GigaBTC 🌽⚡️🔑 on Nostr: I have an iPhone and a de-googled Android. CalyxOS and GrapheneOS are both excellent ...
I have an iPhone and a de-googled Android. CalyxOS and GrapheneOS are both excellent for Pixel devices. I’m actually using the iPhone more often now primarily because of Damus for Nostr.
I have wanted the type of device you’re describing since mobile phones got keyboards , well before “smartphones”.
The challenge for a DIY type of device is the costs associated with the individual components and the supply chain challenges of making it small enough to be practical.
Combine that with the current incentives for large corporations to compete and centralize power and you get proprietary hardware and closed software. For example, Android may be open source, but Google’s software stack isn’t. On the hardware side, 128GB - 256GB max storage on newer Pixels vs 1TB on iPhone, primarily because Google’s business model needs you to store everything in their cloud, not “your” device.
My dream solution would be a base hardware platform like Raspberry Pi that was open and others could design companies for, like a photography oriented camera or a basic camera suited to your preferences. You could swap it later if you wanted. For software, a fully open source Start9 or Umbrel type solution where you had a public “App Store”, but also the ability to side load or develop your own applications for it.
While an amazing idea, the challenges are larger than they seem at first glance.
I have wanted the type of device you’re describing since mobile phones got keyboards , well before “smartphones”.
The challenge for a DIY type of device is the costs associated with the individual components and the supply chain challenges of making it small enough to be practical.
Combine that with the current incentives for large corporations to compete and centralize power and you get proprietary hardware and closed software. For example, Android may be open source, but Google’s software stack isn’t. On the hardware side, 128GB - 256GB max storage on newer Pixels vs 1TB on iPhone, primarily because Google’s business model needs you to store everything in their cloud, not “your” device.
My dream solution would be a base hardware platform like Raspberry Pi that was open and others could design companies for, like a photography oriented camera or a basic camera suited to your preferences. You could swap it later if you wanted. For software, a fully open source Start9 or Umbrel type solution where you had a public “App Store”, but also the ability to side load or develop your own applications for it.
While an amazing idea, the challenges are larger than they seem at first glance.