6 ms·

Low budget alternative: The Pinephone by Pine64, also with 4 ARM Cortex-A53 cores. https://www.pine64.org/pinephone/ https://www.pine64.org/pinephone/

by Tepix 7y ago

RandomBacon 7y ago
Cool, I want to get one of those also, but they're not selling it and I don't see any links about when we can buy it, for how much, and when it will ship.
- megous 7y ago
  Probably by the end of the year. Early prototypes should ship next month, but who knows.
- redwards510 7y ago
  I can't find the info for the price, but I remember seeing it before and it was very low, like $200, which would make this a very exciting entry into the notAndroidOrIOS market. The Librem 5 was cool at first, until they started delaying it indefinitely and the price is too high for mass adoption. By having a very low price on the Pinephone they are courting a lot more tinkerers to get one and help develop the OS versus the Librem which people would kind of (rightly) expect to be fully-formed at launch. As things stand today, we expect a fully functional prototype in August https://www.pine64.org/2019/06/06/june-2019-news-pinephone-pinebook-pro-and-pinetab/ https://www.pine64.org/2019/06/06/june-2019-news-pinephone-p... https://wiki.pine64.org/index.php/Project_Don't_be_evil https://wiki.pine64.org/index.php/Project_Don't_be_evil
  - allana 7y ago
    The Allwinner A64 platform has numerous developers working on it compared to the iMX8, which has really fleshed out fully featured hardware support over the last few years. Running most Linux distros should be a breeze on the Pinephone!
    - megous 7y ago
      That's a bit of an overstatement. It has some interested and active developers, but support is far from fleshed out, especially for the poratble device use. There are lots of patches floating around, that you can apply to the mainline linux tree, to get CPU DVFS, thermal management, to improve I2S support, etc. Suspend to RAM is nowhere to be seen, leaving you with always ON SoC, which will drain the battery in half a day doing nothing. It's all fixable, but let's not pretend A64 has fully fleshed out HW support in the mainline Linux kernel. OTOH, there's a great potential, because Quectel EC25 broadband module also runs Linux and has some potential for being hackable: https://projects.osmocom.org/projects/quectel-modems/wiki https://projects.osmocom.org/projects/quectel-modems/wiki So there's definitely a lot of fun to be had with the future PinePhone. You'll be able to log in to your broadband module and perhaps modify it: https://projects.osmocom.org/projects/quectel-modems/wiki/EC25_Linux https://projects.osmocom.org/projects/quectel-modems/wiki/EC...
  - RandomBacon 7y ago
    Thank you! I will keep an eye on this.
floren 7y ago
I'm extremely excited for the Pinephone and intend to order one as soon as it becomes available. I may resurrect Hellaphone on it (edit: oops fix link https://bitbucket.org/floren/inferno/wiki/Home https://bitbucket.org/floren/inferno/wiki/Home) or at the very least start building my own library of no-bullshit phone tools, free from modern phone crap.
- ThreeFx 7y ago
  The link is dead (404), do you have another one?
  - floren 7y ago
    Sorry, I was typing it from memory and forgot that the repo was named "inferno" not "hellaphone". Fixed.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
craftyguy 7y ago
The pinephone only has a wifi radio and lacks any cell radios, thus it is incapable of connecting to cellular networks. It's basically an 'internet tablet' and not a phone (at least in the 'traditional' sense) like the name suggests.
- fabrice_d 7y ago
  I think you are talking about the Necunos device. The pinephone is ... a phone. See https://www.pine64.org/pinephone/ https://www.pine64.org/pinephone/ where they list the modem being a "Quectel EG-25G with worldwide bands".
  - craftyguy 7y ago
    Oops, yea I was thinking of the Necunos.
- redwards510 7y ago
  Then why does it say this: we also settled on the number, and the implementation of, privacy switches on the phone – there will be 4 switches in total: for the i) BT/Wifi module, ii) the modem, iii) cameras (front/back) and iv) lastly for the microphone. and right on the pinephone page it says it has this chip: https://www.quectel.com/product/eg25g.htm https://www.quectel.com/product/eg25g.htm Key Benefits ● LTE Cat 4 module optimized for M2M and IoT applications ● Worldwide LTE, UMTS/HSPA+ and GSM/GPRS/EDGE coverage ● Multi-constellation GNSS receiver available for applications requiring fast and accurate fixes in any environment ● Feature refinements: supports DFOTA*, eCall and DTMF* ● MIMO technology meets demands for data rate and link reliability in modem wireless communication systems Sounds like a cell radio to me.
bpye 7y ago
I definitely intend to pick up a PinePhone. At 200$ I'm not going to be annoyed if the software isn't 100% or it can't replace all functions of my current Android device. For 200$ email, SMS, calling and VoIP are pretty much enough. The $650 Librem are asking, I'm sure is well justified, but is a much harder pill to swallow for something that I am well aware will not be able to replace my current device immediately.

Low budget alternative: The Pinephone by Pine64, also with 4 ARM Cortex-A53 cores. https://www.pine64.org/pinephone/ https://www.pine64.org/pinephone/

by Tepix 7y ago

Low budget alternative: The Pinephone by Pine64, also with 4 ARM Cortex-A53 cores. https://www.pine64.org/pinephone/ https://www.pine64.org/pinephone/

RandomBacon 7y ago

Cool, I want to get one of those also, but they're not selling it and I don't see any links about when we can buy it, for how much, and when it will ship.

megous 7y ago
Probably by the end of the year. Early prototypes should ship next month, but who knows.
redwards510 7y ago
I can't find the info for the price, but I remember seeing it before and it was very low, like $200, which would make this a very exciting entry into the notAndroidOrIOS market. The Librem 5 was cool at first, until they started delaying it indefinitely and the price is too high for mass adoption. By having a very low price on the Pinephone they are courting a lot more tinkerers to get one and help develop the OS versus the Librem which people would kind of (rightly) expect to be fully-formed at launch. As things stand today, we expect a fully functional prototype in August https://www.pine64.org/2019/06/06/june-2019-news-pinephone-pinebook-pro-and-pinetab/ https://www.pine64.org/2019/06/06/june-2019-news-pinephone-p... https://wiki.pine64.org/index.php/Project_Don't_be_evil https://wiki.pine64.org/index.php/Project_Don't_be_evil
- allana 7y ago
  The Allwinner A64 platform has numerous developers working on it compared to the iMX8, which has really fleshed out fully featured hardware support over the last few years. Running most Linux distros should be a breeze on the Pinephone!
  - megous 7y ago
    That's a bit of an overstatement. It has some interested and active developers, but support is far from fleshed out, especially for the poratble device use. There are lots of patches floating around, that you can apply to the mainline linux tree, to get CPU DVFS, thermal management, to improve I2S support, etc. Suspend to RAM is nowhere to be seen, leaving you with always ON SoC, which will drain the battery in half a day doing nothing. It's all fixable, but let's not pretend A64 has fully fleshed out HW support in the mainline Linux kernel. OTOH, there's a great potential, because Quectel EC25 broadband module also runs Linux and has some potential for being hackable: https://projects.osmocom.org/projects/quectel-modems/wiki https://projects.osmocom.org/projects/quectel-modems/wiki So there's definitely a lot of fun to be had with the future PinePhone. You'll be able to log in to your broadband module and perhaps modify it: https://projects.osmocom.org/projects/quectel-modems/wiki/EC25_Linux https://projects.osmocom.org/projects/quectel-modems/wiki/EC...
- RandomBacon 7y ago
  Thank you! I will keep an eye on this.

floren 7y ago

I'm extremely excited for the Pinephone and intend to order one as soon as it becomes available. I may resurrect Hellaphone on it (edit: oops fix link https://bitbucket.org/floren/inferno/wiki/Home https://bitbucket.org/floren/inferno/wiki/Home) or at the very least start building my own library of no-bullshit phone tools, free from modern phone crap.

ThreeFx 7y ago
The link is dead (404), do you have another one?
- floren 7y ago
  Sorry, I was typing it from memory and forgot that the repo was named "inferno" not "hellaphone". Fixed.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

craftyguy 7y ago

The pinephone only has a wifi radio and lacks any cell radios, thus it is incapable of connecting to cellular networks. It's basically an 'internet tablet' and not a phone (at least in the 'traditional' sense) like the name suggests.

fabrice_d 7y ago
I think you are talking about the Necunos device. The pinephone is ... a phone. See https://www.pine64.org/pinephone/ https://www.pine64.org/pinephone/ where they list the modem being a "Quectel EG-25G with worldwide bands".
- craftyguy 7y ago
  Oops, yea I was thinking of the Necunos.
redwards510 7y ago
Then why does it say this: we also settled on the number, and the implementation of, privacy switches on the phone – there will be 4 switches in total: for the i) BT/Wifi module, ii) the modem, iii) cameras (front/back) and iv) lastly for the microphone. and right on the pinephone page it says it has this chip: https://www.quectel.com/product/eg25g.htm https://www.quectel.com/product/eg25g.htm Key Benefits ● LTE Cat 4 module optimized for M2M and IoT applications ● Worldwide LTE, UMTS/HSPA+ and GSM/GPRS/EDGE coverage ● Multi-constellation GNSS receiver available for applications requiring fast and accurate fixes in any environment ● Feature refinements: supports DFOTA*, eCall and DTMF* ● MIMO technology meets demands for data rate and link reliability in modem wireless communication systems Sounds like a cell radio to me.

bpye 7y ago

I definitely intend to pick up a PinePhone. At 200$ I'm not going to be annoyed if the software isn't 100% or it can't replace all functions of my current Android device. For 200$ email, SMS, calling and VoIP are pretty much enough. The $650 Librem are asking, I'm sure is well justified, but is a much harder pill to swallow for something that I am well aware will not be able to replace my current device immediately.