So, after following the discussions for quite a while, I decided to pull it off.

Having gone though the support list of various distributions, I chose Pixel 3a for my setup. Among the dirt cheap smartphones, it seems to enjoy the support of almost everything.

I decided to install PostmarketOS with Plasma Mobile. In the meanwhile, I also tested Mobian (didn’t work for me for some reason) and Gnome (I ended up being too much of a KDE fanboy).

The overall experience is, honestly, mixed. It sure is exciting, and I’ve spent a whole day tinkering here and there (and feeling a bit nostalgic for the day I felt this way about Linux as a whole), the hardware support was a pleasant surprise, up to multipoint Bluetooth TWS headphones, but still, system stability isn’t anywhere near a daily driver, and software support lags behind in many ways.

In any case, now I too have a platform to look into the future. Year of Linux mobile, anyone? :)

P.S. Any advice on censorship-resistant (VLESS/Reality/AmneziaWG-based) VPNs for PostmarketOS on ARM devices?

  • Allero@lemmy.todayOP
    2·
    2 days ago

    Update on battery life: one place Linux (or, at least, PostmarketOS KDE that I use) truly shines is idle power consumption!

    It agressively suspends connections when there are no background processes running and the phone is in the sleep mode, which ends up dramatically improving the idle draw.

    I charged my Pixel 3a to 99% and then didn’t use it too much - only listened to music for 1,5 hours. Two full days later, it sits at 70%. If the numbers are correct, I must expect it to last almost a week idle on a single charge.

      • Allero@lemmy.todayOP
        2·
        18 hours ago

        Still didn’t test, tbh

        Had to do some work to make mobile data work, so there could probably be some issues initially. The pmOS wiki for the phone states that calls are working, but VoLTE support is very experimental.

        • Shatur@discuss.tchncs.de
          2·
          17 hours ago

          When I last time looked into it, you couldn’t receive calls when the phone sleeps. It works on PinePhone Pro because the modem is a separate board and can wake the phone. This is why I’m curious 🙂

          • Allero@lemmy.todayOP
            1·
            4 hours ago

            Just tested it, and it works! Upon receiving the call, the phone wakes up and shows the regular call accept/decline menu. Voice in the call works just fine, too.