Phosh 0.57 was released on August 21, bringing new settings panels and better handling of landscape orientation to the GNOME-based mobile shell.

Settings that belong on a phone

The release adds dedicated panels for Wi-Fi, cellular, network, and Bluetooth settings.

This is the unglamorous work that determines whether a mobile shell is usable. GNOME Settings is designed for a desktop, and reaching a cellular APN configuration through a desktop settings application on a phone screen is exactly as pleasant as it sounds. Purpose-built panels that fit the form factor are what make the difference between a demo and a device you carry.

Landscape mode

Phosh now uses a two-column layout for the top panel when the shell is unlocked and the device is rotated horizontally, making better use of the extra horizontal space.

Landscape has historically been the weak point for mobile Linux shells, which tend to assume portrait and stretch awkwardly when rotated. Anyone using a Linux phone with a keyboard case, or a device like the PineTab, spends a lot of time in landscape.

Also in the release

Keyboard enhancements and an updated Phoc compositor, Phosh’s wlroots-based Wayland compositor.

The timing is awkward

Phosh continues to develop steadily, and it arrives in the same week that PINE64 halted production of the PinePhone family, the PineTab2, and the PineNote because of DRAM and eMMC shortages.

Phosh runs on more than PINE64 hardware, including Librem 5 devices and postmarketOS on various phones. But PINE64 devices have been the accessible entry point for most people curious about mobile Linux, and remaining stock is estimated at around three months.

Software that keeps improving while the hardware to run it gets harder to buy is an uncomfortable position for a small ecosystem. The work is good; the market conditions are not.