I was lucky enough to get one of the UBPorts editions of the PinePhone
back in June. I am using it as my "daily driver", but realize that my
use case is probably not the norm.
Here's a quick rundown of my impressions.
The phone itself is surprisingly solid and seems thoughtfully engineered
towards access and more a open approach. I wouldn't hesitate to endorse
Pine generally.
The phone came preloaded with ubuntu touch (as most of you know, this
was Canonical's attempt to break into the phone market). As I learn
more and more about it, the underpinning appear to currently be a hybrid
of some android elements mixed with more mainstream linux (I'm not an
expert on this, but more on this further down). I find the UT (ubuntu
touch) interface very polished, and the fundamental elements (ubuntu
launchbar, app drawer, screen rotation, etc.) seem solid.
Unfortunately, other parts of the OS (namely apps and some of the
telephone/messaging elements) are a work in progress. Outgoing phone
calls only using 3G currently, data works with 4G or 3G, SMS (plain
text) messaging works fine, MMS (text messages with images or other
attachments) doesn't work. There is a Telegram app that works
reasonably well. Recent OS updates have improved battery life,
unfortunately one of the side effects of these changes is that the clock
gets out of whack, even when set on "automatic update".
The biggest downside for me was the extent of apps that simply don't
work for me. The only email client (Dekko) has a number of user
interface bugs, and can't handle POP accounts well (IMAP works
reasonably well). The music player doesn't work. The camera doesn't
work. I wasn't able to get the "libertine" container system to work
despite closely following a three different sets of step-by-step
instructions (which in theory allows execution of more mainstream linux
applications). The web browsers (Morph and Onion/Tor) both work
reasonably well, but no option currently exists to run Firefox on UT.
Battery life with UT is approaching a full day of real world use, thanks
to the CRUST (power management) improvements (if they could only fix the
time issue...).
Thanks to the open design of the PinePhone, it is easy to boot from an
image burned to an SD card. I've tried about 5 or 6 of the images, and
found that Mobian (Debian + the Phosh Gnome desktop) is currently the
best alternative for me.
The Phosh interface is OK but I found it some what dull in comparison to
UT. UT is so intuitive and easy to use that when I needed to use my old
Android phone, I was trying to use the UT gestures and initially
wondered why things weren't working properly. Back to Mobian/Phosh...
Mobian seems to have much more of the fundamental functionality
working. It too has the problem with MMS messages (apparently it's a
firmware issue -- the modem drivers don't have hooks for MMS messages).
However, Mobian offers a huge advantage for me in that you can install
mainstream linux applications (it comes with Firefox preinstalled, geary
for email, and the standard gnome software center). Furthermore, the
camera works (slowly, but at least it works), the calendar and contacts
will sync with online accounts if desired, and you can even install
gnome terminal and install via the command line. It really feels like a
"real" linux phone with Mobian.
The biggest downside to Mobian is the mobile interface elements (screen
rotation, pinch and zoom, automatic resizing etc.) are clunky, or not
fully working. The official telegram client works, albeit a bit slow to
launch, but I have yet to see any application that is truly "broken". I
was able to install Thunderbird, but as is sometimes the case with the
Phosh interface, the right-side of the screen was out of view, and there
was no easy way to get it to resize. The other issue is that battery
life doesn't seem to do as well as UT, but at least the time works, even
after sleep.
In an ideal world, there would be a mash-up of the Ubuntu Touch
interface coupled with Debian under the hood. I recall seeing one of
the Ubuntu Touch Q&As (I think it was a couple of weeks ago) where they
had successfully coupled Ubuntu Touch with a Manjaro back end as a
random side project. I'm not sure if they plan to focus on making UT a
desktop environment that can be matched with various back ends, or if
they are planning to keep it vertically integrated with their current core.
At this point, I'm leaning towards sticking with Mobian and checking in
from time to time to watch the progress on UT.
I did look at Postmarket OS (Phosh + Alpine Linux) PureOS (Purisim is
credited for the development of Phosh). They all look and work in a
very similar manner to Mobian. Since I prefer the Debian branch
generally, Mobian is the best fit. I also tried KDE Neon, but was beset
with errors at first boot, and after several similar attempts using
different images, ultimately gave up.
I am hopeful that this project will ultimately yield several viable
options for daily drivers. Pine has done a respectable job at being
transparent with their customers, explaining delays and minor hardware
issues in a clear and forthright manner. They are actually shipping
hardware, and the various software projects appear to be making steady
progress to fix those things that need attention.
I hope this first-hand account is useful.
Paul
--
Paul Tichy
Appaloosa Business Services, Incorporated
Post Office Box 2702
Clackamas, Oregon 97015
503.336.1388
www.spottedhorse.com
www.clickngobilling.com
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