I’m interested. I have a PinePhone and PinePhone Pro which unfortunately I still don’t use as daily drivers. They do work and honestly playing with Sxmo with PostMarketOS is really interesting. ssh-ing to my phone to script, use hooks on events, backing-up whatever I want or need instantly is a totally new way to have a phone and I loved in. Yet… “silly” details like not having a usable high-end camera for photos is impractical. Sure I could have an additional extra camera but I often like to go out without a backpack and that won’t work.
Anyway, this is exciting. Few redflags I’ll be looking out for before I spend 1 EUR on this :
no repository. That’s the biggest IMHO because it’s one thing to make cool software but in the spirit of open-source you don’t do it “hidden” until it’s “ready” but rather you engage with the community from the start
no hardware blueprints. This goes back to point 1. They are targeting a very specific community who not only cares about openness but has expertise in the domain AND is very opinionated. I bet some people here were already thinking of 3D printing casing, or wondering if the drives for the modem (Snapdragon X62) are actually open so yes listing specs is a start but if there is no room for suggestions by the community, even if to dismiss them because pre-prod is already rolling, people are going to feel left out. It also brings up the whole repairability and upgrade path can of worm.
no external backing. Sure crowdfunding is amazing but for hardware it’s damn hard. I’ve backed few such projects, e.g. Lynx XR1, and it’s a totally different beast compared to software or content production. The scale of it all where you need to book production lines that cost literally millions is not easy. Typically that might mean EU funding (as they are based in Madrid) or large sales (as Lynx did with schools AFAIR) and the later might mean pushing back delivery to “normal” backers.
team composition. I can’t vouch for people on the team but when I see 3/6 on marketing/sales and nobody on logistics/supply chain who would basically live in Shenzhen, I worry.
All that being said I did leave my email and whenever I go to Madrid next I’ll pay them a visit. That’s the kind of project I do want to succeed!
I’m interested. I have a PinePhone and PinePhone Pro which unfortunately I still don’t use as daily drivers. They do work and honestly playing with Sxmo with PostMarketOS is really interesting. ssh-ing to my phone to script, use hooks on events, backing-up whatever I want or need instantly is a totally new way to have a phone and I loved in. Yet… “silly” details like not having a usable high-end camera for photos is impractical. Sure I could have an additional extra camera but I often like to go out without a backpack and that won’t work.
Anyway, this is exciting. Few redflags I’ll be looking out for before I spend 1 EUR on this :
All that being said I did leave my email and whenever I go to Madrid next I’ll pay them a visit. That’s the kind of project I do want to succeed!