I got myself a proper Linux Smartphone

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I ordered myself a Smartphone that runs actual proper Linux and not Android Garbage.
https://pine64.com/product/pinephone-community-edition-kde-plasma-mobile-with-convergence-package-limited-edition-linux-smartphone/?v=124625e0da3c
Key Features of the Pine Phone for me include:

  • The ability to just use hardware switches to shut off things like Camera, Microphone, WiFi, Cellular or GPS, if they are not in use by me.
  • All Parts of the Phone are replaceable if they break (especially the Battery), and each part can be ordered on their Site (including the Motherboard).
  • The use of a proper Operating System as mentioned before.
  • And that the current batch they produce happens to be KDE themed. XD

Please note that this kind of Phone is REALLY just for people who actually know how to Linux, and that I am getting it simply because I can deal with that kind of Stuff.
And if some minor parts are broken, like maybe a dead pixel on the screen, difficulty connecting to my local Cellular/LTE, or something, that I do not have much of a problem with that, and am willing to replace parts myself, help them debugging connection Issues, or wait for a software update to fix things.

Also they do have some delivery problems thanks to Corona (often no Planes available), so a wait time typical for Ship based shipping is expected (and I think it is cheaper right now because they dont deliver the typical accessories with the phone right now, but I could be mistaken, who knows, I will see whenever its delivered, I dont “need” the USB C dongle anyways).

That said 50$ VAT for a “cheap” phone is a fucking lot. I never realized just how much 19% VAT is actually taken from the price of a product.

As for the SIM Card, I asked my mom if I could borrow hers for testing, before I buy myself the SIM Card I would want. And ofcourse I will test at night when nobody in their right mind would call her.

That is gonna be fun to play around and get it to work, without the proprietary garbage or google bullshit all other Phones have. :smiley:

Edit: It arrived. Will do a Post once I did things with it ;D

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I got the Phone, and everything arrived in a fancy looking KDE themed Package (likely the kind of Box they would use for Retail later on).
It came with a “USB-A -> USB-C” cable (USB 2.0 but with more robust insulation),
and a “USB-C-Male + USB-C-Female Power Input -> 2 USB-A + HDMI + Ethernet” Hub, which seems to work better with the PinePhone, than my other Hub does with the GPD-WIN-2.

Stuff is working okayish (early adopter stuff), or was working, until I decided to run an update, to which the Phone randomly shut down, due to low Battery (something reported wrong battery percentages to the OS), which bricked the install.
Hurray for me having to flash the eMMC Storage tomorrow or whenever… (Note: The PinePhone boots from SD Card first if possible, so I can use that for testing)

While reading up on a bunch of things, I saw that the PinePhone has similar performance as a Raspberry Pi 3, and that statement definitely feels accurate, but it is still smooth most of the time.

KDE Connect sadly only has very few Features working yet, so I cant even share Clipboard it seems, unless I need to install more Packages for that.

Did not get to test Cellular Connectivity and 4G yet. But that one is gonna be postponed for a while thanks to the now bricked install. lol

One of the important things I would like to get working is tethering the PinePhone to the GPD-WIN-2 for Internet Connectivity, whenever there is no WiFi.

I’m gonna play around with it tomorrow I think. Unless looking up Stuff takes way too much time (reading before doing, not while doing).

And until my next Post here. ^^

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Sounds fun, too bad about the bricking but luckily you have perhaps the best phone to allow you to resolve that issue.

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Yep, and since I want to do it properly right away (because when I did something like this improperly last time, I ended up with ecryptfs related bugs and lag on my Main Computer), I gotta wait until one of my GitHub Issues gets replied to. Hurray.

If it really takes too long, then I will just flash the OS to the SD Card instead of the eMMC.

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Yeah sounds pretty nasty, if it weren’t for the LED I would be worried it was dead. Here’s hoping they get back to you.

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Do note that the thing DOES boot into the eMMC, just that KDE is bugging out and freezing on the boot screen. :wink:

And I posted that Report earlier today, I dont expect them to be fast ^^

Edit: Well it has been a week so…, still nothing…

Edit 2: and a day or two after that I got a reply, and I got it fixed, yay. If I wasn’t just at the Dentist and annoyed for that reason (due to not feeling the left half of my mouth), I would probably do more right now. XD

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Okay it has been over a month, and I finally got an old SIM Card from my Mom to test the PinePhone with. E-Plus/ALDI-Talk definitely works in Germany when it comes to Internet Connection in my rural Area. And since the Card is not in use anymore and prepaid (the contract on that thing is utter Garbage by the way, never get yearly Data Caps!), I basically have 64kBit/sec of 4G-LTE until the end of the year, not that I would need that for anything but testing. XD

I think I am gonna do way too much Hardware/Software Experiments this year, with the 500 bucks worth of Stuff I ordered the last two weeks, and the 140 bucks worth of Table from IKEA. XD

Edit since its related: I got that ancient Broadband Stick, I still have, out of the big Plastic Bin of Tech Stuff and used the SIM Card on it. Kubuntu definitely recognized it and I can connect to the Internet using it. Useful for the GPD WIN 2 that does not have a built in Modem.

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