3 ms·

WHY can't they make a similarly minimal smartphone? The pinephone is $150, but I would gladly pay for half that price if it was 5 or even 10 times slower. I don

by jokoon 3y ago

WHY can't they make a similarly minimal smartphone? The pinephone is $150, but I would gladly pay for half that price if it was 5 or even 10 times slower. I don't need a 1GHz processor with 3GB of ram and a 1400x700 screen in my pocket. All I want is look at pictures, chat, email, a basic browser, maybe apps. I don't even need a camera! To be entirely honest, I don't even need 4G or 5G or to make calls or send texts, I just want a cheap pocket wifi computer I can run software on. Capitalism seems to make this impossible. The answer is obvious: because market forces are always driving performance and power consumption upwards, even if what consumer want is durability.. I will never understand the smartphone market. It's always that damn Law of Wirth: software is getting slower than hardware is getting faster.

fsflover 3y ago
Here is why another GNU/Linux phone cost a lot: https://puri.sm/posts/breaking-ground https://puri.sm/posts/breaking-ground. Tl;dr: it‘s because it has to be a custom design in order to not be Android.
eternityforest 3y ago
I think it really is the market giving consumers exactly what they want. Like, I would like it if they didn't need upgrading so fast, but mostly only for environmental concerns. The cost is very little to upgrade every 4 years even for most poor people, especially considering how many things it replaces. I like that no matter what happens or where I go, I can probably solve most issues with my phone. If I lose my keys and wallet... my phone knows where. If I forget my wallet at home... tap to pay. If something comes up at work... I can do all the research to solve the issue from it. I do think the world needs a low-power app capable device. But not to replace phones, we just need something that won't lose compatibility with old apps, that's cheap enough to have multiple for dedicated purposes, etc. Something that can control your smarthome, be a remote outdoor thermometer display, or any other random task that would normally be done by some nonstandard thing that risks becoming e waste.
jarbus 3y ago
As someone who thought the same thing before buying the PinePhone - trust me, you don’t want something slower. Firefox takes over ten seconds to load. 5x slower than the current phone means you’d spend way more time waiting for things to load than actually using the phone. An extra $75 is worth your time
- klardotsh 3y ago
  Exactly this. My PinePhones are functionally unusable as it is, I can't imagine multiple times slower without a fold out keyboard and running the thing as a TTY-only SMS device (and maybe a portable WiFi hotspot).

by jokoon 3y ago

fsflover 3y ago

Here is why another GNU/Linux phone cost a lot: https://puri.sm/posts/breaking-ground https://puri.sm/posts/breaking-ground. Tl;dr: it‘s because it has to be a custom design in order to not be Android.

eternityforest 3y ago

I think it really is the market giving consumers exactly what they want. Like, I would like it if they didn't need upgrading so fast, but mostly only for environmental concerns. The cost is very little to upgrade every 4 years even for most poor people, especially considering how many things it replaces. I like that no matter what happens or where I go, I can probably solve most issues with my phone. If I lose my keys and wallet... my phone knows where. If I forget my wallet at home... tap to pay. If something comes up at work... I can do all the research to solve the issue from it. I do think the world needs a low-power app capable device. But not to replace phones, we just need something that won't lose compatibility with old apps, that's cheap enough to have multiple for dedicated purposes, etc. Something that can control your smarthome, be a remote outdoor thermometer display, or any other random task that would normally be done by some nonstandard thing that risks becoming e waste.

jarbus 3y ago

As someone who thought the same thing before buying the PinePhone - trust me, you don’t want something slower. Firefox takes over ten seconds to load. 5x slower than the current phone means you’d spend way more time waiting for things to load than actually using the phone. An extra $75 is worth your time

klardotsh 3y ago
Exactly this. My PinePhones are functionally unusable as it is, I can't imagine multiple times slower without a fold out keyboard and running the thing as a TTY-only SMS device (and maybe a portable WiFi hotspot).