Web browsing on Pyra vs Modern smartphones

[vatin]

Hi,

How would you rate web browsing on Pyra vs modern smartphones?
Is it more or less clunky? How's the performance? VDO streaming?

I'm interested in the Pyra in regard to the open hardware/software and reparability/upgradability.

Thanks,

 

[matzesu]

Well, browsing on Pyra is a bit different than on an Smartphone:
- Allthough its works much better than on the Pandora (allthough i used the Pandora as a Browsing Device bevor i got my first Smartphone), as you have much more power and ram, lots of sides whit Auto Media Playing let the thing quite struggle..
- I allready testet Video Playback on Youtube which worked but needed some preeloading
- But you have your Keyboard which tends to much less Typos than this Touchscreen, and you can use the Nubs as Mouse which is quite usefull when you want to copy links

- Media Playback on Payd Streamingsites (Netflix Etc) dosnt work yet, allthough i followed a tutorial to get Chromium whit the Widefine Plugin, i ditnt had succes,
- And the Pyra still lacks some scalling, on GUI and on the Browser, but this might get fixed over the time..

And at the moment, you cant put the Pyra in an Low Power Mode, so you have to Boot it up every time you want to use it for Browsing, whyle a Smartphone is allways on.. ..

Its Possible to brows the Web, and i still have the plan to use the Pyra for my Web Browsing instead of my Phone (Which allready lost his Media Playback Task to the XBOX), but its needs a bit more work..

 

[Eight Bit]

Web browsing is fine for simple stuff, I like it better than on my pinebook pro even though the pinebook has better linux support but it's nowhere near as mature compared to even a 100 euro android phone.
Any hardware accelerated web stuff works way better on a phone. I know the Pyra can do it in theory, just not yet with the current state of hardware support.
Video from youtube on 480p plays but it's a little clunky still. Switching big buck bunny to 720p makes the video applet hang.
The process of making a video full screen in 480p makes the Pyra struggle a little though when it is full screen it plays reasonably well.
Stats for nerds don't really show a lot of lost frames, drops in network speed or buffer, but it looks like the Pyra hardware struggles to display each frame that is sent to it.
Except for spotify I didn't get any reasonable results with DRM content, netflix anime plays okay-ish but when there is to much detail in the image it chokes.

Anyway, for now I guess it's better to play games on it than use it for web browsing. I had really hoped that the Pyra would be a greatly improved Pandora in that regards but right now it's only marginally more usable.
The hardware (screen+case mainly) is way better though, the whole thing just needs to mature more.

 

[ClockworkCoder]

- Media Playback on Payd Streamingsites (Netflix Etc) dosnt work yet

Some people may say that this is a feature

 

[λ the β-Redex Reducer]

Pyra works great for browsing as long as you limit your browsing to sites you find on wiby.me .Any other site will basically make the Pyra explode and set your house on fire when visited.

 

[asimov-solensan]

Working with multiple tabs, key shorcuts, copying-paste to other applications ... Having this in a pocket device is a joy. And performance of firefox in general is pretty good.

Sadly as other mentioned, if you need specifically to play media within the browser is still to early to consider Pyra suitable.

 

[vatin]

Thank you for all the replies. To summarize it seems that currently Pyra is janky at best. I’d better wait until it’s “finished”.

 

[netcat]

Finished isn't the right term because DRM is a moving target. Just because someone gets Disney+ working doesn't mean it will work tomorrow. Proprietary streaming networks is not a key use case for the Pyra imo.

 

[matzesu]

Also i wouldnd want this thing to be my main Stream Watching device anyway, allthough the Display is great for Gaming, or a bit Office Stuff on the Go, ... its still a "Mouse Cinema"..

I can watch the Puplic TV Broadcast Stuff on Linux, but not the Paid Stuff..

 

[pyrat]

Pyra works great for browsing as long as you limit your browsing to sites you find on wiby.me .Any other site will basically make the Pyra explode and set your house on fire when visited.

Maybe it wasn't the Pyra... Did you test it in Ukraine ?

 

[Askarus]

Thank you for all the replies. To summarize it seems that currently Pyra is janky at best. I’d better wait until it’s “finished”.

It might be slower.
However for me it is a great feature to have an actual 16:9 display and a mouse cursor + real Firefox with full add on support.
Touchscreen scrolling works, too.
It has its advantages. Depending on what you want.

 

[λ the β-Redex Reducer]

Finished isn't the right term because DRM is a moving target. Just because someone gets Disney+ working doesn't mean it will work tomorrow. Proprietary streaming networks is not a key use case for the Pyra imo.

The Pyra's DRM support is already functioning just like it ought to.

 

[Eight Bit]

The Pyra's DRM support is already functioning just like it ought to.

Yes, working nicely after some tinkering, even on an open source device just like it ought to.

Post automatically merged: Apr 25, 2022

Btw, I'm not pro- DRM or anything but I do love Spotify and a lot of other protected media content which I pay for.

 

[netcat]

yeah right

 

[λ the β-Redex Reducer]

Yes, working nicely after some tinkering, even on an open source device just like it ought to.

If your tinkering causes your Pyra to apply DRM on you then you are to blame for that, not the Pyra as ED ships it.

Btw, I'm not pro- DRM or anything but I do love Spotify and a lot of other protected media content which I pay for.

So you are not pro-DRM or anything like that, you just love DRM services and you support DRM with your money.

 

[TrashyMG]

If your tinkering causes your Pyra to apply DRM on you then you are to blame for that, not the Pyra as ED ships it.

I wouldn't call installing a Debian package as destructive tinkering it can be uninstalled easily enough.

So you are not pro-DRM or anything like that, you just love DRM services and you support DRM with your money.

DRM is a part of how modern digital commerce works, like it or not, it's not going to go away for only a few handful of "Freedom" Zealots that shame people on Niche handheld computer forums.

 

[pyrat]

I wouldn't call installing a Debian package as destructive tinkering it can be uninstalled easily enough.

Installing a package that you don't know what it does can be as destructive as it gets. The package can do anything the administrator could.

DRM is a part of how modern digital commerce works, like it or not, it's not going to go away for only a few handful of "Freedom" Zealots that shame people on Niche handheld computer forums.

DRM is a part of how modern digital commerce doesn't work.
Real DRM requires total control over the client machine. That means SOCs checking signatures on firmware that attests the software running is what the manufacturer and their associate content provider cartels want. This total control given to corporations scheming against the user is unlikely to be achieved by a niche project because the big players may not even negotiate with the project (although the project might be vulnerable if component suppliers -which are bigger companies- would be in the game).

But people asking for DRM antifeatures risk a future drift of the project in caving in to whatever content oligopolies require in the future, and then ceding the control that the freedom zealots cherised and therefore lose user base, support and eventually functionality, so reducing its niche to 0, because all those crying for Netflix won't have a problem buying a locked down phone or tablet or game handheld. I don't think adult people need any shaming, but if users here are asking for the device to be controlled by abusive corporations I think it's fair and needed that other users state that support for DRM eventually will lead the device to be non acceptable to them.

 

[levi]

Installing a package that you don't know what it does can be as destructive as it gets. The package can do anything the administrator could.

That's why he specifed a Debian package. It comes from their repo, so it will have been supplied by them, and since we're running their OS they probably deserve our trust of them.

 

[pyrat]

I don't know which package he meant, but non-free is not Debian.

 

[matzesu]

Wasnt the Pyra meant to be Opensource so the User can port the stuff he whants? But freedome means also that you are free to use Closed Source or DRM Stuff..

So if a User whants to watch DRM Streams, why not? ..

But for me, its a Mouse Cinema .. even if i watched a lot Netflix on a Iphone 6s Years ago..