[Tinkerphones] Someone in Germany thinking about a Featurephone based on simple Linux

[Paul Boddie]

On Tuesday, 3 August 2021 11:12:58 CEST H. Nikolaus Schaller wrote:
> Hi,
> I just came across this post (in German):
> https://www.mikrocontroller.net/topic/522691

My German is far from sufficient to appreciate this post, and my knowledge of 
Norwegian doesn't make it convenient enough to really digest the content, but 
it sounds like the idea is to retread the path that various projects have 
taken over the years, providing classic mobile functionality (without "app" 
stores and browsers) on a Linux platform. Testing my browser history yielded 
these projects:

http://www.davidhunt.ie/piphone-a-raspberry-pi-based-smartphone/

https://www.crowdsupply.com/arsenijs/zerophone
https://zerophone.github.io/newsletter/

I know that the ZeroPhone creator was following this list at one point, so 
maybe he has some perspectives on this kind of thing. Although I was skeptical 
about the ZeroPhone to start with, I was looking forward to seeing the end 
result. I still think that these projects are a nice idea, but the economics 
are awkward if not prohibitive, and the compromises that arise from using off-
the-shelf boards risk making the resulting devices fairly unattractive.

Also, I think the software issues are hugely underestimated, particularly when 
Linux is brought in as some kind of solution when it is merely a starting 
point, often for a long and punishing process of developing the necessary 
functionality to make such products viable, as I am sure Nikolaus will agree, 
given that we have discussed this elsewhere often enough!

Paul