I really enjoyed this discussion and was very interested in the feedback. What I took from it was that there are certain specialized apps like banking and healthcare that might stop some from being able to use a Linux-based smartphone like the Pinephone as their primary device. Are there any other reasons you can think of that you couldn’t or wouldn’t want to switch?
In case you didn’t see the discussion on BDLL here it is:
On one hand I think I could. I love my Samsung S8 but if the camera and the calls were high quality maybe. I don’t do a lot of apps but the thing that would prevent me is not having Android Auto. On the other hand it would be nice to have a mobile device that doesn’t track you. At this time it’s a wait and see to see how much the phone develops.
All of my random trolling aside, I do use my phone for quite a bit more than I care to admit.
I rely on not only my banking app and such, but I also require the Microsoft Authenticator app for my Azure AD MFA stuff at work. If I can’t log into my email and such for work, that’s a huge problem. Most MFA solutions have some kind of SMS option as well, so that could be a workaround there.
I watch a lot of YouTube on my phone and the web app is nowhere near as usable as the dedicated app. Same goes for Twitch, Mixer, and others that I watch. I also enjoy watching some Disney+ before bed on my phone and that’s not even available in the browser on Linux at the moment.
Chromecast. Good ol’ Chromecast. I use this all the time. I have a Google Home Hub (the one with the display) on my nightstand that plays movies or YouTube while I sleep. This is essential as I have a hard time sleeping on many nights and this helps to center me and fall asleep. Without that functionality built into the apps I use, I’d be much less well off.
Cloud storage integration is also a very important feature. Knowing that my Android or iOS device is backed up is really helpful. Also, using things like Google Photos, OneDrive, iCloud, etc. ensures that when I take a picture, it’s saved in many places and I don’t have to worry about losing that awesome profile pic of McGee.
One last thing, CarPlay and Android Auto. These are 100% essential for me as I spend a lot of time commuting and having maps, podcasts, music, audiobooks, phone, messages, etc available to me while I drive is not only a luxury, but a requirement of any smartphone platform.
Those are just a few, but I’m sure there are more than that. I’d love to hear if anyone has solutions for these. Also, no, I don’t care about privacy, so that argument is kinda wasted on me.
Your mobile carrier tracks your location (regardless of OS) even when you aren’t using the phone. They have to know where you are at all times so they can send incoming calls to the nearest cell tower. I don’t know if they share that data with anyone or not but it wouldn’t surprise me.
I don’t use many apps on my android phone so I would not have any problems with it. I guess I would have to have a secondary android phone for a banking ID the we have (it’s a simcard thing). The few things ppl pester me about installing now and then (whatsapp etc) does not improve my QoL anyway so there’s nothing to miss.