this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2024
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Any Linux phone is DOA for the foreseeable future because of the cellular radios.
You can get laptops that have 5G radios that you can use for data with Linux.
As I understand it, there's no support for voice/SMSes at the radio level, but in theory, if you were willing to tolerate it and your cell service provider offers support, you could do WiFi calling.
Could also get service from a random other VoIP provider, use that over the data connection.
Probably not as battery-efficient, requires more of the stack to be awake to be listening for incoming calls.
I think that a larger downside is that Android software is designed for a touch screen and low power usage and low data usage across the board, and GNU/Linux software generally isn't.
I imagine the lack of voice support presents some compliance issues with emergency calls.
Mmmm. I dunno. You're talking about location availability off the hardware?
Last month, I had to call 911 when some random druggie lit what I thought was a building on fire across the street from my car (it turned out to just be a bonfire in the parking lot; figured that out while running over). I didn't know the cross-street for my location, and asked the dispatcher if she could just send the fire department to the location she got from my cell phone via E911. She had no idea what I was talking about, needed me to manually provide location.
So I'm not totally sure, at least in the US, what the compliance requirements are for availability of location information.
If you're talking about 911 usability without logging into a phone from a lock screen, I don't think that that'd create any issues -- that's all software, can do whatever if you're doing the OS.
More referring to selling a device classified as a mobile phone that might not be able to connect to emergency services without any tinkering. My google-fu is failing me now, but I'm trying to see what the actual requirements are, if they exist at all, to sell a mobile phone. All I'm seeing is that the radio shall connect to any available base stations during an emergency call regardless of subscriber status.
I don't know how the linux phone OS's are handling these kind of interactions with their baseband processing, if at all.
This is handled in the modem Firmware. Linux just has to supply "User has dialed number x, go into emergency mode" and then route the audio.
This is solved for all Linux phones as far as I know. From Openmoko over N900 till Librem 5.
E911 is a thing in some places and not in others depending on what each county dispatch wants to do and pay for. It does require some call center upgrades as I recall when I was working EMS and fire. It was kind of sketchy when I was working. But, everything is a bit sketchy when working in a very rural area in public safety.
We can say that for any kind of drivers needed to run a mobile phone.\ Manufacturers of components are less and less providing any documentation, just throw a binary blob and say "put it in your Android build".
They didn't say Linux phone though, it could still be android with a custom ROM.
Eh, Pinephone and Librem 5 made it work, but there's still a fair amount of software limitations here, and I didn't think Framework should be a software company. But the radios themselves probably aren't the blocker you make them out to be.
They absolutely did not make it work. Go read any of the reviews and the complete unreliability of the cellular functions of both devices are chief among the criticisms.
My understanding is that those issues are due to suspend to save battery life, which isn't directly related to the radios. A more appropriate SOC (i.e. one designed for mobile use) would probably be more reliable with the same radios they selected when going on standby.