Smartphone consumers and developers need to have other options besides just iOS and Android. That’s the reason why I took an interest in Linux-powered smartphones last summer, including the PinePhone beta Edition.
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When I set up my second Pine phone recently, I actually noticed several improvements that were too big to leave unmentioned.
Foremost, I do recommend watching the initial Unboxing video, because it goes into greater detail; and it may give you a more complete picture of what to expect if you purchase one for yourself.
By default, the PinePhone ships with a Linux-based operating system pre-installed and in a ready-to-use state. As of 2023, the Linux distribution is Manjaro Arm with Plasma Mobile and the Wayland windowing system.
For what it’s worth, the original PinePhone I purchased near the end of summer 2022 is still in good working order. In fact, I use it almost daily, provided I have a second phone in my possession.
PinePhone Wired Connectivity
I’m confident these PinePhones can connect to Raspberry Pi, Arduino, Beaglebone, ESP32, or a similar platform. This is because of the internal inter-integrated circuit (I2C) connector. Readers may recall from the initial unboxing that my experience with Manjaro Arm was rather mixed.
This was because of a variety of software problems that eventually I was able to resolve on my own.
I wasn’t planning to use Manjaro and the second phone. But by happenstance, the new phone booted up right as soon as I installed the battery, and I immediately noticed that its newer Manjaro Arm release was faster and more reliable than previously. In fact, every problem I encountered in the first unboxing (such as the slow user interface or problems unlocking the phone) was no longer a factor in the 2023 phone. Photo quality was also vastly improved over the first unboxing, although saving photos to the file system still takes an unexpectedly long time.
I did wind up installing the Postmarket Operating System (postmarketOS) anyway. But I decided to install it to one of my spare microSD cards, so as to not overwrite the internal storage or Manjaro Arm. To some extent, this makes my PinePhone a dual-boot device, although I must currently remove the microSD card to boot into Manjaro Arm.
I have witnessed a few isolated reports of new PinePhones being unable to boot, or phones that would spontaneously reboot. While I’m new to this product line myself, if I had had these problems with my own phones I probably wouldn’t know where to start other than trying to download an alternative operating system in order to boot it from the microSD card. From what I can gather, customer service and official Pine64 forums are the best resources for dealing with unexpected problems of this magnitude. Failing that, the wiki pages for both the phone itself and the relevant Linux distribution will provide software and hardware-related guidance.
Upcoming Work
Through the rest of Summer 2023, I will document my own experiences using both my 1st and 2nd PinePhones. This includes the I2C interface and the external keyboard. This is a fairly multi-faceted project to hopefully cover the many peripherals of this platform.
References
| [1] | Voxidyne Media, “Unboxing My Second PinePhone,” 23 May 2023. [Online]. Available: https://youtu.be/gWlJQiZS1p4. [Accessed 27 June 2023]. |
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