PinePhone - Linux in Your Pocket (All Details)
Published 26/06/2020
As you know the truth about the smartphone operating system, there are only two of them were dominating the whole market, Android and IOS.
Before these operating systems came, there were a couple of operating systems like Nokia’s Symbian, Blackberry’s BlackBerry OS etc. that people were using on their devices.
But these are not as much as the Android and IOS right now.
Microsoft also tried to come into these smartphone OS games and as you know very well that was a complete failure because of very low application support.
And talking about Kai OS, that is only good at controlling feature phones.
As Android and IOS are very developer-friendly and have large app support, these OS came into the mainstream very quickly.
Although Android is based on Linux, we can do basic Linux stuff by using third party terminals (such as Termux) but, we can hardly explore the core functions of Linux.
And for that reason, we need a particular Operating System so that we can use all the functions of Linux and need a particular community that is not so mainstream.
There are some Linux distros for smartphones are already available such as Ubuntu Touch, Sailfish OS, Plasma OS etc. but these operating systems do not support a large number of devices and also don’t have large app support.
You can do most of the things in the terminal instead of posting stories on Instagram 10 times a day.
So, to solve the hardware problem for Linux Smartphone OS, Pine 64 came with their new smartphone that supports all the Linux distros available on smartphones out there.
What is PinePhone?
PinePhone is an Open Source smartphone project from the company Pine64 and according to the company, it’s their most aspiring project till now.
Pine64 doesn’t create this phone to run Android. Instead, they are very ambitious to make something very unusual and future proof.
They developed this very smartphone to run Linux.
Though this phone is not for everyone as the percentage of Linux users all over the world is only 3% as of now. But if you’re a Linux person, I’m sure you will be very satisfied to own this kind of device.
There is no confirmation about what distro of mobile Linux OS comes with the device but it can support 10+ operating systems as of now (such as, Postmarket OS, Ubuntu Touch, Sailfish OS, Pure OS, Fedora, Manjaro and more).
About the Company (Pine64):
Pine64 is a very small community-driven startup company who especially makes ARM devices.
They started their journey by developing single-board computers like Raspberry Pi. As of now, they started making more products such as Laptops, Tablets, Smart Watches etc.
They have a fully functional Linux laptop called Pinebook and it started from only $99.
They said, “Our goal is to push the envelope and deliver 64-bit ARM that you want to use and develop for.”
Specifications of the PinePhone:
The PinePhone will come with Allwinner A64 quad-core SoC, 2GB of LPDDR3 RAM, Mali 400 MP2 GPU and a 3,000mAh removable battery.
The display will be the 5.95” 720p display with 18:9 aspect ratio.
It will have a 5MP rear camera and a 2MP front selfie camera which is pretty basic.
Talking about the sensors, it will come with most of the sensors that are available for smartphones (like an accelerator, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer, ambient light).
The charging port will be Type-C and yeah, it will have a 3.5mm headphone jack.
Should you buy?
Honestly, this phone is not for everyone.
If you're a normal user and never used Linux yet, you'll be very disappointed if you buy this phone.
Because all of your favourite games, apps and tools might not be available still here.
But if you are a tech-savvy person and very familiar with the terminal, this can be your pocket hacking device.
You can do a lot of stuff inside the terminal.
Conclusion:
So, here is my opinion on the new PinePhone from Pine64. I hope it will be a great in-hand experience as well.
As I know the basic terminal commands and packages, this phone can be a better replacement of Android for me.
And if the community grows, we will find a lot of mobile apps for this operating system as well.
What do you think? Can you replace your daily driver with PinePhone?
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