[jraph]

Yeah, this sucks a bit. Those phones need hardware that does not depend on proprietary blobs to work, and such hardware is not very common. Even the hardware in the PinePhone is not perfect in this regard: the modem runs a closed firmware (though people are getting mainline Linux to run on the modem so there's hope!), and the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth chip too (like in most regular laptops anyway…)

In the meantime though, I would be happy with an outdated SoC but a decent camera and good call quality for people you call. 5 GHz Wi-Fi would be wonderful. 3G of RAM is already comfortable. A better screen would be fantastic but the one on the PinePhone is more than usable.

Better battery life would be nice too, but it is coming to the PinePhone with a custom case that will also provide a keyboard, and you can always carry a power tank or a spare battery since the one in the PinePhone is removable!

[Mediterraneo10]

I don't agree that 3G of RAM is comfortable. The problem with phones these days is that many people don't really use them for calling over the public telephone network, instead they are running chat apps like Signal. Launching Signal's desktop app (which is Electron-based) or trying to emulate Signal's Android app through Anbox already places big demands on RAM, and a person can reasonably expect from a phone that they can also use their browser and their map app at the same time.

The same is also true of map apps. There just isn't enough developer manpower to make vanilla-Linux mapping apps as featureful as OSMAnd or Maps.me's open-source fork, and therefore the best thing to do would be to emulate them using Anbox, but the Pinephone's hardware is just too underpowered to comfortably do this.

[jraph]

I agree with electron apps and Anbox being slow to the point of being unusable.

Anbox being slow is not a big surprise though: it literally runs a complete Android system on top of your OS.

We need native, lightweight apps for the phone and that requires a big amount of work for sure.

There's an Android port for the PinePhone that I want to try one of these days. Back to an OS whose roadmap depends on Google, but at least without the proprietary blobs. But I don't plan to settle on it. As someone said elsewhere in this thread, it's less and less hackable, and I hope that GNU/Linux-based OSes work out.

[29083011397778]

> The same is also true of map apps

Either you haven't heard of or used Gnome Maps (which is wonderful, highly recommend), or it doesn't fit your criteria. Assuming the latter, what do you consider missing?

[Mediterraneo10]

Gnome Maps is not even remotely competitive for offline use. It requires internet lookups for everything. Because OSMAnd maintains its own OSM database on your device, looking up opening hours for businesses can be done with no internet access.

OSMAnd is able to show all kinds of details about roads (such as the road surface – important for cyclists interested in asphalt/unpaved riding).

Gnome Maps also uses GraphHopper for routing. OSMAnd, on the other hand, allows you to extend its routing with plugins, so long-distance cyclists can install the Brouter routing engine that is superior for this kind of travel.

[fsflover]

Sounds like you are searching for https://puri.sm/products/librem-5 (see the comparison in my other comment here)