💾 Archived View for lantashifiles.com › gemlog › entries › 2021-11-28.gmi captured on 2021-12-03 at 14:04:38. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
There are a pair of companies that are building mobile Linux computers, with touchscreens, that fit in your pocket. And... these mobile Linux computers just happen to contain phone capability as well, if you want it.
Those two companies are Pine64, and Purism, both computer manufacturers.
My current phone is a Pinephone, and I am impressed with how quickly its software is advancing. When I first got it, early this year, it was slow and buggy. But it is quickly becoming faster and more capable.
I am using Mobian, which uses phosh (developed by Purism) for the interface. At first it felt a little clunky compared to iOS or Android, but now that I am used to it, I really like it.
Over the past many months, when I realized that "this is a computer, not a phone", the interface, and its capabilities made a lot more sense. A lot of apps available on the iPhone and Android don't make sense on a computer... and hence the Pinephone doesn't have them.
On the Pinephone, I also have full control over what operating system I run, what apps I have installed, etc. If I want to change from Mobian to Sailfish OS or UBports, for example, I am perfectly free to do so.
It has physical kill-switches for the different components of the Pinephone as well, like the front camera, the back camera, bluetooth, and the cellular modem. The physical kill-switches actually cut the power to the components, so even if you phone is hacked, malicious code cannot stop you from shutting down these components.
If you want to ensure you are off the cellular network, you can flip that killswitch. You have to pop off the back to do so, and they are pretty small. For this feature, at least, the Librem 5 made by Purism might be better, as it has its kill-switches on the outside. Be prepared to pay over $1000 if you order a Librem 5 though, whereas the Pinephone costs $150 for the cheaper version (2 GB of RAM, 16 GB eMMC), $200 if you want 3 GB RAM, 32 GB eMMC.
Part of the reason Purism's phone is more expensive is that they are also doing a ton of software development, so I am not faulting them for the price. But the Librem 5 is so high it puts the phone out of range for many consumers.
With either device, you get a lot more privacy than you get with either iOS or Android. The apps are free software, and don't spy on you, spitting out data to every data aggregator out there. You still have to beware of the black-box cellular modem, and what it is doing. But every phone is going to have that problem. At least with the PP and L-5, you can turn that black-box off when you don't need it.
Would I recommend my phone, the Pinephone, to non-tech people? No, not at this point. I'd like both the software and hardware to mature a bit more.
Pine64 is coming out with their next phone soon, the Pinephone Pro. Right now their "developer edition" is available on the store. It has much more impressive hardware - 128 GB eMMC, and 4 GB RAM. That getting above the price I would like to pay for a phone anymore, but I appreciate that Pine64 is iterating on their hardware.
I do really like my Pinephone, and the increased privacy it gives me. It works well as a phone, note-taking device, e-reader, music-player, email-checker, and light mobile computer (akin to a Raspberry Pi). I've taken pictures with it, done some light programming with it.
Though on the programming front, even attached to keyboard and screen, it is just too slow. It can *run* the programs you make just fine, but developing the programs is a pain. I'd very much recommend just using a standard Linux computer for that. Maybe the Librem 5, or Pinephone Pro, will be better at that task.
Email: lantashi [at] protonmail [dot] com