Well, I love my good old Redmi Note 4 Pro (mido) running postmarketOS. Granted, it's not a daily driver. But yeah, I'm excited enough to install Plasma OS.
this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2025
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Burns just a little bit
Is there any decent way to run Plasma Mobile in Termux by now?
The way that I see, Linux phones will only get traction when we are able to install android apps and use high end spec phones with good security. I hope that I'm wrong.
Liberux NEXX is supposed to be a thing but they sorely need backers. It costs about the same as an equivalent Android phone (pixel 9 pro 1tb costs $1,500, liberux nexx 1tb costs $1,300).
8 core/32gb RAM/1TB storage phone in a very sleek body, Linux phones could have their flagship soon (and unlike pinephone it sounds like Liberux is gonna do the actual work on developing the software).
I've noticed that my Poco F1 with 1/3 more battery but a good enough CPU runs around 3 times as long as my 5 years newer OnePlus 9, both running LineageOS 22 and same usage.
Maybe we are way past the curve where more processing power means shorter processing times/more energy savings vs. going full power for every little bit.
In summary, why would you still pay over $400 for a phone nowadays, if all you get is a better camera (which still doesn't make noticeably better photos) and less battery time?
Because carriers are smart and greedy and lobbied the government to sell a block of spectrum that is only used in the US for 5g, so if you want good connectivity in the us, you have to buy a phone from them at 3 times the price.
Well, in the case of the liberux and the 9 pro, you get a lot more storage space built in (very fast storage), way more RAM, etc.
Its up to you whether that's all worth it. To me it is, I max out sub-$400 phones very quickly. The pinephone feels very choppy to use too by comparison.
I think RK3588S is nowhere near Pixel 9 CPU.
That's a good callout. I'm not super familiar with it, do you know how it might bench against the Tensor G4?
Here is the comparison with Tensor G4.
RK3588S is a bit slower then Snapdragon 865, which is 5 year old.
Wow, that's quite the difference. What's more shocking to me though is the fact that the rockchip somehow is built to handle a higher resolution than the tensor despite being weaker (8k@60fps vs 4k@60fps), and has AV1 support where the tensor doesn't.
Interesting observation!
Honestly, I'd buy a phone with RK3588S, but $1,300 is overkill. I'd rather much prefer to downscale other specs to make it around 400-500$.
Well, waydroid exists and pixel bootloaders are still unlockable. Plus fairphone specs aren't too bad so it's plausible in the future.
Awesome progress! What Linux phones do you use?
I have a PinePhone Pro, but it's quite low-end...
Can't see instructions on how to use it, do I need to do anything non trivial on my phone? Should I test it on an old phone?
You'd need an operating system that uses it. It's going to be at least as difficult as flashing a custom rom, but likely even more so, as there might not be a ready-made build. Definitely something to experiment with on a secondary phone. PostmarketOS is your best bet, here are others that support Plasma Mobile.
Last time i tried plasma mobile it was unbearably slow (even slower then the normal unbearably slow) so i switched to phosh, but I would like to try it again so let's see if these updates made it any more usable.
UPDATE: Honestly i'm impressed, it might be because currently im not running waydroid beside it like i did on my previous Phosh install but it feels very responsive. With the angelfish browser providing a way better experience then firefox. The battery life is still very bad but outside that this could be used as a regular phone.
Great news, I also found Plamo a bit sluggish in the past! Will give it a go!
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