As I’ve mentioned previously: the PinePhone Linux phone has me super excited.
And one of reasons why I’m so gaga over this gadget rather than, say, the pricey Purism Librem 5 is the breadth of mobile OS support planned for it.
There’s just something innately “Linux-y” about having an accessible hardware platform that software projects are free and encouraged to build on, extend, explore, expand, etc.
Don’t like the default OS? Switch it for another! Don’t like that? Try something else!
The PinePhone lets you distro hop on your phone! There are multiple Linux mobile OSes planning to support the device. And as the SD card is bootable, it’ll be easy to switch between systems too!
In the video below (filmed and uploaded by Pine64, not me) we get a glimpse at 4 Linux mobile operating systems currently under active development for the first-generation PinePhone:
- Ubuntu Touch
- PostMarketOS (with Phosh)
- KDE Neon (with Plasma Mobile)
- LuneOS
Now, keep in mind that everything shown in the video (including the hardware itself) is still being fine tuned. Nothing shown in the video is “final”.
The PinePhone goes on general early next year. It’ll be priced from $149. The default OS is, as of writing, undecided.
Want one sooner? The PinePhone Brave Heart edition is available to purchase now, albeit aimed solely at enthusiasts and developers, as well as early adopters who don’t mind bugs and missing features.