The PinePhone, which is still development, is capable of running mainline Linux and booting up into any one of the available multiple Linux mobile operating systems.
Prevous efforts to produce consumer smartphones running Linux has failed. Phones running Ubuntu OS Mobile were available in the market for a few years and then died off, though Ubuntu Touch lives on as its successor. Sailfish OS phones are still available in select regions of the world – especially Russia, where it has been adopted as the official opearting system. There are a few others in the works, including Librem 5, and Eelo (or /e/), both of which have phones shipping already. Usually, Linux OS phones are manufactured with one key selling point – liberty from spying and snooping by big corporation and by government. A second, less mainstream proposition is the ability to run your preferred Linux OS. Linux never gained mainstream acceptance on PC and continues that struggle on mobile. PinePhone is hoping to change that.
PinePhone Hardware Killswitches
The phone has 6 hardware killswitches, so the user can completely disable any of the following features:
PinePhone Quick Specs
Display: 5.95″ 18:9 apect ratio, IPS LCD display. Processor: Allwinner A64 GPU: ARM Mali 400 MP2 RAM: 2GB Internal Storage: 16GB Expandable Storage: micro-SD card up to 1TB Battery: 3000mAh battery with 15W quick charging
Here is a demontration video showing four different Linux OSes – Ubuntu Touch, PostMarketOS, KDE Neon, and LuneOS – running on the PinePhone:
PinePhone Release Date
This Linux phone is expected in the market by March 2020. However, a “braveheart” edition for geeks and techies who want to tweak and tinker with hardware, is currently available for purchase from the PINE64 store. There is no OS preinstalled on this edition though. If you are looking for a usable smartphone. do not touch the “braveheart” edition. Wait till March. For more details, check out the full PinePhone specifications. References
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