As the end of 2020 approaches, Linux phones still occupy a tiny niche in the smartphone market. But it’s a growing niche. Pine64 has shipped thousands of PinePhones. The Purism Librem 5 has finally begun to ship. And a handful of other phones powered by Linux are starting to ship as well. While the software […]
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Ubuntu Touch OTA-15 brings bug fixes and support for more phones
The latest release of Ubuntu Touch for smartphones and tablets is starting to roll out and for the most part this release focuses on stability, bug fixes, and adding support for more devices. But Ubuntu Touch OTA-15 also paves the way for the next few releases, which will bring much bigger changes. Probably the most interesting […]
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Plasma Mobile picks up performance, theme, and app improvements
Plasma Mobile is one of the prettiest user interfaces available for Linux phones, but when I’ve tested it in the past it hasn’t exactly been super speedy. So it’s good to know that the developers behind Plasma Mobile are working on making the software faster while also reducing memory usage, at least when it comes […]
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PinePhone keyboard and wireless charging add-ons are on the way
One of the nifty things about the PinePhone is that there are a series of pogo pins hidden behind the back cover that make it possible to add new hardware to the phone. Individual hardware hackers have used those pins to add things like a thermal camera or a fingerprint reader. But, as revealed earlier […]
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Sxmo 1.2.0 adds support for gesture controls
Most popular user interface projects for Linux phones are designed to be finger-friendly in the same way that Android and iOS are. So while phosh, Plasma Mobile, Lomiri, and other user interfaces are all distinctive, most feature things like big app icons, status bars, and other navigation elements. And then there’s Sxmo. Described as a […]
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KDE Plasma Mobile ends Halium support, shifts focus to phones running mainline Linux kernel, en
Folks have been finding way to run GNU/Linux distributions on smartphones for years. But it’s only in the past few years that phone makers have started to produce phones designed to run operating systems that use a mainline Linux kernel. So projects like Halium arose to simplify the process of getting a Linux-based operating system […]
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PineEye is a DIY thermal camera add-on for the PinePhone
Pine64 is working on several official PinePhone accessories that add features like wireless charging, NFC, or a physical keyboard. But independent developers have also developed their own add-ons including a fingerprint reader and a 3D-printed keyboard. One of the newest DIY PinePhone add-on projects is a thermal imaging solution called PineEye. In a nutshell, PineEye […]
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PinePhone KDE Community Edition is up for pre-order for $150 and up
As promised, the PinePhone KDE Plasma Mobile Community Edition is now available for pre-order from the Pine64 store. Expected to ship in January 2021, the phone will be the first smartphone to ship with the KDE Plasma Mobile user interface out of the box. But like all PinePhones, users will be free to run different […]
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Video: Megi’s multi-boot image for the PinePhone (with 17 Linux distros)
The PinePhone is designed to make distro hopping easy. Whether you order a model that comes with Ubuntu Touch, postmarketOS, Manjaro, or KDE Neon pre-installed, the phone is designed to boot first from any properly prepared microSD card. That means you can install an alternate OS on a card, insert it, and turn on the […]
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Manjaro ARM Beta3 for PinePhone brings camera, phone call, and gesture improvements
The latest beta of Manjaro ARM for the PinePhone brings a series of software updates and bug fixes. The kernel and default web browser, camera app, keyboard, and chat applications have all received updates. Phone call audio quality has been improved. And you you can now close applications by swiping upward on the thumbnail image […]