Unless it runs Linux, what’s the fucking point?
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?
There being zero ecosystem for Linux phones, unlike the desktop.
You’d need an Android runtime layer.
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
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.
Anything I can do through my banking app I could just as email do through the browser
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).
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 enter 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.
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.
Do you guys not have phones?
I have a dumb flip phone. I would love to have a smart phone that wants to sell me games rather than spy on me.
Edit: I could play the hell out of Dispatch on this bitch.
Yes, but we despise the companies behind them. Valve is still in good graces after all this time.
I have one
Jebus. Ya, I’ll take Valve’s bloatware compared to anyone else’s … so far.
Until they get in bed with Facebook.
And push some new AI girlfriend on me.Goddamn I wish I could build a custom phone OS like Arch. I would actually take the time and do that.
When I get a new phone, it takes me a couple weeks to strip out all the crap without disabling the devices primary functions. Lotta breaking shit and rolling back. It takes for fukin ever.I know open linux phones are on the horizon, at least to some degree.
And when its a legit option, I’ll shell out for a customizable phone.
Until then, I’ll stick to my lobotomized moto-g.Goddamn I wish I could build a custom phone OS like Arch. I would actually take the time and do that.
You totally can. Android phones are basically a Linux kernel with a nice GUI. Just find the appropriate modules for your specific hardware, then assemble a suitable set of software to provide an user interface, and voila. We even already have good support for touch screen, phone calls, and a lot of other things available as separate pieces. I’m sure people will be happy to have this, myself included. Oh, and once you get all the pieces, remember to fix all the weird quirks, who would want a phone where the gyroscope stop working when you enable the camera, right?
What? That’s too much work? Yeah. That’s exactly why people are seeking for a large, resourceful entity to do that. Because it requires a truckload of time, effort, and knowledge. Today, “building” a linux distro is possible because of the vast amount of effort invested in it for decades.
So ya. Building your own is not a legit option yet. When it becomes more feasible, I’ll be one of the early adopters.
You people need to learn the differences between public and private companies
wat
I’ll take Valve’s bloatware compared to anyone else’s
Damn right!
Until they get in bed with Facebook.
Absolute worst possible move!
And push some new AI girlfriend on me.
Woah woah woah, let’s not be hasty now, let em cook, that could be good.
Bawwhahahah!!! k. … but I don’t do that on my phone …
Having a Linux phone that has chroot compartments for Android apps is the dream.
Fuck it, just make them work like Flatpaks or snaps and run a minimal android session on top of virtual hardware and install like normal.
Steam Xperia Linux phone would be a dream. I think if a Steam phone did well then other companies like Asus would jump into Linux phone.
Then suddenly we get mainstream alternatives to Android.
You mean the one with PlayStation integration? Fuck yeah.
The one that you could slide out to find it has dpad and buttons to use for games.
I was just checking that yesterday, and there was the opportunity to have something equivalent to a “steam phone” with https://liberux.net/#specs , but the indiegogo failed.
One that is actually sold is the Furiphone , which is under finalization of software update., and has chroot for Android apps with Waydroid. check the links ! 😊
The GNU organization just announced a Linux phone a couple weeks ago
Not quite. FSF (Free Software Foundation) announced the Librephone project. Its goal is to work towards having phone hardware with open firmware. They are still in the phase of finding out what that entails.
They are not making a phone. It’s more a campaign of nudging other manufacturers in that direction.
Not exactly that but Jolla might be interesting for you. I had the first edition of the device in 2014 and I loved it.
Thry finally released a second gen hardware last year I think.
BlackBerry had a separate walled/secured android instance a long time ago. I wish that more people bought the phone. Jolla is interesting, but I really want the banking apps to work.
Gaming on a phone is an abomination. There are many fun time wasters but I want a phone that does less, not more. Internet, Camera, GPS, done.
Valve: “there are things phones are good at. There are things phones are bad at. And there theres the failed attempts to blur the lines. We here at valve have watched others spin their wheels stuck in the mud with their brilliant efforts to make terrible ideas work. We have a different idea….
What about a phone that just does phone things and when it needs heavier lifting, it doesn’t rape your battery or wallet to get it done? Instead, it seamlessly reaches out to your already powerful gaming rig at home? You install an app on our phone, and that tells your pc at home to install the same app automatically. Now when you tap that icon on the Home Screen, your phone taps into the massive power and connivence of an already working rig at home and streams it to your device!
We are compatible with backbone, Xbox and PlayStation, and of course steam machine controllers.
We here at valve don’t see the merit of spending tons of money marketing a compromise. Sell it once. Do it right. If we do the damn job right, you’ll come back for more. No abusive lock ins.
We call it the steam whistle. Small, portable, cheap, but everyone will notice it.”
Tell me Valve can’t market that.
The market for a setup like that would be pretty small. The average person just has a craptop that isn’t switched on most of the time. Many don’t even bother with that.
Wake on lan. Done
Now when you tap that icon on the Home Screen, your phone taps into the massive power and connivence of an already working rig at home and streams it to your device!
??? Steam link came out in 2018 and is still available.
Moonlight, Sunshine and Xbox have also been a thing for a very long time.
Or are you mocking their failed Steam Machine?
I’m not talking about those. The idea here is the apps still look and behave like local apps. You don’t open an app to open an app. One tap and it just does the thing.
One tap and it just does the thing.
Moonlight already does that. You can have an icon on your home screen that when you click it automatically loads a stream connection to your home PC and runs that game.
Is that a Cave Johnson voice I hear?
Which they could also use in the promotional materials! Godamnit they have so many options!
Friend, you sounded a bit mad. Like Cave. Enthusiastic. Alright. Let’s eat moon dust!
Okay there are probably better names but I’m drunk and don’t have access to my full vocabulary at the moment.
Side quest: a Serena Special is jagermeister, goldschlager, rumpleminze, and a splash of 151. It’s not a drink to be enjoyed. It’s a drink with a job to do. A drink with a career. A gainfully employed beverage. It pays taxes.
Do with that what you will.
No, I actually do like Steam Whistle. It goes well with the rest of Valve’s nomenclature. I figured people would just like to see an old-timey picture of the past.
…who invented that
A drag queen in the area named Serena Hunter. The idea is you get drunk fast. Down this and go on stage. It hits you like a train and everyone gets to watch you deal with it.
Add well, whatever floats their goat I guess
if steam made a phone it wouldn’t be
I’m probly stating the obvious. I’m usually a little behind the curve
… But this steamframe thing … It’s already a phone, pretty much.
It just needs different apps now.So … Steam just DID make a phone.
get rid of the vr stuff and add a normal touchscreen instead, make the UI a bit more phone-like, add a cellular connection, get rid of monochrome and add color cameras, make it a little thinner, integrate the battery, add a bunch of phone apps (calculator, texts, calls, browser, notes, email, camera, etc)
computing-wise, it is very similar tho, it has the exact same processor that’s in my phone, just a bit more ram, can be configured to have the same amount of storage
I just looked through the PC Gamer article from 3 days ago. They tore it down a bit. Ya, its pretty VR specific hardware. Looks pretty cool, actually. But it’s two screens built in a curved visor-shaped case. That aint no phone.
I was being silly to point out that it would be very easy for them to jump to just making phones. They are mostly there.
You know, I would 100% buy a phone from them if it runs Linux
If you have a phone with Android, it already runs Linux.
I unfortunately do not, and come on, you know that’s not what I’m talking about
~
With the amount of work they are putting in compatibility layers technology, I wouldn’t be surprised if you could run The Witcher 3 on it out of the box.
people are saying that the witcher 3 works really well with the winulator app (uses wine and box86, which i’ve heard usually performs a tiny bit better than FEX, what valve is using, at the cost of occasional innacuracies)
not disagreeing, but if you just want to run the witcher 3 on your phone you can do it right now
Yep u can use gamehub lite, winlator and gamemative to play pc games on android natively. Here’s an example witcher 3 is running at 30fps on Ultra settings. Btw try gamehub lite since it removes all the bloat and provacy invasive stuff from the original version.
We really live in crazy times
Me too, even if I could have more bang for my buck elsewhere.
Give it a decent camera, battery life and good security as well as privacy and take my money already!
Make it easily repairable like the Fairphone and then I’ll be interested
So far their track record is pretty good in that regard.
Won’t steam machine have a lot of soldered components? But yea they’ll probably sell spare parts so at least that’s a good point
Would be crazy if it was also running steamos (arch)
Valve should release a phone if they get into the mobile gaming industry of course steam isn’t based around that, but it would be nice if valve at least officially port their games to there…
No, but since the frame is arm based, a phone with clip on controller bits like the switch that could also play my steam games is absolutely something I would throw money at.
I’m a self proclaimed apple fanboy and I would seriously consider switching to a Linux phone by Valve. I have to admit all this hardware they’re releasing is quite intriguing.
Call it the Steam Iron.
Steam Panel? Steam Pocket?
I think it’d be Steam Sight, or Steam Sight Glass.
It fits the theme and is essentially a window to peer into steam pipes to assess how things are going. An easy view inside the system.
Also called View Port, Sight Window, and I think Sight Flow?
Steamy Chocolate Bar.
I hope for Steamie Boi
not a pro memer yet
Isn’t Steam Frame run in SteamOS(which is linux based) made for ARM chip?
While there likely won’t be a steam phone, it technically exists as of now.
Not sure I follow… A steam frame isn’t a phone. It can’t make or receive phone calls
What the other comment said. Since Valve is already half way there with their Steam Frame version of SteamOS(which run on ARM architecture, where phone and tablet also use) and Linux phone iirc do exists, it’s only a matter on how much futher Valve wanna go. So as of now they “technically” already have half a steam phone.
I think what they meant is that the technology exists since steam frame is an ARM based device it’s just a matter of running it on different hardware and adding firmware support for things like phone calls and touch screens.
It only lacks a modem & dual antennas tho.
It’s a few gens back top of the line snapping turtle (Snapdragon), 16 giggies of ram & some disk space, a battery, two LCDs, a bunch of cameras, an sd card slot, speakers, huge battery, and it runs Linux (SteamOS of unknown openness).
Maybe it could “receive phone calls” (eww) if you would plug in a usb (or pcie) modem.
Shut up and take my pixels!
I want a cyberdeck with cellular connectivity with talk/text.
I imagine it will be a big deck
Everyone loves a big deck
Yes please.
