[Tinkerphones] ZeroPhone site offline

[David Boddie]

On Wed Dec 29 10:15:45 CET 2021, H. Nikolaus Schaller wrote:

> > Am 28.12.2021 um 20:40 schrieb Martin <debacle at debian.org>:

> > My main problem with the ZP was the extremely small display.
> > I'm just too old to be able to read it without magnifying glass.
> > Apart from that it was a very cool phone!
> 
> Indeed, it was a nice and good idea for its time.
> 
> But to be curious: what would you do with a feature phone nowadays?
> If there is a browser it is crap. Games? Banking? Navigation? Messenger?
> My mother-in-law has one, just in case she must do a phone call.
> There is one more: receiving SMS for banking or 2-factor authentication.

Feature phones are still pretty useful for basic tasks but societies are
starting to demand that people use apps to access essential services.
Still, it's good to have one for emergencies.

> Next question: are there enough interested developers for writing free
> software?

If the platform is open, approachable (not too difficult to develop for)
and available, there is always the possibility of attracting developers.

> And one more thing to consider is the power demand of a non-phone-processor.
> Especially the ∏02 needs much more energy or must be heavily underclocked
> (if that is possible at all).
> 
> Even the N900 upstream kernel is wrestling with power management of the
> good old omap3.
> 
> The key feature of a featurephone over a smartphone is that it can
> run 100 hours or more in standby but wake up immediately. And all that
> coming in a small and lightweight case with big buttons and display.
> 
> This combination of requirements is very difficult to achieve with
> off-the-shelf components. 

I think there's a gap between feature phones and smartphones where something
else might be viable. Maybe not a mass-market device, or specifically a
phone, but something that would appeal to tinkerers.

David