No more Linux Mobile

Since last fall, I haven't been daily driving the pinephone pro anymore. This is due to it not meeting the requirements that my work brings with it and a severe bug that hasn't been fixed in stable (yet). Here's some background - and why this probably doesn't mean that you couldn't daily drive a linux mobile phone.

So what happened? Well, when postmarketOS released the update v24.06, it bricked my Pinephone Pro. It would only rarely actually boot,making it very much unusable. This is due to an issue with the kernel freezing if you have full disk encryption (FDE) enabled. As I need to protect my data (I'm a journalist), not using FDE never was an option. But this wasn't actually the showstopper for me.

Why? Well, for one thing, the postmarketOS people were extremely kind and helpful in helping me figure out what the issue is, and how to downgrade to the previous release. This worked, and the phone was back up and running - just not receiving current updates anymore. No big deal, it would probably be fixed soon... well, no. The bug is still open, and upgrading to v24.12 during the winter break just bricked it again. I understand that community based development means some issues can't be prioritized and I'm really grateful for all the work that has gone into making mobile on linux possible at all. I'm still a bit frustrated obviously, but I knew I was getting into an experiment that could fail anytime, so it's okay. But as I said, that wasn't really the main reason I had to return to android. Let me illustrate.

In my line of work, I've opted to not just cite online sources, but also actually go and see the places and meet the people I report on. Weird, I know - but that's professional ethos or some such stupid thing for you. Going back to Armenia at the end of October meant having to communicate with my travel group via WhatsApp - they didn't want to switch apps just for me - one of the things I never got working on the Pinephone Pro. Since I just scavenged an old android phone anyway to reactivate my desktop signal app after having been inactive for 30 days during a long motorcycle tour, no problem, I just used that device for the trip.

A small side note: That signal requires you to regularly log into the desktop app is completely stupid. Really Moxie (or whoever is responisble), change that already! I mean they know it's a problem.

Obviously I also got the linux WhatsApp desktop client for my laptop, but a laptop isn't really useful when you need to find your group again in a city... especially if you left it in the hotel. So visiting Armenia I had two phones with me, and ended up just using the android phone. I came back home and it turns out I'm not getting out of using WhatsApp that easily - even though I'd love to, it's really a horrible app.

Just a few weeks later I was on a night train to Zagreb, where I would spend the next two months at YammatFM and exploring what croatia had to offer on different topics as well as traveling to Belgrade in Serbia to meet the students that are currently protesting against the authoritarian and corrupt ruling party there. Of course, a lot of people I needed to communicate with there also used WhatsApp.

So I stuck with the android phone, with the added benefit of discovering the joy that is a fair quality working camera as well as the quick file sharing possibility of localsend. The much better call quality and reliability also was a must while trying to get interviews on time and working on a deadline routinely. At the same time though, I was really glad that I discovered that there are also older people (defined as "didn't have smartphones untill well after 40") who actually will first ask if signal is an option. There is hope for us yet!

It's actually more the young generation, like the students in Belgrade, that will recklessly default to commercial apps by data collecting corporations - it remains to be seen how this will develop, as most of them are engaging in activism for the first time and learning everything as they go along, not like the anarchist climate activists, the organized antifacists and squatters of the Balkans who have been engaging in activism for a prolonged period.

Long story short: The point is, with the need to engage with so many people on the channels that they are using, it was essentially impossible to stick with the Pinephone Pro. I'm certain that this isn't an issue with traveling in general, as I've done that with the linux phone without issues. So unless you're also somehow forced to constantly contact new people and communicate with them on terms that they deem comfortable, you shouldn't run into this issue.

Sadly, my two months in Croatia were over way to fast, but still I haven't returned to the Pinephone Pro. This is mainly still down to the issue of easy and hassle free communication over a whole host of apps and services developed and designed for android, or rather, that other people expect it so much. But it's also due to the fact, that I rarely have the time to actively try and fix something as large as the bug that has made the Pinephone Pro unusable for me - and the last software release that works, is now over a year old. Obviously, I could just reflash a new version using the workarounds people have suggested, but then I'd have to reconfigure everything again, copy old configs, adapt them, etc. I will take the time for that at some point, because I want a linux phone, but that time just isn't now. So that's why I'm not daily driving mobile linux anymore - but hey, next time around, I bet the camera will be really good!