Surely some of you remember Pine64, as this is the manufacturer and retailer behind Pinebook as we told earlier, which is a low-cost Linux-based laptop. As the company plans to expand its markets to the world of mobile devices with low-cost Linux devices, hence, it has started working on a smartphone, called PinePhone. According to Pine’s team, they plan to base the PinePhone around their Pine A64 computer mode. The designs have not been finalized, but Pine64 has planned to release some development kits to be launched on November 1 with a projected release date of the device by mid-2019. However, after the abandonment of Ubuntu Phone, Purism Librem 5 seems to be the next candidate for smartphones with Linux. Purism has already been associated with big names like GNOME and KDE, and we can expect the device to start shipping in April 2019. But as mentioned at the beginning of the article it has appeared that another hardware provider is looking to develop its own Linux smartphone and enter this segment. The creator of KDE Neon, Jonathan Riddell, revealed this in Open Source Summit, European Edition. By contacting the founder of Pine64, TL Lim, it was found that the devices are called PinePhone and PineTab. As of November 1, Pine64 will begin shipping the first PinePhone development kits to selected developers for free.
What is the Kit?
The first PinePhone will be delivered to selected developers for free on November 1. This is a combined PINE A64 socket + SOPine + Module – 7″ Touchscreen + Camera + Wifi/BT + Playbox + Lithium-Ion battery case + LTE cat 4 USB dongle. These combined kits will allow developers to jump and start the development of PinePhone. The PINE A64 platform already has a major version of the Linux operating system thanks to the PINE64 Community and KDE neon support. The all-in-one PinePhone developer board with 1440 × 720 5.45-inch panel will be launched before FOSDEM and the objectives for the FOSDEM demonstration. Obviously, it will be a bit more difficult to manage than a smartphone, but it should allow developers to start manipulating the platform to prepare the applications for the PinePhone, as long as it is sent. This would hardly be the first attempt to build a phone with Linux. In fact, Android currently uses the Linux kernel, so there are billions of phones with Linux at the moment. But phones that use the same kind of technologies as desktop Linux are much rarer.
When PinePhone will be available for purchase?
The actual design of the phone has already begun, but it will not be finalized until the second quarter of 2019 after receiving contributions from the developer board and will also be pending the progress of the open software. Lim said that they are using this three-step approach to avoid other flaw failures in the Linux phone. The PinePhone separates the SoC and LTE module due to the main binary lines and the concern of the GPL. The target price should be in the range of $100+ for the storage configuration of 2GB of RAM and 16GB internal. According to the current program, the actual PinePhone design with Plasma Mobile technology will not be finalized until 2019 Q2. As we already told that the Pine64 is known for its low-cost laptops, hence, the all-new PinePhone will not break your spine when it comes to pricing. So, what do you think about this? Simply share all your views and thoughts in the comment section below.
