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Comment by HelixEndeavor | Hacker News Reader

"Luxury" is definitely the way to describe it.

I've had people recommend me Linux phones again and again in tech circles. Not only are they absurdly out of my price range (I paid $150 for my current phone, used), they are incredibly underpowered, buggy, and the software just... Isn't. There is no software for them.

A Linux phone simply cannot serve as a replacement for an Android or iPhone in the current market. They just cannot do the things most people need from their phones. They're something for Linux fans to cream themselves over and tinker with, but I'll bet you won't see any of the people who recommend these phones ever actually using them.

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Using my Pinephone as a daily driver. What do you think it cannot do (apart from running Androis apps)?

IIRC someone mentioned something about it running apps with waydroid or anbox (can't remember) a few days ago in a related thread right? Have you tested it?

That may well have been me! I've been playing around with Waydroid on my Pinephone, and just installed Whatsapp to try out. I didn't message anyone, as it's a new number that I'd like to minimize FB knowing about, but the browser, Whatsapp, and the Voipms SMS app are more than smooth enough to be usable (though far from modern-phone fluid).

I've said previously, and will say again though: the Pinephone and Waydroid are still very rough. For example, I'm going to have to figure out why Waydroid, which used to be full-screen, now only takes up half the screen. So if you occasionally need an app that's Android-only, maybe you can make the Pinephone work now. But likely only if you're at least a little bit fanatical.

> What do you think it cannot do (apart from running Androis apps)?

Apart from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?

Can you browse the web for 3+ minutes without it becoming uncomfortably hot? (That is, with text-only websites at most) Also, taking a picture that is better than what was possible on a flip phone in 2000? All that while it can barely hold a few hours.

Don’t get me wrong, I also have one and the once a month checking it out is a really great feeling how fast it develops. But it is no way usable as a daily driver unless you have some very very strange meaning.

The phone doesn't become uncomfortably hot for me since many months. Mobian has been pretty usable since a few months at least. Writing this comment from it. The scrolling is not perfect, but more than enough to be usable. I even enjoy the web if I switch off javascript with Noscript Firefox extension.

Maps aren't very smooth but they worked every time I needed them. GPS positioning is not yet reliable

The battery only holds the whole day if you don't use it much, but a second battery helps.

Recent camera progress is shown here: https://www.pine64.org/2021/09/15/september-update-hurdles-a.... It's good enough for memories. If you need a better camera, consider Librem 5. Also have a look at Sxmo, if you want to see what Pinephone can do with an optimized software: https://sxmo.org.

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