Comment on Me when Valve releases a phone
daggermoon@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Unless it runs Linux, what’s the fucking point?
You know what, value releasing a Linux phone is actually plausible. Like, they could totally do it. Lots of people would like it, they could whether a new market with an idea they would be willing to play to that the establishment absolutely refuses to…
Dude, you joke but this is a plausible path the Linux phones going mainstream.
Openness. So far, Valve hardware offering is not trying to coerce you into a closed ecosystem, is not trying to forbid you from doing whatever the fuck you want with your device, and is not trying to force you to do things their way. They come with Steam, but you can basically do anything with them. Including removing Steam if you desire. And you can peek under the hood all you want.
The current mobile phone market is either walled garden jail from Apple, where you have to follow their value to the T, broken iphone where you have to jump through hoops to get something that may or may not survive the next update at the whim of our corporate overlords, or Android, which I like the most, where Google can pull a fast one on you installing an app by hand if they so desire (yes, I know they sort of walked back… for now).
Today, I see the phone I own as a necessary liability because of banking apps and such. I’d like a phone that would feel more like a device I own and can somewhat trust.
Is Valve the best player for that? No idea. But no current player is. At best we got some software offering built to support a very limited subset of hardware, and that software offering is still tied to the upstream (usually AOSP) playing nice.
Was gonna comment you misspelled SOAP 🧼, but just in case I did a quick joojle and it actually turns out it’s “Android Open Source Project” (for any other newbs like me reading this).
I think linux is the point. Because Valve has put SteamOS on their VR headset (which uses the same processor I have in my phone) it would be expected for them to do the same to a phone. Having a phone with an optimized emulator, a normal linux for arm desktop mode, and Steam built in would be very nice IMO, there are a lot of PC games that play fairly well with on-screen controls or even one of those controller phone cases that you can buy, and it’s very hard to find good mobile games in comparison. I have the app Winulator on my phone, which sort of does that same thing, except not insanely reliably, and with meh UX, and it can’t really run Steam (last I checked, I couldn’t get it to work, it might be easier now idk), and you can’t run linux x86 or ARM apps or windows ARM apps through it like I think people will be able to on the Steam frame.
dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Steam Deck: Already runs Linux.
GabeCube: Confirmed it will run Linux.
Steam Frame: Confirmed it will run Linux.
Obviously Valve has made no overtures whatsoever towards making a phone. But if they did, what on Earth would lead you to believe that it wouldn’t run Linux?
Amir@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
There being zero ecosystem for Linux phones, unlike the desktop.
You’d need an Android runtime layer.
sabin@lemmy.world 2 months ago
How many things to you really use your phone for anyway.
Personally all I need is the basic things like a camera app, maps, authenticator, web browser, pdf reader, note taker, clock, etc.
It’s really not that much
Omgpwnies@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Banking/financial apps are the biggest sticking point that I keep hearing about. They won’t run on a non-Google Android, let alone an AOSP container in Linux.
Holytimes@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
If a phone can’t do banking it’s literally a worthless brick and so unprofitable that a company would have to be actively suicidal to try to produce it at literally any scale above the absolute minimum.
That or it would have to be so absurdly expensive per unit that no one would buy it.
Or spec it so pathetically weak that even the most die hard of nerds wouldn’t want it.
There’s always selling it at a fat loss of course. But selling hardware isn’t like just doing a rom. So this can’t be as shitty or jank as android roms with no formal customer support behide it.
Which means a very high cost in software and support.
PeriodicallyPedantic@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
They’re famous for making (or at least greatly improving) such comparability layers.
Steam os can run Windows apps.
There is talk of steam frame (with an arm processor) running x86 apps.
So I say there would be a fair chance that we’d get decent compatibility/ Although idk if they actually would want to get into that market.