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.

  • muusemuuse@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
    213·
    2 months ago

    1 - you arent. You dont need to. They have it other ways. Tap to pay is done on device with a revokable token. If the device is stolen, the token can’t be easily accessed and can be remotely wiped at any time, unlike a stolen card which you have to call in to disable and even that doesn’t always go over well. 2 - Bluetooth doesn’t give me maps or a UI to access my music, podcasts, etc. 3 - feature parity wins people over. You aren’t going to bring people in to the ecosystem by selling on having less. You can sell on mandating less, but opening with “here are the things a Linux phones CANT do” will never get this off the ground.

    • guismo@aussie.zoneEnglish
      104·
      2 months ago

      That’s the problem. The things you think “people” need is what they already have and it can’t be different. “I want to trust everything on a company online but I want my data to be private and safe.” You have to choose. For those people who think they “need” what you say, they already have apple and Google.

      Just like Linux was never meant to replicate windows “features” like cortana and others, and it didn’t, and it works for those who don’t want those things which is why they want Linux.

      The requirements for Linux to have your “needs” would make me not want it, and then it would just be a poor version of apple without the trillions of dollars that come with it. It wouldn’t please either side.

      The things open source people care will always be a minority. It’s sad but it’s the reality.

    • NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zip
      74·
      2 months ago

      Bluetooth works fine (or should work fine) with music, podcasts etc. I do it now with a phone, it’s a standard I don’t see why a mobile device running Linux would be any different.

      As for maps, the voice goes over Bluetooth so I don’t see an issue there either.

      • MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        6·
        2 months ago

        You can’t choose a specific playlist or album over Bluetooth via the head unit is what they were saying. And with the maps some people don’t like to have the voice on and prefer to actually be able to glance at a map when needed, on the head unit.

        • NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zip
          3·
          2 months ago

          True, but then again I dont want to mess with any screen while I am driving. I line up a couple of podcasts or episodes and that is several hours right there. Or stream from my server, and just line up what i want. I can still skip fast forward change tracks, and I don’t see why, on a linux phone, I couldnt make the blue tooth inputs do more if I mapped them that way.

          • MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            1·
            2 months ago

            It’s just good in those moments where things have fucked up for some reason and you can either quickly stop at the side and easily deal with it on the head unit or if there’s no traffic around you can slow down and touch the buttons you need to bit by bit while keeping an eye on the road. Or, even better, if you have a co-driver they can sort it for you on a screen that both you and them are able to deal with.

            • NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zip
              3·
              2 months ago

              Its funny, because that is my experience with carplay, but not my devices.

              Car play fucks up. One of the reasons I don’t want it.

              I just want a touchscreen cast. Is that too much to ask?

              • MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
                4·
                2 months ago

                Touch screen cast would be awesome too. I’d love for there to either be that or an open android auto/car play standard. The former would probably be easier and I imagine some aftermarket head units have that functionality already.

                I’ve actually wanted to DIY a head unit at some point and getting a good satnav experience on it would be key to it being a daily DRIVER.