Pine64's Newest Linux Smartphone 'PinePhone Pro Explorer Edition' Now Available for Pre-Order

"Linux fans rejoice!" writes Hot Hardware. " Pine64's newest smartphone is officially available for pre-order." PinePhone Pro Explorer Edition pre-orders opened up Tuesday. Devices that are pre-ordered before January 18th will be shipped from Pine64's Hong Kong warehouse by January 24th and should arrive by early February.... According to Pine64, the PinePhone Pro Explorer Edition is the "fastest mainline Linux smartphone on the market." It uses a Rockchip RK3399S SoC that is composed of two ARM A72 cores (1.5GHz) and four A53 efficiency cores (1.5GHz)....

Consumers will also likely be pleased with the price of the device. The PinePhone Pro Explorer Edition currently rings in at $399 USD. The production run is purportedly "large" and interested consumers should therefore be able to easily purchase the device at this price.
Liliputing adds: While the PinePhone Pro has better hardware than the original PinePhone, Pine64 plans to continue selling both phones indefinitely. The first-gen phone will continue to sell for $150 to $200, offering an entry-level option for folks that want to experiment with mobile Linux, while the higher-priced PinePhone Pro should offer a hardware experience closer to what folks would expect from a modern mid-range phone....

In addition to the PinePhone Keyboard, the recently launched PinePhone wireless charging case, fingerprint reader case, and LoRa cases should all work with either phone.

But the new phone has a faster processor, more memory and storage, higher-resolution cameras, a higher-speed USB-C port and support for WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 4.1. And those features should make it a little more viable as a replacement for an iPhone or Android device... if you're comfortable running work-in-progress software.
They also add that "Thanks to the recent launch of the $50 PinePhone Keyboard, you can also think of the PinePhone Pro as a $400 phone that can be used as a $449 mini-laptop...."

And the Pine64 site's January update also points out that "Pico 8 Raspberry Pi port works on the PinePhone," adding "yes, it does run DOOM."

The fastest Linux Phone?

[Qbertino]

What about the Volla Phone X?

https://volla.online/en/index.... [volla.online]

At a similar pricepoint the Volla X seems way more refined. And it's been available for some time now. Or am I missing something?

Re:The fastest Linux Phone?

[storkus]

I for one have never heard of it. Also come confusion from other replies about GNU / Linux versus Android / Linux: they're both Linux kernel based.

However, the BIGGEST problem is that Pine is actually using a world-wide cellular radio in its phone with most LTE bands while the Volla only supports the GSM and a couple Chinese bands.

Oh, and the marketeers at Volla appararently are not aware that "X" typically means "bigger" in a product, I believe even in non-English, but its the opposite for them.

Re:

[Gravis Zero]

What about the Volla Phone X?

Volla Phone X is garbage. No seriously, they are selling it and abandoning it. The Kernel images they distribute haven't been updated since the initial release. There is no source repository (here's an old zip file!), no build instructions, and most importantly, no development community.

There is no evidence that Volla Phone X is any better than loading up an open source Android fork.

Re:

[q4Fry]

Do you have any interesting trivia about Planet Computers' "Cosmo Communicator" or "Gemini?" When I was keeping tabs on GNU/Linux phones, the interesting options appeared to be Purism Librem 5, Pine64's original phone, and Planet. (I hadn't seen anything about Volla.)

Re:

[Gravis Zero]

"Planet" is actually much better but it doesn't look like there is any official community. They have a nice wiki of info: https://support.planetcom.co.u... [planetcom.co.uk] but more importantly they have repos for their own distro: https://github.com/orgs/gemian... [github.com]

It appears to mostly be a Debian/Ubuntu hybrid... but I don't know why they use such an out of date kernel.

Keyboard

[samwichse]

I have to say, that keyboard case thing looks pretty sweet.

Re:

[q4Fry]

I miss my G1 sometimes.

Then need to make combined cases.

[bjwest]

The wireless charging and fingerprint cases need to be combined into one, as does the LoRa and fingerprint case. I understand wireless charging and LoRa may not be compatible in the same case, but the fingerprint reader should be compatible to both.

Can it do VoLTE?

[Miamicanes]

Without VoLTE, it's effectively useless in the US now. Carriers like Verizon & T-mobile won't even allow you to use a non-VoLTE phone as a mobile data-only device. If the hardware is recognized by the network as "device that's supposed to be a phone", it MUST support VoLTE, or the network will refuse to talk to it.

AT&T is even more evil. They slammed the door on all non-AT&T-branded devices, regardless of specs. And if you boot a non-AT&T device (or non-VoLTE-capable) device with an AT&T SIM card, they'll administratively suspend your account.

Re:

[NateFromMich]

Just use an MVNO. I've never had any problem using whatever devices I've wanted on T-Mobile and AT&T that way.
Also, if this doesn't support VoLTE, the bigger problem is going to be when you try to make a call.

THANK YOU for that warning about AT&T

[Ungrounded Lightning]

AT&T [does not allow use of] non-AT&T-branded devices, regardless of specs. And if you boot a non-AT&T device (or non-VoLTE-capable) device with an AT&T SIM card, they'll administratively suspend your account.

THANK you for that warning. I was unaware of that policy and was looking into doing exactly that (with either a linux phone, a community-hacked android distribution {on a new phone unit for safety or updating my AT&T-branded smartphone's OS}).

Do you know if they apply that policy

All that previewing and I missed typos. B-b

[Ungrounded Lightning]

(Typos: Underlying network are Mobile Network Operators - MNOs, not MVOs)

Re:

[Munchr]

You were unaware of that AT&T policy, because it doesn't exist. AT&T has a BYOD program for devices purchased outside of AT&T. As long as the device is compatible/certified (VoLTE compliant, frequencies, etc), it's allowed. AT&T has a list on their website, including Apple, Samsung, LG, Motorola, Google, Sony, Alcatel, Essential, ASUS, Huawie, HTC, Kyocera, BLU, Nokia, TCL, OnePlus, RED, ZTE, Lenovo, and Microsoft. Pretty much everything ever sold in the US in the last 5 years, and a lot

Re: THANK YOU for that warning about AT&T

[Miamicanes]

AT&T *used* to have a BYOD plan. It's gone as of 2022, at least for new activations.

Re:

[Munchr]

https://www.att.com/wireless/b... [att.com] - current and offering $250 in billing credits for bringing your own phone. It's NOT gone, whatever rep you spoke with lied to you to try to get a phone sale.

Re: THANK YOU for that warning about AT&T

[Miamicanes]

And if you look up the specific model numbers of the phones on their VERY short list, you'll notice that almost every single device on the list is SPECIFICALLY the AT&T-branded submodel.

AT&T is being EXTRAORDINARILY evil & asshole-ish about their whole "3G shutdown", using it as an excuse not only to force VoLTE, but to ban almost every non-explicitly-AT&T-blessed device from their network, including quite a few phones whose only disqualification is, "not originally purchased from AT&T".

Re:

[CaptQuark]

... it's almost IMPOSSIBLE to find a new 2022 phone with 2560x1440 or better display.

I guess it depends on what features you want and what you are willing to pay, but the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra (3200 x 1440) [t-mobile.com] seems to meet many of your specifications.

Re: THANK YOU for that warning about AT&T

[Miamicanes]

I suppose the S21 would be among my possible options if I were absolutely forced to replace my V20 tomorrow... but it would feel like an outrageously expensive step sideways.

I really love my V20's 9000mAh extended battery, and more importantly, my ability to swap it out for my spare battery within a minute or two. I've always had large extended batteries for my past phones, going all the way back to my Samsung SPH-i500 (which came with two batteries... a tiny one that would barely last 8-10 hours if you us

Re:

[JustNiz]

I accidentally broke my 5 year old Samsung Galaxy S8, I looked at all the current top end phones, and they actually have less features than my old S8 does.
As a musician my basic requirements are an SD card slot and 3.5mm audio jack and NOTHING offers it today at ANY price. All phone manufactures seem to think we only care about ever better cameras which is something I personally couldn't give a flying fuck about.

I ended up buying another reconditioned S8 for $90 instead of blowing like $1500 on an S

Re: THANK YOU for that warning about AT&T

[Miamicanes]

Yep, phone vendors have pretty much destroyed and ruined present-day phones. And for what? Far from being an improvement, VoLTE basically took us back 20 years in voice-call fidelity & reliability. With CDMA2000 and 3G GSM, dropped calls practically ceased to exist after ~2005. With VoLTE, they happen all the fucking time. And audio dropouts, hundreds of milliseconds of audio lag, and more. I can barely stand to talk to anyone on the phone anymore, because the lag & mangled audio just completely rui

Re:

[Thunderstruck]

I was a happy AT&T customer with my Blackberry Key2, until last August when they kicked my phone off their network. Even though it had all the right compatibility to keep going, and even though it had worked just fine up to that point. They insisted there was nothing they could do.

Re: THANK YOU for that warning about AT&T

[Miamicanes]

AFAIK, they won't dump you as a customer, but getting your SIM unlocked requires an hour-long phone call to customer service, a scolding, and being forced to endure a sales pitch.

Re:

[Blackburd]

I'm confused. I regularly use non-att devices on their network through Straightalk sim cards. Literally any GSM device will work. Been doing this for probably 10 years now.