Anyone use one of those Linux phones like pine phone or librem.

I was looking at a few months ago but settled on a deggooled phone. Are there user friendly distros for them?

  • Matt@lemmy.one
    43·
    1 year ago

    They are not ready for regular use yet. Performance is poor and battery life is bad. It’s fun to play with my Pinephone and watch the software slowly improve, but there is no way I could use it as my primary phone.

    • InFerNo@lemmy.ml
      1·
      1 year ago

      The only real issue holding it back for me is the battery life. I update the danctnix distro regularly to check progress, but the battery life is not production ready.

  • KindaABigDyl@programming.dev
    9·
    1 year ago

    The big sticking point for me is the camera. It seems like they all have bad (or even non-functioning) cameras. I don’t own a camera. My phone is my camera. I can’t switch to a phone that can’t be my camera.

    • sab@kbin.social
      2·
      1 year ago

      Ubuntu Touch on an Android phone might provide some middle ground. I have an old Nexus 6P with Ubuntu Touch on it, the camera is performing surprisingly well - better than some popular open source camera apps I have tried on Android. :)

      • KindaABigDyl@programming.dev
        5·
        1 year ago

        LineageOS is Android. I think it was implied the user meant GNU/Linux distros on phones like Mobian or PostmarketOS which run on things like the Pine Phone since if we were talking about using Android, we could just keep our current phones, so that’s what I was referring to when I said they had bad cameras

          • Sam@lemmy.ca
            3·
            1 year ago

            Battery life has been excellent on the oneplus6. As others have said, there are some major issues, such as GPS and the camera not working at all. Calls were giving me issues a few months ago, but nowadays with “edge” (the latest release) they’re quite reliable.

            With all the bugs and problems, I could use PostmarketOS every day with minimal issues, I used it exclusively for just over a week and it was fine. I think in ~2-3 years I’ll be using Linux on mobile as my main device.

          • gzrrt@kbin.social
            2·
            1 year ago

            Battery life is pretty decent, but I haven’t had a 100% success rate with some of the basics like calls and texts. I’ve enjoyed using it as a kind of mini-tablet though, with no SIM (will keep trying again periodically).

  • js10@reddthat.com
    6·
    1 year ago

    I started daily driving a PinePhone with Mobian over two years ago, upgraded to a PinePhonePro when they first came out, and then I finally got my Librem5 about a month ago. They have come a long way. The core functions you’d expect from a phone work; calls, texts (SMS and MMS), camera (pictures and video), email, web browsing, all that works perfectly fine on my Librem5. However, I understand they are not for everyone. While there are things like twitter and mastodon clients for Linux you are not going to get a banking app for a Linux phone (for example). I just use the browser for those kinds of things though.

    • Captain Howdy@lemm.ee
      4·
      1 year ago

      The things keeping me from fully migrating to Linux on mobile are apps like Uber/lyft. They don’t have a web ui version, but I actually use them often. Also google maps navigation doesnt have any realistic alternative in my experience.

      • js10@reddthat.com
        1·
        1 year ago

        Not having apps like Uber/Lyft is a problem for a lot of people. I’ve ran into issues like going to events (concerts/sporting events) where they expect you to download their app to even get in the door, which is more of a societal problem then a technical one for me. I know some apps can be emulated on Linux phones but I havent played with it much so I’m not sure how well they work.

        I’ve used gnome maps with very degrees of success. Its obviously not on the level of google maps, but getting better.

    • Gecko@feddit.deEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      How was your experience with Mobian? I had my install break like 3 different times with barely any usage / installing packages.

      • js10@reddthat.comEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        I’ve had a great experience with Mobian. It’s been a while since I distro-hopped for mobile OS’s but Mobian seems to be the most stable for me.

  • Wheeljack@nerdbin.social
    5·
    1 year ago

    Buddy had one. Second-hand, it seemed like a tremendous pain in the ass, didn’t allow him to do most things, and in the end it seemed a moot point. The radios are all closed source/proprietary, it connects to closed source/proprietary/corporate-controlled towers, and you’re sending data to people running totally insecure devices. Ultimately his use case was to just establish a VPN connection to his home computer and route everything through that.

    I can see getting into a Linux phone for the interest of the operating system and trying to push the technology, but if it’s a security/privacy issue, I think you’re much better off either using a dumbphone or a burner.

    • Shin@lemmy.world
      3·
      1 year ago

      Yeah I’m mainly interested in the tech and pushing it as an option. Android ROMs are waaaaay better for privacy/security. It’s hard to recommend a Linux phone unless you’re a techie, Linux enthusiast, or a dev.

      I don’t have one yet but I’d like to try one when I can casually spend a few hundred bucks on one.

  • Björn Tantau@swg-empire.de
    5·
    1 year ago

    After having had a Nokia N900 they are a big disappointment. Especially from a performance standpoint. I have no idea why that is. Especially if I compare them to something like an old Raspberry Pi which can still give you a good desktop experience.

    • xycu@programming.dev
      3·
      1 year ago

      I still use my N900, basically just for ssh over wifi these days. It is so so so much better than typing on a virtual keyboard, especially in a terminal where I have keyboard shortcuts set up for home/end/pgup/pgdn/tab/etc. The original Nokia battery from 2009 is still live and kicking! The keyboard and slide form factor were great. Even the resistive touch screen, when used with the stylus, is very accurate.

      • Björn Tantau@swg-empire.de
        4·
        1 year ago

        That’s my point. Compared to today’s hardware that thing was just a small calculator. And still it managed to deliver snappy performance.

        I really miss it.

  • Persen@lemmy.fmhy.ml
    4·
    1 year ago

    The only usable distro is sailfishos, but it is not fully free software. It even has android app support.

  • MarcDW@lemmy.ml
    3·
    1 year ago

    Have the PinePhone and PP Pro. Partial to SailfishOS on both. It has the most smartphone feel if you will. Like with most the camera is pretty much a no go but I rarely use them anyway.

      • MarcDW@lemmy.ml
        1·
        1 year ago

        Just for tinkering so far. I have a habit of tossing the devices aside for long periods of time when an OS breaks badly. 😁

        Technically SailfishOS handles most of the requirements to make the device a daily-driver-in-training. All but one of my Android devices are VoIP now. Getting away from carrier-based stuff (and saving money). At the moment there isn’t really anything usable on the mobile linux side (SIP, calls via XMPP - I have JMP.chat numbers) that I am aware of. On SFOS that is. Though I can use movim via browser.

        Guess it is time I took the devices seriously and try to use them more regularly.

    • joel_feila@lemmy.worldOP
      3·
      1 year ago

      i do love my choice so far. my also came with email an cloud storage so i have taken steps to deggoole more of my life

  • Indépendantiste (old)@lemmy.world
    3·
    1 year ago

    PostmarketOS installed on a Oneplus 6/6T using the UBPorts installer works pretty flawlessly for me. Some animations are not 100% silky smooth, but most are. Honestly a pretty good experience, it just needs a lot of polish around the corners

  • itchy_lizard@feddit.it
    1·
    1 year ago

    Purism is a fucking scam company. Look intoFairPhonre or just do what most of us do: get a Pixel and reinstall without gapps

    • Shatur@lemmy.ml
      1·
      1 year ago

      I don’t think so. They providing GNU/Linux phone and invest money into mobile development for Linux. I would not recommend buying their Librem (better buy PinePhone Pro instead if you want GNU/Linux), but they definitely not a scam company.

      • itchy_lizard@feddit.it
        1·
        1 year ago

        I paid $2,000 for a laptop. It broke the same week it arrived. I returned it. They said they’d give me my money back.

        That was about a year ago. I’m still waiting for my refund. They keep say it’s coming soon and won’t give me an ETA.

        That’s not a scam?