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One or more people called it a "beta device" and a "tinker/maker project" that one can't just take out of the box and use. It's probably not a question of how difficult it is, but only how much time and energy one has for it.
EVERYTHING from Pine64 is designed to be tinkered with, but it is also designed to WORK.
I do not have the pinephone, but my Pinebook Pro worked at hour 1 without tinkering. I made some changes later, and tried a couple of different OS loads. I would expect the same from a PinePhone: that it would work in the first hour without changes, but I could change some things if I wanted to do so.
Darn. While shopping for a new phone, I looked up Pinephones, and learned that even used PinePhones are expensive for what I'm willing to pay (which is not very much). Looks like little chance of getting even a used one for less than $100.
Darn. While shopping for a new phone, I looked up Pinephones, and learned that even used PinePhones are expensive for what I'm willing to pay (which is not very much). Looks like little chance of getting even a used one for less than $100.
Pinephones are available to order (not ship, they are currently out of stock ) in packages for $149 (beta product) and $199 USD (beta convergence package: recommended).
The cheapest phone I have ever owned was about $200! (and, for the record, it was not very smart but it did what I needed)
Going lower than $149 USD for a phone normally requires some kind of contract so the vendor will make back their investment. I do not believe there is a single ISP that would handle a beta product.
If you do not mind my asking, just how restricted IS your budget for a phone?
Pinephones are available to order (not ship, they are currently out of stock ) in packages for $149 (beta product) and $199 USD (beta convergence package: recommended).
The cheapest phone I have ever owned was about $200! (and, for the record, it was not very smart but it did what I needed)
Going lower than $149 USD for a phone normally requires some kind of contract so the vendor will make back their investment. I do not believe there is a single ISP that would handle a beta product.
If you do not mind my asking, just how restricted IS your budget for a phone?
Between US$50-100. But I'm a cheapskate and I admit it, and frugal. I don't need or want a top-of-the-line phone with many features; and my phone plan costs very little because it never includes data. I have the money to pay more, I just don't wish to. I did pay $150 for my current phone, and wasn't happy about that.
You probably have new phones in mind. I don't. As you might expect, the only reason I can (usually) get away with paying less than $150 is because, when possible, I buy used/refurbished.
Last edited by newbiesforever; 09-07-2021 at 01:39 PM.
Darn. While shopping for a new phone, I looked up Pinephones, and learned that even used PinePhones are expensive for what I'm willing to pay (which is not very much). Looks like little chance of getting even a used one for less than $100.
But I agree, $175 for a phone that's not ready for daily use was hard for me as well. But since I was also into ARM SBC's already, I knew even if it didn't pan right away as my daily phone, it would be a great project device for dev purposes and I would be able to support some great projects with my purchase.
Wow! New development for PinePhone 64 - self-contained keyboard dock with phone receptacle! WARNING: This video is from a developer so if deep dive electronic work makes you nervous or hesitant just FFWD ahead to 6:10 to see the completed upgrade in action. His previous vlog from May 2021 showed that sometimes the old firmware had problems parsing key identification so a firmware upoghrade was needed BUT ONLY ON THE DEVEL MODEL. Once the consumer package is released it should be at least as good as you can witness after 6:10.
I think this is very hopeful and exciting. Development is proceeding nicely, it seems.
The more I reflect...I like the switches (whatever they were called) that giver the user absolute control; but am I interested in tinkering with my phone? No, not particularly.
The more I reflect...I like the switches (whatever they were called) that giver the user absolute control; but am I interested in tinkering with my phone? No, not particularly.
Just because you CAN tinker does not mean you MUST tinker! I love having the tinker option, but I rarely really want to disassemble and "tweak" things. I love having the option.
Looks like I should be happy with the S-7 phone default OS ( LineageOS ) . Cuz the hoops involved are too convoluted for my large frame and limited mind.
I'm really quite excited about the new Pinephone Pro, but for me it appears I should wait awhile on getting one. In the meantime I am thinking of buying a used, unlocked Nexus 5 and installing a multiboot system to try out different distros.
Anyone have any Nexus 5 horror stories of which I should be aware?
Anyone have any Nexus 5 horror stories of which I should be aware?
I once bought one of those old Google phones, used obviously, cheap but not too cheap, from a trusted seller etc.
It worked fine, but there was something wrong with the USB port. It would charge OK, but I could never get a connection to my computer, which would have been necessary to install something else on it (and it wasn't the cable).
This sort of sh!t can happen every now and then when you buy used, that's fine. Some money lost, the overall gain still outweighs it.
The actual horror was trying to diagnose the problem, trawling Google groups etc.
I don't remember the details anymore, but I could never 100% figure out whether it was a software (OS, Android) or hardware problem. I think I even replaced the USB socket (a €1 item with a click-on connector), but some aspects clearly pointed to a soft/firmware problem.
That's when I finally realised that Android is not truly FOSS.
I believe that the latest Android is based on a Linux kernel, although it is a very heavily modified system that is mostly proprietary. I think that they use Linux for its exceptionally-broad range of hardware support, which does make a certain amount of sense.
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