is there any up-to-date comparison between Librem, Jolla/Sailfish, PinePhone, (...)?
Most notably, Librem 5 does not have a GPU designed in 2008, DDR4 Ram and likely has a faster eMMC, which is not too fast on the PinePhone either. However, the main issue with the PinePhone imho is that it does not have a larger battery that would help avoiding all the daily problems with deep sleep.
I am going to compare the two phones once I receive my October 2017 Librem 5 preorder on my blog (https://linmob.net) and my video channels.
I wonder about Librem 5's stability, because at that price point it would be painful to have a device not fit to even be a main driver...
hope both projects prosper
I can't tell you what the Librem 5 is really like, because they haven't shipped mine yet, but the PP is very, very nice.
I guess my question is: can you use the PinePhone (or Librem 5) as a phone? Can you reliably make and receive calls? Can you reliably send/receive SMS and MMS? Does it have error recovery if for some reason you don't get a message? Does the battery last for a reasonable day (>= 16 hours)? What networks are compatible, and do they work with MVNOs and not just the big boys?
I've used SailfishOS in the past and enjoyed it—and would've continued using it, but my phone died and I bought a KaiOS burner and never updated. I've toyed with the idea of picking up a PinePhone because it's more within my budget; but I want my phone to, you know, be a phone—not (just) a miniature computer that fits in my pocket. I have a fairly high pain tolerance (Sailfish wasn't exactly polished the way I wanted), but if I can't make or receive calls or SMS/MMS, that's a serious problem whether I can run Blender on it or not.
1) You can (mostly) reliably make and receive calls
2) SMS but no MMS. IIRC, if someone sends you an MMS it will jam up the SMS app (not sure if it is/was a modem firmware or app issue or if it's been resolved yet or not)
3) Error recovery... hahahaha. Umm, no. I still see a fair number of messages re: people needing to tweak the modem due to text messaging issues.
4) Battery life is far better than it was but not as good as it needs to be. If you use the phone moderately, it should make it through the day. Heavy usage can kill it in a couple of hours.
5) Other than possibly Verizon, I think it's been confirmed working on all the major carriers and MVNOs. I only single out Verizon because IIRC they have/had a policy of needing to whitelist devices so I'm not sure if there's an issue there or not.
If you liked SailfishOS, there is some activity re: getting it running on the Pinephone: https://forum.pine64.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=126
Basically you're asking if it's 'daily driver' ready. My opinion is not currently, but opinions vary on this point. That said, if you're a heavy Linux user with an interest in mobile you might want to pick one up... it really is a fantastic little portable Linux device.
Thanks! That's really helpful. I'm really optimistic about the device since Pine64 does other (hopefully brisk) business, too. I'm not necessarily opposed to modifying scripts and working through issues (Sailfish wasn't really working all that well on my Moto G Falcon, to be honest), but my family will get annoyed if I can't participate in group messaging.
> What networks are compatible, and do they work with MVNOs and not just the big boys?
https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/community-wiki/-/wikis/Freque...
> Does the battery last for a reasonable day (>= 16 hours)?
Not really, but it's getting there: https://puri.sm/posts/librem-5-4500mah-battery-upgrade/.
> Can you reliably send/receive SMS and MMS?
SMS work fine. Concerning MMS: https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/community-wiki/-/wikis/Freque....
the impression I'm getting is that it's pretty buggy right now, although I'm okay with some hiccups. I wonder what's the best way to go around it, best practices etc, how to go about troubleshooting as well...
despite these problems, I'm tempted
EDIT: I do think though that having a totally open platform without a reference OS image is too ambitious. Even with flagship hardware, companies prepare images with hundreds of little workarounds and stability-related choices. This makes mobile hardware look a lot more polished and solid than it really is... those components are being shipped with a tonne of bugs generally as the cycles are so short and unforgiving, anything that can be patched up at the OEM level, pretty much is