, they did something!". But this being a toy phone (see above), I have no way to find out what the new features are. Any app that is updated in the app store carries some brief "What's new" description, even though it may only say "Translations updated. Thank you translators!" - Not so the UT updates. There is nothing. I am not interested in too much technical detail, but a simple "Improvements to XYZ" would go a long way and could actually prompt me to give feedback. But as it is, I am not going to test every single phone feature just for the sake of it. I do the update, watch if the mobile and wifi signals come on and switch it off again.
In summary: I have no idea what has actually improved in UT and am simply waiting for someone to say: "Hooray, it's ready to be used."
