OT, is pinephone making some progress?
I have not heard about them in quite some time, but was hoping they eventually reach the point, of offering a usable device. I guess they are still not there?
I have not heard about them in quite some time, but was hoping they eventually reach the point, of offering a usable device. I guess they are still not there?
Pro's hardware is definitely better than the original, but the software part is still very alpha. Many driver is still not mainlined, and are very buggy (especially the 4G modem/GPS...) If you ask me, the main issue is that everyone is trying to create a desktop OS for the devices, with the same flaws. Most applications are simply not optimized for mobile. And of course half of the services are Python - which is fine on desktop and server, but on a battery powered embedded device you want to save those expensive cycles... but I start to rant.
PinePhones are fun (and affordable) toys if this is your thing, but it stops there.
And of course the developer community likes new stuff. Pine64 just released a small mountain of new tablets, everyone is flocking in that direction.
So thanks, you explained very well, that it is still a tinker toy.
I seriously could do with not optimized software, I also don't mind fixing some things. But if the drivers are still buggy, then I still just see no base to consider it as a phone or something that can become a usable phone in the near future. A shame.
Not sure what you mean about 4G modem/GPS - neither does really have a driver on Pinephone. It's just a normal USB modem device you can also buy and use separately in a PC.
GPS just sends some NMEA data over virtual serial port, there's nothing about it that can have a buggy driver. It works just like any other GPS device that can't get assistance data. It's slow to lock on and doesn't work inside.
One thing none of them does is to work reliably for any period of time.
And of course, it gets too hot to touch, sometimes to the point when I rather literally remove the battery for a few minutes in fear of heat damage. I really wonder what was the rationale using the same modem in PPP also...
Then we have the Wifi/BT driver, which actually works once one finds the binary blob required, but they can't be turned on/off independently. But this is the smallest bug. At least tethering works, as long as one turns off all power saving features (and as long the modem doesn't crash).
On a personal level, I wonder if the camera drivers can be even made mainline compatible, with the "2 physical sensor with 1 sensor interface" solution, which kind of requires a custom tailored application also to work...
I really find Pinephones a lot of fun, but only as a hacking playground. I take one of my Pinephones with me all the time, but I also keep a phone that I know I can rely on.
> "2 physical sensor with 1 sensor interface"
This is no problem for media API. sun6i-csi driver for the sensor interface just forces the userspace to select only one sensor at a time. The API is made for this. All camera solutions on phone require custom tailored solutions to work. That's just a difference compared to dekstop USB webcam space.
People try to abstract the details in a library (eg. libcamera) or just hardcode it in their app. API for ISP and all required data are just not introspectable, so it has to be hardcoded somewhere in userspace. That's the nature of mainline API.
> WIFI/BT
BT/Wifi should be controllable independently using software, no? Like on other phones. At least I never noticed any issues in this direction.
> Modem crashes.
Sounds terrible. Not sure what's that about. I've never experienced any modem crashes, but I don't have a typical setup. I don't use eg25-manager, but my own kernel driver to manage modem power and my own test software to control the modem over AT interface for SMS/calls. I also don't use mobile data.
Maybe I should try to stress-test the modem a bit more.
Thermal management is lacking, for sure. There are several heat sources in the phone, and there needs to be some software that actively throttles down parts of the phone based on total knowledge of phone activity, and not just simple localized decision-making based on current temperature of individual part. (User on call or using a lot of mobile data, throttle down the main SoC CPU heavily, disable charging or limit severely, etc.)
I know of none. Of course I heard many people online claiming that they do. But I cannot have something as a daily driver, if I cannot reliable know, if I can make a call, or not. (not even speaking about battery life)