TuxPhones - Linux phones, tablets and portable devices

PinePhone Pro released: specs, pricing and very first impressions

It was not three years ago that the PinePhone was announced. With entry-level, but relatively modern specifications, video output through Type-C, and full openness to custom software and mainline Linux, the device grew to be possibly even more popular than expected. Name it, and most Linux enthusiast will either know

Linux on Chromebooks

Cadmium is a Linux distribution to liberate ARM Chromebooks

In spite of being, technically, based on the Linux kernel, Chromebooks were traditionally seen as very difficult devices for the free operating system, since proprietary drivers for even basic components like keyboards were often designed to discourage any kind of modification of the OS. This, however, is mostly a story

Flashes

The "10 Year Smartphone" initiative aims for a sustainable mobile ecosystem

Prolonging the lifecycle of electronic devices is the driving force of most projects that work on mobile Linux - one of which, in fact, is particularly famous for having a "10-year life" for its devices as its slogan - and the Linux kernel has proved to be the de facto

Flashes

Purism Librem 5 sees another (steep) price increase for 2022

The Purism Librem 5, one of the most popular premium Linux phones around, just saw another increase in its retail price for both 2021 and 2022 orders. This was stated in a recent e-mail to backers, which was recently also released on Purism forums: As previously announced, we will be

Linux Kernel

Linux kernel needs more phones and tablets, says developer

Running the penguin kernel without numerous Google patches, proprietary drivers and heavy, restricting manufacturer modifications on Android phones used to be still considered, at most, an intriguing niche topic up to recently by most people. But the continuous efforts of mainlining ARM devices has been finally noticed by some kernel

Opinion

Luxury Linux smartphones

The market share of "pure Linux" phones is still so small, that we may define its target as a small niche of enthusiasts and highly privacy-oriented market. No consumer chain sells Linux phones on the larger market, yet exclusive, luxury phone markers are turning to Linux as an allegedly more

Linux Tablets

The PineNote is an e-ink notebook that runs Linux

While our short holiday interrupted us for some weeks, we have become used to Pine64 launching some of the boldest mobile Linux devices ever seen. Still when, in their August update, PINE64 announced a new device, we remained particularly surprised. The PineNote, defined as a "hybrid [...] combination of notebook, tablet

Reviews

JingPad A1 (DVT) review, part 2

This is the second part of our JingPad A1 DVT review. For the first part, click here.After our first review of the JingPad A1 DVT (developer alpha prototype), we will focus on the usability of single apps and various categories, to see how easy it is to actually use

Reviews

JingPad A1 (DVT) review, part 1

This is the first part of our JingPad A1 DVT review. For the second part, click here.This is an interesting year for the mobile Linux world. There is a new trend of companies starting to target the consumer market with Linux devices, alongside the usual "hobbyist" niche, be it

Flashes

OnePlus 6/6T Linux port now supports lag-free Android app integration thanks to WayDroid

The OnePlus 6 and 6T are quickly becoming among the most popular Linux phones around, thanks to near-full, stable mainline Linux support, active community and fast-evolving features. The latest improvement to be deployed by its main maintainer, Caleb Connolly, is full support, including graphical acceleration, for the popular Android compatibility

Linux Tablets

Some Kobo e-readers can now run Linux, becoming inexpensive e-ink tablets

Attempts to run Linux distributions on e-readers like the Amazon Kindle and Rakuten Kobo series date to many years ago, when hackers initially discovered the surprising flexibility of these devices, which are usually based on mostly open hardware and lack the advanced bootloader locks found in most phones. However, proprietary

Linux Tablets

Linux tablet maker JingLing secures $10M funding, starts JingPad crowdfunding campaign

Update 08/2021: We wrote an in-depth review of the first prototype of this Linux tablet. For our JingPad A1 DVT review, click here.One of the projects that we often followed on our Twitter throughout the last months was Jingling's upcoming tablet and desktop environment. The Chinese start-up initially

postmarketOS

postmarketOS in 2021: over 300 devices, growing technical basis and extensive "mainline" support

About one month after targeting smartwatches and weeks after its fourth birthday, postmarketOS has met another crucial milestone for its vision of an entirely sustainable, 10+ year lifecycle for portable devices: the distribution can now boot, to varying degrees of compatibility, on over 300 machines. Deja-vu? It was exactly one

Linux Smartphone

New, rugged Volla Phone X runs Android and Ubuntu

A relatively small German phone start-up, Volla, became famous in the mobile Linux community after introducing the first Volla Phone in early 2020. After one year, a concluded Kickstarter campaign and a partnership with UBPorts Foundation for complete Ubuntu Touch support, Volla has teased a new device in their "Community

Flashes

postmarketOS is finally coming to wearables

Almost four years after its first release, postmarketOS has just started targeting the valuable niche of smartwatches. As the upper end of these devices tends to offer near-identical hardware configurations to ARM phones, many models come either with Google's own Wear OS, or with proprietary themed and minified Android or

Flashes

The RUHAcam is an open-source, 3D-printed Linux camera based on Raspberry Pi

In spite of its very different appearence, this project actually shares a lot with our usually covered mobile Linux devices. Firstly, because it is a fully open-source (and open hardware-ish) portable ARM device, running on the well-renowed "Raspberry Pi HQ Camera" module, based on the Sony IMX477 sensor (12.3MP,

Linux Kernel

Tens of Nvidia Tegra devices now run mainline Linux thanks to the "grate" project

Nvidia chips and the Linux community have not always been known for a friendly attitude between each other. In a famous talk by Linus Torvalds, which may appear slightly too offensive to be reported directly, the Linux creator defined it "the single worst company [they had] ever dealt with". While

Linux Tablets

The JingPad A1 is a Linux tablet with 2K display, pen input, 5G and much more

Update 08/2021: We wrote an in-depth review of the first prototype of this Linux tablet. For our JingPad A1 DVT review, click here.Some months after the initial announcement, the first JingOS device has been officially announced. The device has been announced as a "consumer ready" full Linux tablet

RISC-V

MIPS Technologies joins RISC-V, moves to open-source ISA standard

The MIPS silicon manufacturer is one of the oldest RISC chip manufacturers, used in several systems since the late 80s. Characterized by clean and efficient designs, allowing adaption in varied applications, this company has been considered one of the most innovative in the market during its golden age - to

Flashes

Manjaro ships Plasma Mobile 5.21, adds initial setup for PinePhone

The popular Arch-based Manjaro distribution has been one of the earliest projects to express interest in the niche of Linux phones, and has been widely adopted by PinePhone users since its initial release. However, the team never stopped being innovative, integrating crust from an early stage and supporting a wide

Wearables

Google just made sideloading Android Wear apps harder

Android Wear smartwatches are an extremely common breed of wearables. Being full of features and comparatively cheap, it is increasingly common to spot them on people's wrists. While the OS is far from flawless, partly due to the heavy Java-based software stack, bringing to usually lower the standby time than

Opinion

Anonymity versus privacy

Let's imagine that today you visited several places in a heavily video-surveilled city, while wearing a mask. Nobody knew your name or your real identity, but everyone knew what you did, in all its details. Given the unusual period, not a medical mask, but more of a full, old-school mask

Linux Smartphone

New project aims to bring Linux mobile devices back to the mainstream market

A project that has recently got the attention of many FOSS journalists is the JingOS Linux distribution, coming from China and offering an explicitly "iPadOS-style" user interface according to its website. However, this is just the beginning of the project. The fil rouge connecting the varied target market (now x86_

GNOME "Text Editor" app is a mobile-friendly, GTK4 alternative to Gedit

Edit 03/2021: GNOME Text Editor has been officially announced by its author, and re-ported to the GTK4 toolkit as initially planned. It can be installed via the Flatpak gnome-nightly repository.Given the recent progress, it seems like the GNOME foundation is taking mobile-friendliness more seriously than ever. Thanks to

postmarketOS

Linux on your smartphone: everything you need to know in 2021

One of the main issues with modern smartphones is the extremely short lifespan of this category of devices, which makes even high-end ones painfully slow within years. In fact, studies have shown that it takes the average European, American or Asian user less than two years to dump their old