Comment by Nifty3929
3 hours ago
I love the idea of the privacy switch, but I want more: I want a hard, electromechanical switch for each of: Mic, camera, GPS, wifi, cell, bluetooth. These can be tiny and aesthetically pleasing, as long as I can easily flip on/off the one I want.
The problem with having a single button, even configurable, is that it's all-or-nothing, and I might want different things at different times.
But thanks so much for taking the first step!
The PinePhone has 6 dip switches for this 1. modem, 2 Wifi/BT, 3. Mic 4, rear cam, 5. front cam, 6. headphone / serial port. They say it will stay in production for 2 more years, but a lot of the accessories (LoRa cover, keyboard, etc) are already gone.
If nothing else it is a fun platform to hack on. I'm currently hacking a toy OS for it, and the documentation for the SoC is fairly complete. I'd love an updated phone like this Jolly orange Jolla to hack on, but not at that price, and seems like it might be locked down.
If it catches traction, there will be usb-connected phone cases that expose these switches to physical controls.
I do not really understand what you mean by this. Can you elaborate or clarify what you mean?
I mean since it's linux phone with (hopefully) open architecture, it should be possible to create an external usb device that exposes any functionality.
Like, to keep core functionality simple and open it for extensions ("extra battery", "knobs and switches", "ethernet" etc)
I don't think that's what anyone means by "physical controls" and if they do, then they don't know what they are talking about.
"Physical controls" are those that you can physically sense. My point was everyone needs different things, so it's possible to keep core functionality simple and let users add what they need, via extensions. Like dongle hell but better.