
Pine64 is Working on a Linux Smartphone Running KDE Plasma - watchdogtimer
https://itsfoss.com/pinebook-kde-smartphone/
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buovjaga
Mods might want to change the link to the original story:
[https://itsfoss.com/pinebook-kde-smartphone/](https://itsfoss.com/pinebook-
kde-smartphone/)

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dang
Ok, we changed to that from [https://www.notebookcheck.net/Pine64-maker-of-
cheap-Linux-la...](https://www.notebookcheck.net/Pine64-maker-of-cheap-Linux-
laptops-may-be-making-a-cheap-Linux-phone.346011.0.html). Thanks!

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51lver
What we really need is a good dialer/sms/mms set of applications and some easy
to use USB LTE radios that can do voice and data at the same time.

Then we could all be making perfectly usable phones by plugging the parts
together and slapping an OS on it, just like PCs in the 90s. :)

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vram22
There was an Israeli company called Modu (probably for Modular) mentioned on
TechCrunch some years ago, that did something like that, but at a higher
level, IIRC. Like, you could plug in accessories like a camera or other
things, and remove them when you didn't need them. Also, I guess, if the
interfaces were well defined, you could swap one module for another one of the
same type, for better price, speed or other reasons. Didn't track what
happened with that, but the idea seemed good.

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smacktoward
I hadn't heard of Pine64 before now. Are there any good reviews of their
Pinebook laptop out there? A cheap 64-bit ARM laptop could be fun to play
with...

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hawski
I hope that someone will do something like Pinebook, but with iMX8.M. The SoC
used by Purism with their Libre 5 effort. Maybe even Purism themselves. Main
advantage is higher hopes that mainline Linux will just work at some closer
point.

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danbolt
It's not the latest and greatest, but the MNT Reform[1] uses an i.MX6QP.

[1] [https://mntmn.com/reform/](https://mntmn.com/reform/)

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gwbas1c
I thought all cheap Android phones count as a "cheap Linux phone?"

I really want a phone that I can plug into a screen and keyboard and have a
full desktop environment. (I know Samsung makes something like this)

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bruceb
People have said this for years but would it really work with having some type
laser keyboard that really works and projector type display that are both
built in (unless you have large phone).

Without these you are going to need a keyboard and monitor where ever you go.
Might as well carry laptop

Seems one of those thing that sounds good but the reality is that it isn't as
convenient as one imagines.

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superhuzza
I think the more common use case would be having a work station at home and at
your work, each with a screen, keyboard and mouse.

Then you could just plug your phone into the workstation you want to use, and
switching between them would just be moving your phone. Staying home? Just
plug in your phone. Decide to go to the office in the afternoon? Just bring
your phone and you're set.

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slfnflctd
I've been waiting for something like this to really take off in the consumer
space for a while now. It seems to me to be almost an inevitable next step.
Even gaming or other high-end uses could be addressed with an external GPU (or
streaming).

Combined with cloud storage, you can more or less stay in the same environment
all the time, and your data would be impervious to drive failure. I'm actually
surprised it's not already out there in a big way, the major players must all
be working on some version of it.

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lolc
I'd really appreciate a (more) open phone platform.

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marcosscriven
I bought a Rock64 on the basis of good benchmarks, but found the stability of
the board absolutely atrocious unfortunately. Not sure if the same goes for
the Pine64? Certainly for the Rock64 there was virtually zero post sale
suppor.

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faragon
Pine64 is ok, at least with Debian 8 (no hw video acceleration, fine for doing
ARMv8 tests/builds).

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rbanffy
I have a Pine 64 controlling a small cluster of Pi Zeros. So far (a couple
years, months in this role) it's rock solid.

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collyw
Anyone know what OS they are planning on using on it?

I had an Ubuntu Phone and it was a bit disappointing. Lack of apps, and the
majority were web based - which didn't work well offline (not useful when
travelling and you can't use maps). When I bought an Android last year it had
improved a lot. I can only imagine any new Linux based OS will be even further
behind.

Its a pity as I hate the locked down, walled garden nature of Apple products,
and the high price tag and I hate the intrusive spying nature of Andorid /
Google.

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akhilcacharya
1440x720 seems like a pretty high resolution display for $100 device.

The laptops would be __perfect __for me if they had longer battery life than 6
hours. Make it 12 somehow with expansion or something and I 'd buy one
immediately.

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WhiteOwlLion
I've been looking for an display for all our conference rooms, updating space
reservations in real-time. A low cost display like this would be awesome.

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akhilcacharya
In fairness you could probably just use a cheap tablet for that.

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mitchtbaum
Any time frame available?

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m0llusk
Article says developer kits released Nov 1, developer boards release and demo
by FOSDEM, and design complete Q2 2019. Lots of other details make the article
worth reading.

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znpy
Insta-buy.

