I’ve been using my OnePlus 6t since launch and love it, but I am very interested in Linux phones now. I’ve been an early adopter before, but it’s finally getting where I think I need it to be to try. I pretty much only do basic phone functions and emulation. Would a Pinephone Pro have the power to run something like a Wii or 3ds game? What about an older ported game like STALKER? Curious just how much it could do

  • CalcProgrammer1
    12·
    1 year ago

    The OnePlus 6T outperforms the PinePhone Pro by quite a bit. The OnePlus 6T is actually a pretty good Linux phone these days with postmarketOS. I picked one up to use as a Linux phone (as well as a OnePlus 6 now, but that one’s running Android). I used the PinePhone for about a year, the PinePhone Pro for about a year, and now I’ve been using the OnePlus 6T as my daily driver for 6 months or so. I ended up getting the OnePlus 6 (non-T) and leaving it as an Android phone though, picking up a second SIM card because I had call audio issues on both Linux phones so I told people to just call me on my Android number. I still mainly use the Linux phone for everything else because the software ecosystem works so much better for me.

    Pros of OnePlus 6T:

    • Much better battery life (can last most of a day with screen off)

    • Much better performance

    • Much better GPU - Full OpenGL and Vulkan support on the OP6T

    • Much lower power consumption (doesn’t get anywhere near as hot)

    • Louder speaker

    • Better Bluetooth (my BT headphones lag to an unusable degree on the PinePhone and PinePhone Pro when there are other devices around, but are usable on the OnePlus 6T)

    • Higher resolution, brighter, OLED screen

    Cons of OnePlus 6T

    • Bootloader is proprietary and cannot be replaced

    • Android boot and partition scheme

    • Call audio doesn’t work reliably, sometimes calls will have no sound

    • Modem doesn’t receive calls unless it is forced to 2G mode, which limits Internet speed (texts seem fine though) likely due to missing VoLTE

    • Sensors (rotation, ambient light, etc) require testing an open merge request at the moment, but it does work

    • No USB host mode support (software/driver limitation)

    • No external display support (apparently hardware limitation)

    • No headphone jack (the OnePlus 6 does have it though)

    • No SD card slot

    • No removable battery

    • Cameras don’t work at all

    • No keyboard case option

    Pros of PinePhone Pro

    • Better Linux support overall

    • More OS choices

    • More bootloader choices, which include completely open options

    • SD card slot

    • Headphone jack

    • Removable battery

    • Keyboard case option

    • Cameras work to a degree

    • Much more repairable

    Cons of PinePhone Pro

    • Eats battery like no other phone I’ve ever used, the keyboard case is almost a must-have just for usable battery life

    • Gets quite hot while eating battery

    • Lacks more modern OpenGL versions, Vulkan support

    • Modem has a tendency to disconnect and reconnect occasionally, even with open source modem firmware

    • Call audio can have some static or distortion, especially on your end (the microphone)

    • Keyboard case makes using it as a phone cumbersome

    • DrYak@mstdn.science
      3·
      1 year ago

      @CalcProgrammer1 @LeylaLove

      Extra point regarding power consumption:

      It’s possible to trade a small sub-part of the open U-Boot bootloader and use a proprietary T-FA and DRAM initialisation from Rockchip that enables DRAM downclocking on the phone’s RK3399 and this saves a ton of power, bringing the PinePhone Pro to a much more usable range.

      See here: https://xnux.eu/log/091.html

      I’ve been using that together with SailfishOS on mine.
      I might try this rk2aw+drbin+U-Boot on my PineBook Pro, too.

      • CalcProgrammer1
        3·
        1 year ago

        It has OpenGL 3.1 IIRC. The Panfrost developers have said that Vulkan is not going to happen for Midgard GPUs, which is what the PinePhone Pro has. Later OpenGL versions still may be possible.

  • wildbus8979@sh.itjust.works
    10·
    1 year ago

    You’re in luck… The OnePlus 6t is one of the best supported, non purpose built, phone for Linux with support from both PostmarketOS and Mobian!

  • Corroded@leminal.spaceEnglish
    6·
    1 year ago

    Would a Pinephone Pro have the power to run something like a Wii or 3ds game? What about an older ported game like STALKER? Curious just how much it could do

    No. I think it peaks at Dreamcast and PSP emulation and even then I can’t speak for the quality. I don’t think STALKER would even support the architecture. There are some ways around that but I don’t think the performance would be great.