The Pinephone already exists, and costs $200 instead of $900.

The problem with Linux phones isn't that they don't exist, it's that they're an obscure OS that doesn't have literally billions of dollars of development to make the thing a bulletproof daily driver like Android has received. See Drew Devault's post on the issue.

The specs might be better on this phone (I'd hope so given the cost), but the specs don't really matter if the thing's running the same software and is just as unstable as a result.

As much as I'd like to see a viable alternative to Android phones that isn't Apple, until we see a significant adoption rate of Linux phones, we'd need to have an OS capable of running Android apps natively. Else it's just a linux desktop station in pocket format.

RK3588S ouch.

It's too much money and too much risk. 900 is not affordable.

I'm interested in an alternative, but just to try it out, Ubuntu touch that I can install on an old phone.

What is this, a sick joke? "Budget-friendly" and "entry-level" means "price similar to a PinePhone" (i.e. $200), not $900!

I hope this becomes a product that can be sold at a reasonable price. If so, I might buy one. Won't be holding my breath, though.

The price of the flagship actually seems reasonable considering the specs. Especially for a niche phone. But it's a kickstarter campaign so who knows if it will see the light of day and what the retail version might cost.

I could have missed it, but is there any mention somewhere of compatibility with existing android/iOS apps?

One of the reasons the windows phone died was a lack of apps as they entered the market too late and app devs weren't very keen on building the app on yet another platform.

I know PinePhone will probably never be ready like this but Purism should step up to get something like this out. They have their heads too far up their bung hole to see it through despite having good potential. PureOS is also Debian based, but this is good news. Never heard of them until now but if they're ethical about their hardware (they let us replace parts), then I wish them all the best.

At that price I'd rather take a chance on the furios phone.

To save money why are you not including 5g? What a weird thing to cut. How about cutting the extraneous second USB port first?

Is this price a high for the punch it packs? You have to wonder if they're subsidizing the development of an open source OS with a higher price of the phone.

FWIW, regarding price: The "Tesla model" of creating a new market (EVs that didn't suck) worked. Have the die-hards pay premium for luxury/performance enabling the profit needed to produce cheaper models too.

The pain point for a new mobile OS will always be a few critical apps like government ID, national payment systems etc. Those that you simply must have on a phone for it to be a viable daily driver.

"budget phone" that’s more expensive than a new flagship iphone

and has ancient hardware

and doesn’t have 5G

i sure wonder why linux phones aren’t taking off!!!

The one concern I have is that banks are app only more and more, not being able to run banking apps (is that the case?) Is a no go for me.