Linux phones are still behind android and iPhone, but the gap shrank a surprising amount while I wasn’t looking. These are damn near usable day to day phones now! But there are still a few things that need done and I was wondering what everyone’s thoughts on these were:
1 - tap to pay. I don’t see how this can practically be done. Like, at all.
2 - android auto/apple CarPlay emulation. A Linux phones could theoretically emulate one of these protocols and display a separate session on the head unit of a car. But I dont see any kind of project out there that already does this in an open-source kind of way. The closest I can find are some shady dongles on amazon that give wireless CarPlay to head units that normally require USB cables. It can be done, but I don’t see it being done in our community.
3 - voice assistants. wether done on device or phoning into our home servers and having requests processed there, this should be doable and integrated with convenient shortcuts. Home assistant has some things like this, and there’s good-old Mycroft blowing around out there still. Siri is used every day by plenty of people and she sucks. If that’s the benchmark I think our community can easily meet that.
I started looking at Linux phones again because I loathe what apple is doing to this UI now and android has some interesting foldables but now that google is forcing Gemini into everything and you can’t turn it off, killing third party ROMS, and getting somehow even MORE invasive, that whole ecosystem seems like it’s about to march right off a cliff so its not an option anymore for me.
Taking the CC out of the sock drawer, at home. That’s an edge case though. That’s not what we are solving for the other 99.99% of the time …
So you sacrafice your ability to use a more free device because youd rather leave your credit card at home, but thats A choice that you made. If you wanted you could bring a card with you or cast with you or a wallet full of things. Do you not carry ID with you either?
Honestly tap2pay seems like very little advantage over a credit card for having to sacrafice privacy and the ability to control the software on my phone, but thats just me.
Or, touch wood, using cash!
Imagine the horror. Something that can even work if there’s no internet at all, like the cave man used…
Or, sarcasm aside, besides working properly offline, it doesn’t give money to evil companies like visa. Then with the phone there’s yet another evil company profiting from you. And giving people the idea that it’s impossible to live without doing so.
It’s a little extra convenience for those who like it, sure, but it’s crazy to say they can’t live without it.
🙄 first of all, I carry a very limited wallet with me most of the time, and I only have to carry a keychain when I’m in the US.
I was replying to the dismissive person above asking what to do when he loses his phone. Which is absurd in itself.
I will say that it is incredibly liberating to have my one device do almost everything else I care about, mapping, calendaring, communicating with people in meeting with, conducting my purchases, and providing podcasts or tunes all at the same time. I love that I have open source software for almost all of the functions, and well essentially all conglomerated businesses are evil, I trust Visa way more than I trust, say, Bitcoin, or BNPL vendors like Affirm, or Klarna.
I’m not going to handle cash money if I don’t have to because exchange rates are terrible and take margins at EACH transaction, are bulky, are prone to loss and are dirty, while my CC/Debit cards offer zero forex fees.
I value my privacy, and I make reasonable efforts to frustrate the algorithms’ models of me, but quit pretending we all have to be Mennonites, and purity testing your community …