Pine64 Community Manager answers questions on the PinePhone Pro
Lukasz Erecinski takes to Reddit to answer questions on Right to Repair, profitability, PinePhone quantities shipped, Android app support and more.
Lukasz Erecinski, the Community Manger of Pine64 (makers of the PineBook Pro, and PineTime watch) just held an AMA on Reddit to answer questions related to the newly announced, Linux-powered PinePhone Pro.
Some of those answers were fascinating. So I am curating those here.
A few takeaways that are worth noting:
“Tens of thousands” of original (non-Pro) PinePhone’s have shipped.
The PinePhone is profitable (despite being a fraction of the cost of the Librem 5).
Android applications support via Waydroid looks “promising”.
User reparability is a priority.
What is Pine64's stance on Right to Repair? How repairable is the PinePhone Pro? Can customers order separate replacement parts when something breaks?
The PinePhone Pro is just as repairable as the OG PinePhone. We have a section on our store with replacement parts and we encourage users to fix their own gear if/when something fails. As anyone who know me/ of me will tell you I am terribly nontechnical, but I've managed to fix 2 dropped OG PinePhones myself.
The battery is replaceable too and you can source replacements locally for ~$10.
In short, all it takes to fix a PinePhone Pro is a replacement part, a Phillips screwdriver and some time.
Is there plans to have a touchid or faceid feature to unlock future phones?
I don't really think this is a feature our userbase is super keen on. However, sure, developers could probably somehow incorporate this feature into software.
However, we will have a fingerprint reader back case that will work with the PinePhone and the PinePhone Pro - it works via pogo pins and replaces stock back of the phone.
Which software it comes with (firmware/drivers, OS, apps, …) is proprietary?
It ships with regular Linux and open drivers. The OS is Manjaro and UI is KDE Plasma Mobile. However, there are over 20 OSes for the OG PinePhone and I expect many of them to be ported over to the PinePhone Pro in time. So you'll have plenty of choice.
As for apps on the default OS, any Linux application that runs on 64bit Arm will work on the PinePhone Pro - some may work on a small screen while others won't - i.e. Firefox works well but GIMP doesn't.
Can I actually get it? Its great to announce things but when can I get it in my hand.
You'll find we have a pretty good track-record of shipping things in a timely manner. We've been steadily shipping the OG PinePhone for 2 years, and have now reached rolling production.
As for the PinePhone Pro, we're currently in the process of collecting orders for dev units. We want devs to get their units early so that porting from OG PinePhone to PinePhone Pro can commence. We will be selling early adopter PinePhone Pros later this year - if you pick one up, you'll have it in early 2022 (CE/FCC takes time, so don't want to commit to a precise date).
Does Pine64 make money off the Pinephone/Pro orders?
Yes, after the Community Editions ended, we have been making money of the PinePhone - which was funneled into creating the PinePhone Pro.
Information regarding the PinePhone Pro and our future initiative to support mobile Linux development will be made at a later date.
I didn't see any estimates on battery life. What can be expected for standard usage scenarios such as web browsing and video playback?
It is a bit early for that. Prototypes have been outfitted with off-the-shelf RK3399 (due to convenience and us having them on hand) and it will be another week before we get dev units from the factory. Once the dev units go out to developer, and we have software running on the RK3399S, I'll make sure to report on battery life and efficiency in a blog post.
Are you foreseeing any "killer app" for the Pinephone Pro that the regular Pinephone might struggle running? Emulators, some desktop app, games, etc?
Good question. I am not sure about a killer app, but killer features - for sure. The ability to dock the phone via USB-C and use it as a desktop; attach the keyboard add-on and have your own PDA-type device with LTE; hacking additional functionality into the phone via the pogo pins (example); hardware privacy switches; or simply using taking 2-3 easily sourcable spare batteries with you on a mountain trek... I think there are a few things the PinePhone / PinePhone Pro can do that very few devices in this form factor can.
After I wrote the above it dawned on me: isn't running native stack Linux in your pocket the killer app? ;)
How polished is android app support?
I've been toying with Waydroid past couple of days an I am blown away by it - seriously. Sure, it has a way to go, but whats already available is more than promising.
Has everyone received their previous PinePhone yet?
Tens of thousands of people have.
To close out, here’s some pictures (including some of the guts) from the Pine64 blog.
