Today marks the end of the PinePhone Community Edition scheme. On behalf of myself, the Pine Store crew and the entire PINE64 community I’d like to thank the UBports Foundation, the postmarketOS project, Manjaro Linux, KDE e.V as well as the Mobian project for participating in bringing the PinePhone to tens of thousands of FOSS enthusiasts worldwide. We literally couldn’t have done it without you.
We are also grateful to all those who believed in our vision of a Linux smartphone and purchased a Community Edition PinePhone. Over the course of the last year we – all of us – propelled mobile Linux development forward to new heights and proved that a real Linux smartphone is not only possible but also viable if done right.
From the very start, the main goal of the PinePhone was to provide an affordable, open source and development-friendly platform, which would be accessible to all. A platform that would allow users to experiment with, and contribute to, the plethora of existing OSes, and for developers to build their operating systems on a native Linux platform. But the PinePhone was also meant to show our commitment to the future of Linux on mobile by promoting established Linux on mobile projects, while fostering new ideas and financially supporting our software partners.
Although this is the end of the Community Edition scheme, it is just the beginning for the PinePhone as a project. Over the next 12 months you’ll see many exciting developments concerning the PinePhone as a platform. Hardware-wise, we believe that the keyboard add-on, alongside an array of planned back-covers that enable additional functionality, will change how people interact with and think about mainline Linux smartphones. As for software – it won’t be long before an OS worthy of being your daily driver becomes ready.
I’d like to end this blog entry by letting you all know that a very small number of Mobian Community Edition PinePhones is still available in the Pine Store at the time of writing. I also expect that a handful of PinePhones will become available at the end of February from cancelled orders or failed transactions, so you’ll have a last chance to pick one up later this month.
In the upcoming community update I’ll be discussing our plans for a default PinePhone operating system as well as the PinePhone’s immediate future, so make sure to subscribe to the blog and follow the Telegram News channel to be notified of the post. [edit February 3] A number of KDE Community Edition PinePhones from cancelled orders or failed transactions is now available in the Pine Store.
Once again, I wish to thank all of those who were a part of the PinePhone Community Edition scheme – I feel we collectively made a difference to furthering the Linux on mobile cause.
62 responses to “The end of Community Editions”
Hope PinePhone will available and can buy at Viet Nam.
I was able to order UBport version from Viet Nam before, and received the package successfully
That’s why Mobian version sold out that quickly. I hope to get a chance for convergence version.
Thank you for creating pinephone. Yesterday i’ve recieved mine and i’m very happy to participate in this great project.
Thanks. Sill doing for m phone
So the community edition i purchased, i will be recieving? Or you arent producing anymore? I purchased in january..
Of course you will receive it. And we will keep on producing the PinePhone for a long time – we will just settle on a default OS from here on.
Okay thanks! I just wanted to verify. I was am in the us and have recieved no kind of conformation even for my order, so i wasn’t sure if there was a queue i missed, but sounds good. Thanks for clarifying for me 🙂
That’s going to get controversial. Possibly the multi-boot image would be better.
I think leaving too much choice to the users won’t make this project any more popular to wider audience. The key to balance freedom and usability for new users is to create sane defaults. If there was a smartphone released with no OS at all (hey, you can boot whatever you want!) or with tens of OS to choose (hey, just take a look around and test all of these!) no one would buy this one ever. I’m looking forward to hear what the Pine team will come up with. Personally I’m into Manjaro/KDE but everything will be great!
Just received mine today! Loving it so far!
Hey,
So where can we develop together a better Design and maybe discuss upcoming ideas for the next phones ?
It could lead to a real Market if we do it right, with our Love, Minds and Hearts
The pinephones are great as dev kit and Im looking forward to use them as Daily Driver in the future. When the Software developed further it will be the leading platform.
Hopefully you wont going down the road to implement Bootloader locks etc like Nokia and others did.
Pls contact me. Ty
Greetz
You are always welcome to discuss any ideas you may have about the PinePhone and any other potential future devices in our chats, the forum, official subreddit and elsewhere 🙂 See the ‘Forums and Chats’ drop-down.
And be sure that no one will answer your questions. unless they concern irrelevant matters.
Here, none of the designers, programmers answer the questions. If you have a design proposal, they will ignore you and you will be left alone with your idea.
That’s such a negative viewpoint. You’ve gotta remember that most people there aren’t getting paid to do this. They’re doing this because they want to in their spare time.
That said, if you have a feature request or question, I still say try the forums first, then try adding a feature request to the related github project. A lot of the devs do frequent the forums, but they simply don’t have the time to scour the forums regularly.
no, this is true. I don’t resent that my ideas are not implemented, but that none of those who decide show up on the forum.
Many times threads even advertised as : “post and we will look into it” were not even visited by those who decide.
Simply such posts on the forum turned into throwing links and zero discussion, because nobody knew what could be done, what was expensive, what was feasible and what was e.g. too heavy.
This is a hat problem.
A small group knows each other and talks , then a long long nothing and then the rest of the people no one listens to.
Many times in the linux kernel forum I’ve had more response than here.
look at this blog https://www.pine64.org/2020/07/29/invitation-to-play-along/
and link to oficial forum thread !
Where are these people who are discussing projects? They are saying what needs to be done. What is possible etc.
You just want to defend the developers, but they are the ones to blame. Guilty of not listening to the community! Guilty of not caring what anyone proposes.
They don’t care about anything. For them the official forum is a hindrance and not a help. And people see this and stop posting anything. Nobody has any illusions anymore.
Guys thanks for the amazing community edition project. You’ve given a welcome boost to the development of a viable and affordable Linux phone.
I’ve ordered the Mobian edition about 10 minutes after they were launched, can’t wait for the convergence package to arrive in 2 weeks or so and mess around with it!
Good luck mapping out the PinePhone future, I’m sure it will be promising 🙂
Still waiting for delivery to Russia 🙁
PinePhones are banned in Russia. The Russian government bans the import of devices that prevent them from listening to citizens.
I hope you will revive this idea from time to time. Due to Covid I had to plan my shoppings and this was the first mobile gadget I was ready to buy without any practical use in mind.
As soon as situation is clear I am heading for full option. Phone, keyboard and USB dock.
Okay.. Bye, bye.
Let’s write this comment and come to the history of the PinePhone!
And now let’s write Chapter 2!
If something works don’t move it. If people are happy then why break something?
Hello,
I have got a question. Does it mean that the Community Edition for developers and enthusiasts, that was priced 100$ cheaper, is gone forever? And we can only buy the retail version? Or will there be a new standard OS PinePhone with 30days warranty next to the retail version? I don’t understand if the riddance of the community editions concerns the price options, too.
Thanks for clarification.
The PinePhone in the Pine Store will always be sold at current price-point (granted there isn’t a massive component price-hike). Retail units should be available in March when regional retail stores begin operation.
This is good news. So the only change is basically another pre-installed Linux and another back cover logo once new stock is available.
In essence, yes. We are working on other ways to support developers from partner projects however.
*Thank you Pine64!* You have done an amazing job getting the hardware into the hands of the FOSS community. It’s difficult to believe you’ve achieved so much. It’s impossible to think you could have done more. Hats off. What a great success. And _thank you_. (Go drink beer and eat cake.)
I got mine. Soooo happy now. Congratulations for this and i’ll wait for the keyboard. Thanks for support all that developers.
I ordered mine as soon as they came available last month. I’m very excited to be getting a Linux phone! Thanks for all you guys do!
On January 17th 2021, I ordered the Pinephone – “Community Edition: Mobian with Convergence Package” Limited Edition Linux SmartPhone. I received an order number by email; but, I see no way to check my order number status on the pine64 website and they don’t respond to my emails inquiring on status. If it has not yet been shipped will I receive a tracking number once it does? I am in the USA. Also, wondering if your article today, “Today marks the end of the PinePhone Community Edition scheme”, will affect my order?.
They don’t respond because they are busy. The order page clearly states when the PinePhone Mobian CE ships.
You are always welcome to join the chat / forum and ask questions re. shipment.
“The order page clearly states when the PinePhone Mobian CE ships.” That is part of the problem, I get a “404 error” page not found when trying to access the order page.
Okay, I did find this, “Estimate dispatch in mid February 2021”, on the PINEPHONE – “Community Edition: Mobian with Convergence Package” Limited Edition Linux SmartPhone page. I had noticed others posted they had received their phone I guess it wasn’t this version. I am guessing once it ships I get an email? I’ll check out the forums per your suggestion too. I`ve been using Debian on my home computers for the last 20 years and I am looking forward to using this phone. Thanks.
Hi Team,
I want to replace Miui os to linux ( or pine 64) os for my Xiaomi 6 pro device.
As there is no proper mainline Linux support for Qualcomm and Mediatek CPUs you are unfortunately out of luck. Try looking for custom Android ROMs such as Lineage OS, Carbon ROM, Pixel experience or however they all are called.
i also want to thank pine64 for the great accomplishment the pinephone has become. despite it’s current issues and quirks, i like to use it much more than my android phone 🙂
however, i would like to know why the community edition way of doing things is being ended. is there another blog post that touches on the rationale behind this?
i think the community editions were a great way of supporting and showcasing the multiple distros that are being developed for the pinephone and to keep each batch interesting and different from the ones before. it just seems so logical to go through a rotation of different oses with each batch, because the pinephone is kind of the only phone that really can. settling for one standard os just seems to me to not reflect the spirit of what the phone is supposed to represent, a platform for developers that doesn’t bet on one horse but embraces the plethora of options available. picking favourites, aka settling for a default os kinda seems like the opposite of that. linux is pretty much summed up by the word “choice”, so i would like that to be highlighted by continuing to ship the pinephone with different oses going forward.
so if someone could explain why the community editions are coming to an end i would appreciate that. i don’t know what extra effort might be involved in maintaining the community editions, but i would really want to see them continue. thanks!
For sure I’ll spend some time explaining the rational behind this in the upcoming community update. Stay tuned.
what a pity? life is to short for a project. good products are never last long. 🙏😔
The PinePhone isn’t going away … its just that the first phase of introducing the PinePhone to the market and the community comes to an end.
Woot woot!
thanks for a fantastic build guys, hope to be able to buy a fully developed phone in the near future, things are looking bright 😀
Was seriously looking to jump to a Linux phone but was afraid and missed the boat. Am sick of the lack of privacy. Waiting for the next phase.
I have tested both the UBPorts CE and the Manjaro CE versions.
Manjaro with Phosh is actually usable as a daily driver using the Beta 5 image.
Keep up the great work, can’t wait for future development.
Now pinephone will be available at retail price? (245$)
Lukas has started in other comments on this page that they’re going to keep selling the Pinephone at the community prices (ie $99/$149 for convergence).
The $249 Pinephone doesn’t replace the community editions. It’s just an extra product with the same hardware, a pre-chosen OS and more support.
Seems so long ago since my Braveheart edition arrived and I Love it.
I’ll definitely be back for another later on.
It was fantastic to see how fast the Mobian edition sold out, hopefully this new demand for open hardware will tempt manufacturers to make more available.
Would it be cheaper to get rid of the 16GB/2GB RAM version? So if you produce just 32GB/3GB versions as a standard you would just need one production line, one packaging, a single procedure? Judging from the Pine64 store with the 16GB/2GB version available contrary to the 32GB/3GB version almost out of stock, there might be more interest in the bigger model. Instead of producing unevenly amount of 16GB or 32GB versions, you could perhaps save money (and perhaps let the community profit from a reduced 32GB/3GB price).
If of course this would not save you money as I thought, it is always good to offer a cheaper version.
Would you be planning for a dust/water-proof casing?
I would like -30 degree celsius enclosure.
many time I have trouble in winter
https://twitter.com/lisperati/status/1357029088343506944/photo/1
good idea for keyboard.
add function key
I feel pretty fortunate that I got to order one before the end of the program. I’ve started tinkering with my device and am having fun so far. Thank you guys! I’m looking forward to see what comes next.
Will you keep the donation mechanism to support projects bringing improvements to PinePhone? Seeing how popular Phosh is on the PinePhone, perhaps a donation to Purism in addition to PinePhone distros?
I just received my kde community edition pinephone plasma that runes manjaro arm and it is not working!
its unable to lock the database and the packagekit daemon crashes
Also when I want to change clock time and date it asks for authentication password!
my phone arrived but broken?
When can I expect to order a phone?
Why not put linux to rom? all libc, some importatnt library etc. no file but working library
fast memory for every distribution
Hello, I have tried contacting your team about an issue with my shipping address. I have not got a response and I don’t know if the issue has been rectified, no one has confirmed. I would just like to know if the right address has been put on the delivery address and that I’ll be getting a tracking code. Please respond in a timely manner.
So Pine Co. has decided to sell future phones without paying the $10.- to the communities?
Where can we find data that allows us to verify who has received how much in the past???
I have not seen any project report they got money either. What happened to transparency???
thanks for the great job of providing a phone platform to boost linux phone alternatives to android/ios. please keep me updated of pinephone future development plans. Cheers Kader