What if Purism were to compile their L5-ready apps in to a version that would work on the Pine Phone? Maybe Purism could support both phones if the Pine Phone version of an app is almost free any way after the L5 version development. Purism could put both versions in to
Purusm’s app store and include all of the Pine-developed apps there too. Then if you have an L5, you would have access to the Purism app store for free. So if you have an L5 and a Pine Phone, your Pine Phone would have free app support also. But if you have only a Pine Phone and no L5, then the Purism app store would cost $5 or $10/month to access. Right now with all of the development going on, maybe the Pine Phone side of the store wouldn’t be significant as developers compile their own apps anyway. But eventually as non-developers start being a majority of the customers in the market, Purism could have another revenue source for the work they did and earn some profits from Pine Phone users who access Purism’s app store. If Pine doesn’t want to support software, then maybe good software installation tools from Purism for Pine Phones might be another revenue source for Purism. If some dedicated volunteers will help manage the store, then maybe Ubuntu Touch apps could be available in Purism’s store also. Purism could also host alternative operating systems too, as long as someone else develops them. The idea would be to make the Purism app store be THE best place to get opensource phone software for all non-Android/non-Apple phones. If volunteers can do most of the work, all Purism would need to do is to install a paywall for non-Purism phone owners, and then provide the hosting. As I wait for my L5 pre-order to arrive, I might purchase a Pine Phone. In such a case, I might not mind paying for install-ready Pine Phone apps all in one place and proven to work. Or, if Purism wanted to, anyone with a paid L5 pre-order could access the Pine Phone apps for free.
Why wouldn’t the standard Librem 5 app work ‘as is’ on the Pinephone? (I’m just asking. I don’t have a Pinephone, so don’t know what expectations I should have about whether it most likely will work or most likely will not work.)
I think this would have to be two separate app stores. That is, anything compiled specifically for the Pinephone would go in a dedicated app store.
App stores (repositories) are inherently free. Then there are mirrors. I don’t know whether either apt or the overlying GUI has any support for some kind of restriction to access. I can see on the internet people attempting to use apt with a proxy that requires authentication, with varying degrees of success and a fair bit of confusion.
With the processors being different and that the, the Pine Phone doesn’t run PureOS, it seems likely that many apps, especially complex apps, might have differences and different dependencies. The average non-linux person isn’t in to finding and downloading different libraries and repositories and hacking Linux to make things work. They most often don’t understand nor do they want to understand any kind of terminal window. They just want to click on an icon and wait for the install to complete. Typically, those people get little respect in the Linux community. But after mainstream adoption of a Linux phone, they will be the majority. How many Windows users know how to use more than just a few DOS commands (typically just “format” and “setup”)?
When it comes to charging anyone to use an app store, why do what others have usually done? Some people don’t mind paying a few dollars instead of actually learning to use a few bash commands and risking doing something wrong and maybe messing up their phone in the process. That super-easy paid install won’t appeal to many early adoptors. But your parents or non-techie friends might see a lot of value in it, especially since the apps are all free of charge. The best way to go mainstream is to make it easy for everyone to take part. Forcing mainstream users to learn terminal-window Linux will probably hurt mainstream adoption.
All the more reason to have two separate app stores, one for Librem 5 and one for Pinephone. Installing PureOS on the Pinephone would out-of-the-box select the Pinephone repository.
Can Android apps be installed on the Pinephone Pro? What US carriers does it work with? Does it have hotspot functionality?
Someone got Waydroid running on the PPP in Mobian: https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=16216
The software for the PinePhone Pro is in a very early state, and it will probably be another 6-12 months before it is ready for normal users. Many of the mobile distros (Mobian, postmarketOS, Manjaro, Arch, etc.) have instructions for installing Anbox or Waydroid to run Android apps, but you have to test each app to see how well it does. If it relies on sensors or cameras on the phone, I doubt that is ready for the PinePhone Pro, but you should ask on the PinePhone Pro forum.
The PPP uses the same Quectel EG25-G modem as the PinePhone. People report using T-Mobile and AT&T with that modem, but the situation is changing rapidly with the shutting down of 2G and 3G. See: https://wiki.pine64.org/index.php?title=PinePhone_Carrier_Support#North_America
The hardware supports hotspot. No clue if any of the distros have gotten it working, but honestly, if you are asking these questions, you shouldn’t be buying the PPP at this point. It is best to make sure that there are no major bugs in the hardware before buying. The early editions of the PinePhone didn’t have data out working on the USB-C port, and you don’t want to run into something similar with the PPP, so it’s best to wait if you aren’t a developer/tinkerer/tester.
I just sold my Pinephone Pro as it is a complete TRASH from Pine64_Opensource.
I DO NOT care if Pine64 launches a pinephone pro with risc-v or RKwhatever i won’t be a Pine64 fool anymore.
I love my PineBook Pro. Daily driver running Armbian Cinnamon. Excellent inexpensive general purpose laptop.
I bought a PinePhone about 2.5 years ago because I fatally dropped my ancient Galaxy S III and my L5 didn’t arrive until last Christmas. The PP was an amazing inexpensive trainer for running Phosh on a Linux (Mobian) phone, but performance was horrible – (Piper Cub) versus the L5 (F-16 Block 72 Viper).
To make matters worse, the modem died about 2 weeks before the L5 arrived. Now the PP is nothing more than a curio.
