7 ms·

You don’t need your Raspberry PI to run your bank app, handle your payments or your bus-tickets. I’m not sure how I’d even purchase a non digital ticket for qui

• Erlich_Bachman 7y ago
  Microsoft couldn't do it because everyone new (of the users) that even if they put in their effort to switch and wait for the ecosystem to grow, they will end up with just the same crap: another closed-source monopoly with it's own quirks. We won't have just two overlords, but instead 3 of the same. Wow such a difference... Now an truly open system might make a difference. Not saying it will, it has it's own problems, but comparing it to Windows Phone is not really apples to apples.
  • dmitriid 7y ago
    You greatly overestimate the number of users who care about how closed or how open an ecosystem is. If the user can't interact with their bank, whatchu YouTube, talk to their friends and parents over Snapchat or Skype, call Uber, play Spotify, etc etc etc, it doesn't matter in the least if your phone is 100% open source. Microsoft had sunk billions into trying to get the ecosystem off the ground. What makes you think that "a truly open system" will get that ecosystem?
    • valvar 7y ago
      The target audience isn't people who need to use Skype, Snapchat, or Uber. But I'm sure it will be possible to run some of those android apps through anbox. Spotify has a Linux client, and for YouTube there's the FreeTube client, which actually protects users' integrity.
      • dmitriid 7y ago
        https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21834172 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21834172
        • valvar 7y ago
          What's your point? They are very aware that they are targeting a niche market.
    • zdkl 7y ago
      (Hopefully) Ease and flexibility of development for 3rd party applications?
      • dmitriid 7y ago
        Do people really complain about ease and flexibility of development for iOS and Android?
        • pjmlp 7y ago
          In regards to Android, it is more lack of thereof.
    • unionpivo 7y ago
      it doesn't have to. All it really needs to do is make calls and have good browser (Firefox would do). Signal would be a nice bonus. This might not be enough for all (i am sure it wont), but for me and several other people I know, it would be enough, to be our main phone.
      • dmitriid 7y ago
        That's how Openmoko sold a grand total of 13000 phones. Not enough to even cover the cost of production, most likely. The market you're describing is minuscule.
    • thekyle 7y ago
      > If the user can't interact with their bank, whatchu YouTube, talk to their friends and parents over Snapchat or Skype, call Uber, play Spotify, etc etc etc, it doesn't matter in the least if your phone is 100% open source. Most of this should be available on the PinePhone at launch (albeit not as nicely as on Android). Bank - should have a website (and if they don't have a website they most likely don't have an app anyway) YouTube - website again (youtube.com) Skype - has a web app and a Electron app available for Linux (web.skype.com) Uber - has a PWA that can be used for booking rides (m.uber.com) Spotify - has a web app and a Electron app available for Linux (open.spotify.com)
      • _-o-_ 7y ago
        > Bank - should have a website (and if they don't have a website they most likely don't have an app anyway) In my experience mobile banking is more often than not provided via app exclusively.
        • thekyle 7y ago
          What are some American banks that don't have a website but have an app? I'm curious.
          • lonelappde 7y ago
            BofA, the bank that most Americans use, doesn't support mobile check deposit outside of the native app.
            • thekyle 7y ago
              I have an account with Bank of America and was not aware of this so thanks. That said, you can do pretty much everything else via the website. The opposite is also probably true, that there are some features on the website not available on the app (for example can you open a new CD in the app?).
        • jdright 7y ago
          Funnily enough, my last bank and two current ones, the app is increasingly a front for a mobile web version. With each new update I see more functionality moving to web.
    • thenewnewguy 7y ago
      People on HN seem to hate them, but honestly progressive web apps have potential to solve most/all of those usecases.
      • pjmlp 7y ago
        I love them, thanks to it I have refocused on mobile Web, even though I tend to prefer native apps. For traditional CRUD apps, PWAs are quite alright, and one avoids having to deal with Android's always changing "best practices", with a stagnant Android Java.
  • rasvj 7y ago
    You overestimate how many people care about whether something is open or closed source. I had a Windows Phone. It was bad. Even Microsoft apps were subpar. Skype app was simply unusable. They weren't dogfooding. Also Google torpedoed it.
    • alpaca128 7y ago
      In my opinion Windows Phone 8 is still far ahead of Android in terms of usability. It has at least 3 features I wish Google would just copy. Pretty much all the apps were bad though, I agree. Even the official OneNote app was a joke compared to the Android version.
    • asveikau 7y ago
      The third party app platform was pretty slow and missing a lot of APIs relative to the others. The first party UI, which got praise from reviewers for being smooth, was written in a different language and framework. In the first version, the default blank app from Visual Studio's "new project" wizard was slow to load. I think I measured it on the order of 500ms at the time. Not much room for third parties to add more stuff without being slow.
    • wiz21c 7y ago
      The only question I'd ask is : how many phones should they sell to break even ? Cos if they actually make some profit, that's just fine. Maybe they don't aim to go to mass market. And that's why MSFT may have failed : they tried to fight on Google's ground, head to head. Of course Pine can't do that. So if they just repeat what's been done for Raspberry, that's just great enough to have a living ecosystem. I personaly just need SMS, voice and a browser. The rest, I can live without it (or program it :-)
• realusername 7y ago
  It has its own issues indeed, I don't deny that. But that used to be the same for Ubuntu when the Windows-only culture was at its highest. People who want this phone will use workarounds, custom apps, anbox or just web apps.
• afandian 7y ago
  So how do people without phones participate in society? I don't use a google account on my phone, so that means no App Store. I'm trying to one day get rid of my google account too. It doesn't cause me many issues in the UK though I can't use things like Uber, and that's no loss to me. How would I get on in Denmark?
  • Mashimo 7y ago
    > So how do people without phones participate in society? It's not super hard. Until ~3'ish years ago I did not have a smartphone here in DK. Life is just so much easier with it. I think they got rid of the 10x Bus ticket you would buy at a kiosk, so now you have to buy a single tickets with coins inside the bus. (depends on the city) Which means you need cash. DK society is very much cashless, I mostly see older people still using it. Is the bus late or did you just miss it? Check the app to see the bus location. Train Ticket? Now you have to print that out or buy it at the station. It's so easy to search, buy and show the ticket via the app. Letter from most public authorities / government? There is an app for that. Or website. Want to give your mate some money? -> MobilePay app. Now you have to get cash somewhere and convince him to take cash. Or go to a computer and transfer it. Which requires more information then just this number and takes longer.
    • afandian 7y ago
      Sounds like Sweden. About 10 years ago I was very surprised to be able to pay for a bus journey using my (foreign) debit card. Now it's normal in the UK. And I have Swedish friends who have never seen the newly issued currency. Crazy but it's the future. It's just a shame that it's gatekept by unaccountable duopolies such as Google...
      • StavrosK 7y ago
        Funny you should mention that, my Google account got somehow restricted yesterday due to Google Pay not liking my rooted phone. Now not only can I not pay with the phone, but I have to submit all my private information to a random Google web page, hope someone sees this, hope they agree it's correct, and hope that this was the problem in the first place (since all the app says is "this operation cannot be completed"). In summary, fuck Google. This is why I want cryptocurrency to succeed. I don't want corporations deciding how I spend my own money.
• blackearl 7y ago
  That's the point. You have a real computer, then you have a rpi to play with, do some hobby work around it, etc. If you're buying it as an analog to some flagship phone, don't.
• toast0 7y ago
  It wasn't that Microsoft couldn't do it, it's that they chose not to. Through all of Windows phone 7, 8 and 8.1, the devices that were selling were low end devices -- things like the Lumia 520, especially in markets with more cost sensitivity. Because of software architecture differences, windows phone was often more responsive than android on bottom of the market phones, and that drove sales. But when it came time to release Windows Mobile 10, there were no low end phones. Having to build out essentially three flavors of your app (one for 7, one for 8, and a 'universal' app for 10) isn't a great way to keep developers engaged either.