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Hasn't there been several attempts at this? Vaguely recall firefoxOS and sailfishOS. I believe the problem always came down to hardware, due to it being essent

Hasn't there been several attempts at this? Vaguely recall firefoxOS and sailfishOS. I believe the problem always came down to hardware, due to it being essentially dominated by Android (ignoring iOS due to how tightly wound hardware and software are) you always ran into trouble requiring Android in some way before being able to switch to that new OS, even if the drivers themselves were freely and openly available. Which is a much harder problem to solve since there is so much upfront cost involved with hardware that most wouldn't dare bothering not prioritizing Android.

tpoacher 3y ago
FirefoxOS is dead, but Sailfish is very much alive and kicking, with a reasonably thriving community; some of which inevitably overlapping with projects like pinephone etc.
pkphilip 3y ago
My thought is: what would it take to produce a hardware with the following features: 1. Should be able to make and receive phones 2. Should be able to send/receive SMS 3. Should be able connect to the data plan (4G) 4. Wifi Support 5. Should be able to function as a hotspot so that you can use a laptop for more complex work 6. Should have a basic colour touch screen - need not be very high resolution, but sufficient for a basic UI. 7. Hardware or software keyboard 8. Support for SD cards 9. Headphone jack 10. Micro USB port or USB type c port for charging and data 11. Optional: A camera module for photos/videos if possible 12. Optional: Bluetooth LE 13. Software: 13.1 - Ability to install applications using a root/admin login (similar to any desktop os). The application may be downloaded off the web or obtained from an SD card etc. May be installed into a specific directory which can be backed up or restored. Example: "/usr/apps" 13.2 - Directory for contacts to be stored. Example: "/usr/contacts" with open format for contacts which can be read by apps 13.3 - Directory for photos and videos to be stored. Example: "/usr/media/photos", "/usr/media/videos" 13.4 - Ability to save / load contacts from disk or network 13.5 - Ability to run network servers - example: Samba server or even a basic HTTP server for sharing and receiving files.

tpoacher 3y ago

FirefoxOS is dead, but Sailfish is very much alive and kicking, with a reasonably thriving community; some of which inevitably overlapping with projects like pinephone etc.

pkphilip 3y ago

My thought is: what would it take to produce a hardware with the following features: 1. Should be able to make and receive phones 2. Should be able to send/receive SMS 3. Should be able connect to the data plan (4G) 4. Wifi Support 5. Should be able to function as a hotspot so that you can use a laptop for more complex work 6. Should have a basic colour touch screen - need not be very high resolution, but sufficient for a basic UI. 7. Hardware or software keyboard 8. Support for SD cards 9. Headphone jack 10. Micro USB port or USB type c port for charging and data 11. Optional: A camera module for photos/videos if possible 12. Optional: Bluetooth LE 13. Software: 13.1 - Ability to install applications using a root/admin login (similar to any desktop os). The application may be downloaded off the web or obtained from an SD card etc. May be installed into a specific directory which can be backed up or restored. Example: "/usr/apps" 13.2 - Directory for contacts to be stored. Example: "/usr/contacts" with open format for contacts which can be read by apps 13.3 - Directory for photos and videos to be stored. Example: "/usr/media/photos", "/usr/media/videos" 13.4 - Ability to save / load contacts from disk or network 13.5 - Ability to run network servers - example: Samba server or even a basic HTTP server for sharing and receiving files.