PinePhone Convergence Package turns the inexpensive smartphone into a Linux desktop PC

Pine64 is back with a new limited-edition Linux smartphone for Linux enthusiasts. The new PinePhone Convergence Package comes with a PinePhone Community Edition aimed at the PostmarketOS community. PostmarketOS is based on the Alpine Linux distro and comes with a built-in smartphone and desktop interface. To help the smartphone work on monitor in desktop mode, the Convergence Package also comes with a docking station that includes two USB-A ports, an HDMI port and a 10/100Mbps Ethernet port.

Pine64 is quick to highlight that the preinstalled PostmarketOS is an Alpha software build and that, as such, it cannot be considered a consumer-ready product. Pine64 says that the core functionality of the phone such telephone calls, SMS messages, LTE, GPS, GPU acceleration is operational but that the operating system is very much an ongoing effort but this edition exists to reach the goal of an all-purpose device.

The PinePhone Community Edition smartphone isn’t going to set any smartphone benchmarks alight powered as it is by an Allwinner quad-core 1.2 GHz ARM Cortex-A53. This is mated to 3 GB of LPDDR3 SDRAM and 32 GB of eMMC storage. It centers on a 1440 x 720 5.95-inch IPS LCD display with an 18:9 aspect ratio. It is also fitted with a modest 2750-3000 mAh battery, although it is removable. It also supports up to 15 W fast charging, which is handy.

The PinePhone Community Edition Convergence Package is up for pre-order now at US$199 including the dock and will ship in late August.