Linux-powered PinePhone Pro shows off faster performance in first official demo

Pine64 has been selling ARM-powered Linux devices for years, such as the PinePhone, a low-end smartphone with a (mostly) open hardware and software design. The PinePhone Pro was announced last month as an upgraded model with improved hardware, and even though the initial model for developers isn’t shipping yet, the phone has now been shown off on video by Pine64.

Lukasz Erecinski, Community Manager at Pine64, shared his impressions of the phone in the company’s November update article. “Obviously everything I am about to write is fundamentally biased,” he said, “but I will stand by every word I write – no PR-speak, I promise. The device is fast, very fast when compared to the original PinePhone and other similar devices.” Erecinski recorded a short video of the phone, where it appears to be (roughly) as responsive as a modern mid-range Android phone.

Keep in mind that the video is showing off very pre-production software, and even when the PinePhone Pro starts shipping in December, software developers will be the only intended buyers. Once the Linux-powered operating system reaches a mature state, Pine64 will likely open up orders to more people. “Obviously we’re just the very beginning of development, so you can expect the experience to further improve in months to come as software matures and becomes more refined,” the article said.

The PinePhone Pro is powered by a Rockchip RK399S hexa-core processor running at 1.5GHz, with 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM, 128GB of internal eMMC flash storage, a microSD card slot (for extra storage or testing other operating systems), a 13MP main camera sensor, and a 5MP front camera. Just like the original PinePhone, there are hardware switches for the cameras, microphone, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth, headphone jack, and LTE modem, so you can know for sure that applications can’t listen to you or check camera feeds if you don’t want to use those features.

Pine64 originally opened pre-orders at $399, but according to the company, “the number of applications far exceeded available dev units.” If you want to know when the phone is available for purchase again, keep an eye out on Pine64’s Twitter and Mastodon accounts, as well as the official Discord server.

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