▲ 418 ▼ Mobile Linux OS PostmarketOS finances smartphone audio & Call reliability projects (postmarketos.org) submitted 10 months ago by juergen@feddit.org to c/linux@lemmy.ml 47 comments fedilink hide all child comments
[–] cdzero@lemmy.ml 4 points 10 months ago (1 child) Why is that? (Genuine curiosity) permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 2 child comments replies: [–] aaravchen@lemmy.zip 17 points 10 months ago (2 children) Most of the chips in a smartphone are made by Qualcomm, both processors and peripheral chips like 5G modem, LTE modem, WiFi, and Bluetooth. Qualcomm chips require proprietary binary blobs to function, and usually only have a support lifetime of about 2 years. They also only supply those blobs to the manufacturer of the device. permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 4 child comments replies: [–] eldebryn@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago (1 child) Now I wish we had riscV mobile phones too... permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 2 child comments replies: [–] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 6 points 10 months ago Pine64 I think said they're making the next Pinephone when they can make it RISC-V. Which either means they're enthusiastic about the pace of RISC-V development, or they don't want to make a new phone anytime soon. permalink fedilink source parent [–] cdzero@lemmy.ml 2 points 10 months ago (1 child) Ah that makes sense. Thanks. permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 2 child comments replies: [–] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 4 points 10 months ago Qualcomm being what they are is the reason Apple was able to provide a better lifespan for their phones for like a decade (you'd get 5-6 years of iOS major version upgrades compared to 0-2 on Android phones). Google actually pushed the Android ecosystem to do better by creating its' own Tensor SoCs which they support for longer... But they don't really make the drivers for those open source either. So we're still not doing better in that regard. permalink fedilink source parent
[–] aaravchen@lemmy.zip 17 points 10 months ago (2 children) Most of the chips in a smartphone are made by Qualcomm, both processors and peripheral chips like 5G modem, LTE modem, WiFi, and Bluetooth. Qualcomm chips require proprietary binary blobs to function, and usually only have a support lifetime of about 2 years. They also only supply those blobs to the manufacturer of the device. permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 4 child comments replies: [–] eldebryn@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago (1 child) Now I wish we had riscV mobile phones too... permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 2 child comments replies: [–] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 6 points 10 months ago Pine64 I think said they're making the next Pinephone when they can make it RISC-V. Which either means they're enthusiastic about the pace of RISC-V development, or they don't want to make a new phone anytime soon. permalink fedilink source parent [–] cdzero@lemmy.ml 2 points 10 months ago (1 child) Ah that makes sense. Thanks. permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 2 child comments replies: [–] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 4 points 10 months ago Qualcomm being what they are is the reason Apple was able to provide a better lifespan for their phones for like a decade (you'd get 5-6 years of iOS major version upgrades compared to 0-2 on Android phones). Google actually pushed the Android ecosystem to do better by creating its' own Tensor SoCs which they support for longer... But they don't really make the drivers for those open source either. So we're still not doing better in that regard. permalink fedilink source parent
[–] eldebryn@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago (1 child) Now I wish we had riscV mobile phones too... permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 2 child comments replies: [–] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 6 points 10 months ago Pine64 I think said they're making the next Pinephone when they can make it RISC-V. Which either means they're enthusiastic about the pace of RISC-V development, or they don't want to make a new phone anytime soon. permalink fedilink source parent
[–] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 6 points 10 months ago Pine64 I think said they're making the next Pinephone when they can make it RISC-V. Which either means they're enthusiastic about the pace of RISC-V development, or they don't want to make a new phone anytime soon. permalink fedilink source parent
[–] cdzero@lemmy.ml 2 points 10 months ago (1 child) Ah that makes sense. Thanks. permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 2 child comments replies: [–] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 4 points 10 months ago Qualcomm being what they are is the reason Apple was able to provide a better lifespan for their phones for like a decade (you'd get 5-6 years of iOS major version upgrades compared to 0-2 on Android phones). Google actually pushed the Android ecosystem to do better by creating its' own Tensor SoCs which they support for longer... But they don't really make the drivers for those open source either. So we're still not doing better in that regard. permalink fedilink source parent
[–] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 4 points 10 months ago Qualcomm being what they are is the reason Apple was able to provide a better lifespan for their phones for like a decade (you'd get 5-6 years of iOS major version upgrades compared to 0-2 on Android phones). Google actually pushed the Android ecosystem to do better by creating its' own Tensor SoCs which they support for longer... But they don't really make the drivers for those open source either. So we're still not doing better in that regard. permalink fedilink source parent