LINux on MOBileMy PinePhone saw too many posts saying it was a failure lately, and now it's sad.
What do you think? Has the PinePhone failed?
Yes, total failure.
Things could be better, but I am mostly happy
What? It's a success!
It's complicated, let me explain.
Poll ended at .
Dylan Van Assche@linmob Without the PinePhone, there won't be so many mobile distros because the hardware was unavailable before the PinePhone came. Yes, things could be better, but that's always the case.
leimon@linmob Absolutely not!
I think the linux phone ecosystem is only thriving as well as it is now because of the existence of both the pinephone and the Librem 5. I think it is important that there are options at multiple price points. Purism's big contribution was in Phosh, phoc and squeekboard. Pine64's big contribution was getting out devices quickly and cheaply to developers.
In a lot of ways, I view the pinephone as the raspberry pi of the linux phone world...
stefan@linmob To be honest I don't think the pinephone is a failure. It does what it is supposed to do. Getting hardware to the people who want to develop a mobile linux experience and give tinkerers a chance to try linux on a phone and see what you can do on a truely open OS.
I liked my time with the pinephone as long as I had it. It might been a bit slow, battery was "eh" and software was okay, but it proved that you can run linux on mobile hardware and have a decent experience.
It was also cheap enough where it could feasably be just a secondary device for the time being as software and hardware mature (which they did). Buying a pinephone also supports the people who want to bring us Linux on mobile being Pine itself and all those devs doing the distros (with those special editions).
By actually delivering stuff pine did good work for the industry. Now it will be more or less just a matter of time (and maybe some better hardware + software) until it becomes viable for everyone.
I though kinda wish it was just a tad smaller and not as bulky xD
I liked my time with the pinephone as long as I had it. It might been a bit slow, battery was "eh" and software was okay, but it proved that you can run linux on mobile hardware and have a decent experience.
It was also cheap enough where it could feasably be just a secondary device for the time being as software and hardware mature (which they did). Buying a pinephone also supports the people who want to bring us Linux on mobile being Pine itself and all those devs doing the distros (with those special editions).
By actually delivering stuff pine did good work for the industry. Now it will be more or less just a matter of time (and maybe some better hardware + software) until it becomes viable for everyone.
I though kinda wish it was just a tad smaller and not as bulky xD
Garrett 
@linmob if I remember correctly, it's purpose was to be for developers to build and test distros, and for enthusiasts to try stuff out along the way. I think it's succeeded in that goal. It's offered a more open platform for building and testing distros so it can be better on devices that might not allow such openness.
Vancha 
@linmob I don't think so. Actually it's kind of the only one in it's class. I want a phone that runs open source software, and i don't like either android or ios, so the only thing i *can* get is a pinephone.
It may have some ways to go, but it's linux, on a phone, and it works. I'd say that's quite a feat already ^^
It may have some ways to go, but it's linux, on a phone, and it works. I'd say that's quite a feat already ^^
lotusronin@linmob Has it helped spark mobile linux + mobile friendly GUI dev? Yes.
Helped make the idea of a Linux 1st phone experience very tangible and accessible? Yes.
Are there still rough corners in the UX? Yes. Battery life, especially the Pro, Performance for non pro, MMS support for those of us with poor network choices available, _call_ support by mobile networks, "quality" app choices, etc...
Still really excited by all the progress but: Would I use it as my daily driver? No.
Daniel Barlow@linmob am conflicted. You don't need a free-all-the-way-down stack to write mobile apps, you can use any device that postmarketos runs on. And you wouldn't want to use the pinephone og as a daily driver because of performance - and it feels like all the people in a position to improve that have switched to pinephone pro. So that leaves its only niche as people who'll trade usability for Foss purity? Maybe it has some other use I'm not seeing
Ilobmirt@linmob I think the biggest weakpoint would be the modem. I see most other phones moving on to 5g networks and 2g+3g are starting to sunset. I can imagine that in a blink of an eye, this current modem will not stand the test of a decade.
This could be time looking for a future-proof modem that will provide less headaches than has with our current Quectel EG25-G.
I still will call the hardware a success developing something cheap and quick that supports a full-fledged linux OS.
Daniel Wood@linmob the pinephone itself serves a purpose, to encourage development of Linux on mobile. That has been a tremendous success. What is frustrating is that we don't have a viable option for a consumer ready daily driver device but I don't believe the pinephone was ever marketed as such. We need to more as a community to enable that consumer ready experience and the pinephone is there to support that.
scottt@linmob it's definitely not a failure - it's intended as a development device, and even then I've been using mine as my only phone for almost 2 years now.
I do find it frustrating that the Pine64 business model relies on all the software being developed for free by the community, and although the community has done a great job, I don't think that great stability or a solid user experience are going to be possible from people working just in their spare time.
I do find it frustrating that the Pine64 business model relies on all the software being developed for free by the community, and although the community has done a great job, I don't think that great stability or a solid user experience are going to be possible from people working just in their spare time.
JJS_10@linmob I've been daily driving mine for a year now, so I'd say no, not a failure.
Just look at how far Linux OS's for mobile have come in the last year. Now imagine what that would look like without the PinePhone.
Jan Wagemakers
Muemmel@linmob
Also because of the power consumption of the phone. Switching to an android tablet with e-ink really helped me and my eyes last year.
@linmob
I think, the Software side is most important. There is progress, but it feels a bit to slow. For be a no go is, that many environments virtual terminal only enables European languages. Although creating the Pinephone helped the progress in mobile Linux a lot, it sufferers from 2 sides. A) it not so long around, B) it's a niche in the Linux community.
I think, the Software side is most important. There is progress, but it feels a bit to slow. For be a no go is, that many environments virtual terminal only enables European languages. Although creating the Pinephone helped the progress in mobile Linux a lot, it sufferers from 2 sides. A) it not so long around, B) it's a niche in the Linux community.
hamblingreen@linmob i could not be happier with mine. it's few shortcomings have been the result of my newbie-ness. although in 2 and a half months it'll be a year since i recieved my pinephone and switched to using linux on mobile full-time. who needs a clunky desktop when you have a linux desktop + mobile phone in your pocket? i'm tellin' ya, mobile linux is the future without a doubt. how long widespread adoption takes depends (partly) on this community.
@linmob of course there will always be room for improvement, that's the nature of literally everything. i'm just saying that i would personally consider the pinephone daily-driver ready for anyone willing to learn linux basics and those willing to ask other people questions