PINE64 releases a consumer version of the PineTime, its US$26.99 smartwatch
PINE64 has re-released its developer-friendly PineTime smartwatch. This time, PINE64 aims the PineTime at consumers but without hiking the price up. The revised model is pre-built, comes with an OS installed and is IP67 water resistant.
July update: community developers portal
Let me start with really good news for those of you waiting (im)patiently to get their hands on a PineTime: I've just learned that the production of the new batch of PineTime is going well and, if everything goes according to plan, then single sealed PineTime units should be available when this post goes live! These PineTimes are flashed with the latest versions of the bootloader of and InfiniTime, so that you'll be able to get the most out of your watch the moment you receive it.
As we announced last month, the factory was waiting for this release to start the production of the new batch of PineTimes. As a reminder: the ongoing component shortage forced PINE64 to use a slightly different accelerometer for this new batch, since the original one was not available anymore, and InfiniTime needed to add support for this new chip to ensure features like step counting and wake on wrist rotation would work as expected.
Is it eWaste? You decide.
Related: PinePhone Braveheart Linux Smartphone Begins Shipping
Pine64 Unveils Quartz64 (Model A) Single Board Computer
Drought in Taiwan Could Cause Shortages of Single Board Computers and Other Products
Related Stories
The GNU/Linux-based smartphone, PinePhone, has begun shipping. It uses the same Quad-Core ARM Cortex A53 64-Bit System on a Chip (SOC) as the the Pine64 Single Board Computer (SBC) and thus it also runs mainstream GNU/Linux. The goal is to provide a hardware platform for a wider variety of Linux-on-Phone projects. Hardware availability is expected to be five years.
Lilliputing: PinePhone Braveheart Linux smartphone begins shipping January 17th
The PinePhone is an inexpensive smartphone designed to run Linux-based operating systems. Developed by the folks at Pine64, the $150 smartphone was first announced about a year ago — and this week the first units will ship.
Herald Writer: The PinePhone begins delivery—a Linux-powered smartphone for $150
The PinePhone is powered through an Allwinner A64 SoC, which options 4 Cortex A53 CPUs at 1.2GHz, constructed on an attractive historical 40nm procedure. This is similar chip the corporate makes use of at the PINE A64 unmarried board pc, a Raspberry Pi competitor. There are 2GB of RAM, a Mali-400 GPU, 16GB of garage, and a 2750mAh battery. The rear digicam is 5MP, the entrance digicam is 2MP, the show is a 1440×720 IPS LCD, and the battery is detachable. There is a headphone jack, a USB-C port, and strengthen for a MicroSD slot, which you'll if truth be told boot running techniques off of. The mobile modem is a big separate chip this is soldered onto the motherboard: a Quectel EG25-G.
Earlier on SN:
PinePhone Linux Smartphone Priced at $149 to Arrive This Year (2019)
Librem 5 Backers Have Begun Receiving Their Linux Phones (2019)
Pine64 unveils Quartz64 SBC powered by Rockchip RK3566 SoC
We may just have written about Geniatech RK3566/RK3568 development board, but as expected, Pine64 has now unveiled more details about Quartz64 SBC powered by Rockchip RK3566 SoC.
As we'll see below, the design is very similar to RK3399 based RockPro64, but the new model adds a native SATA 3.0 port, an integrated battery charging circuitry, an ePD port for e-Ink displays, and supports more memory with up to 8GB LPDDR4 RAM.
[...] It's nice to have SATA, but as I understand it, the board relies on one of the multi-PHY Interfaces from RK3566 processor with SATA and USB 3.0 being multiplexed, meaning you can use SATA 3.0 if you don't use USB 3.0, and use USB 3.0 if you don't use SATA.
Pine64 is also working on a ~$15 RISC-V single board computer, using the XuanTie C906.
Pine64 Blog - February Update: Show and Tell.
Related: How PINE64 is Creating a Device-Design Community to Compete with Raspberry Pi
Chip shortage and high prices threaten supplies of SBCs and other electronics products
A few weeks ago, we started to hear news about a chip shortage for the automotive industry, but the shortage appears to be affecting all sectors now apparently due to a drought in Taiwan where a reservoir could be a risk of being depleted, and TSMC has been asked to reduce its water usage by 7 percent.
I've also started to see several companies in the maker market warn about shortages and price increases. Pine64 announced it would only open pre-order for PinePhone, PinebookPro, PineTab, and other products once they could secure stocks of components, and while they hope to be able to do so within this month, there's no guarantee.
Ameridroid also reported that Hardkernel and another unnamed manufacturer expected really large delays possibly into 2022.
Raspberry Pi least affected?
We asked Raspberry Pi creator and Chief Executive of Raspberry Pi Trading, Eben Upton, to comment on this issue. "We're not expecting any impact from this (or the other factors causing tightness in global supply chains) at present: we're getting great support from our component vendor partners."
Companies like Qualcomm are being affected by several other problems:
(Score: 2) by The Vocal Minority on Saturday July 17 2021, @12:11PM (4 children)
So I guess it is about time I broke out the old PinePhone to see if it is usable a year after I got it :)
Seriously though, I am very hopeful about having devices available that are less sketchy than the Apple or Android based ones - best of luck to the people who are working on this.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 17 2021, @04:22PM (1 child)
> about time I broke out the old PinePhone to see if it is usable
https://sxmo.org [sxmo.org]
(Score: 2) by The Vocal Minority on Sunday July 18 2021, @12:16PM
Thanks, but lack of MMS support is the big problem for me, which seems to be common across all "distros".
(Score: 3, Informative) by richtopia on Saturday July 17 2021, @04:44PM (1 child)
Same here, I bought the Mobian version a few months ago mostly to support the project. Hours within buying it, the GUI updater didn't seem to be working so I opened the terminal and sudo apt-get update. Something went wrong and I couldn't make any inputs to accept one of the installers and a hard reset resulted in my phone not booting.
Since the weather has been nice, I haven't spent the time to learn how to flash my phone. I know it is possible but it isn't a priority.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Saturday July 17 2021, @08:33PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 17 2021, @02:54PM (1 child)
The pinetime is basically the "colmi p8". I've had one for months with vendor software. I've wanted to try bangle.js and the pine firmwares but none of them have sleep tracking so I kept it stock. Watch lasts about a week and I don't use the BT integration.. I can just look at my phone and its bigger screen.
I'd love to buy a legit pinteime but it ships from china for a good bit of money. The clones are even drying up a bit now. This thing took forever to release. If it shipped from the US it might be a better deal.
As a fitness tracker the sensors are terrible. The old mi bands were much better. The pine software barely even supports those functions. It is kinda the modern day casio tho... just more money and with weekly charging.
I think pine just back writes firmware for cheap china products. And with no stock in the US, it's like ordering from ali express or ebay international. The "good shit" is probably the old pebl watches that had accurate sensors and much better dev support. Too much of the new and "improved" gadgetry is just overpriced spyware. Do what though will.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday July 17 2021, @03:43PM
Smartwatches will be interesting to me when they are able to emit Star Wars or Iron Man style 3D projections (so-called "holograms"). Maybe in the 2030s. On the other hand, augmented reality glasses are probably a much better idea. Looks like Apple will jump in that arena next year. [notebookcheck.net]
The "tricorder" aspect is also interesting, although it seems like it would need to draw blood before it could give incredibly useful health information. Unless you are worried about something that it can already detect, like heart failure.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]