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Comment by fsflover | Hacker News Reader

> I wish I had something to add; particularly like "here's a reasonable alternative", but there really isn't.

Yes, there are: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinephone and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Librem_5.

A phone with a non-existent app ecosystem is not a reasonable alternative for most people.

GNU/Linux has thousands of apps. They do not all fit the screen, but it's much easier to fix than create new ones. Purism created libhandy library for that.

It should be noted that the libhandy features are now part of the stock gtk3+ framework, so every app following standard UI guidelines benefits from the new "responsive" look.

What are you talking about? GNU/Linux has a much more healthy app ecosystem than any mobile OS.

I own one of these (the pinephone) and it's really very much like a laptop running alpine. All of my desktop apps just work (although I have to use fluxbox because CWM isn't nice on a touchscreen.)

Why are they so under specced ?

They're first-generation devices, so the focus is on getting the device experience right, not on having flagship specifications. If they get the experience right, they'll likely come out with higher-spec devices in the future.

Economies of scale.

If I want to buy 20 million of something the wholesale will give me a better price than if I want 2000.

The marginal cost goes down with the number produced as well.

What are you going to do with them?

3D-gaming? Yes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_HXQJkWjUQ.

Using an external screen? Yes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH3RbrwhNd8.

I could live with small ram or processor but not with 16 or even 32gb storage.

Both phones have slots for microSD cards up to 2 TB.

I’ve had phones with card expansion. Never worked seamlessly to the point where I gave up on them. Does anyone have experience with using cards on these phones? Can you for example store all images and media there as if it was the main storage without ever needing to think about it again?

I have a Pinephone. It boots from the microSD by default, if it's bootable. Works flawlessly.

That’s good to hear. Might give it a go next time I need a phone

Have you bought cheap and slow cards or expensive and fast ones? Faster cards are more expensive but for phones it's absolutely worth it.

Neither of which are in stock now.

I have a Pinebook Pro and love it, but the Pinephone's camera is woefully underspec'd. Put a better camera on it and let me pre-order ffs and I'll buy one in a heart beat.

Preorders for Pinephone will open in about a week. You can preorder Librem 5 with a better camera now (but you won't get it very soon due to a large queue).

> Preorders for Pinephone will open in about a week

That's great! Now if only I could get some kind of email notification about that. Oh. I can't.

https://www.pine64.org/, see "Subscribe to the PINE64 Blog" below.

Yes, I have subscribed to both the blog and the Telegram; on the Discord I'm given the impression this may be unreliable.

I don't get why I can't pre-order now; if I'm willing to spend money on a promise, like with Kickstarter, then I should be able to do so here.

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