What is it exactly? does it work like a smartphone out of the box and you can make calls with it? Does all the hardware work now or there is something still “not quite right yet”? Can you use android apps on it? Does it have some sort of app-store specific to this phone or just manjaro-arm repos is your “store”?
Pretty sure all the hardware will work, the pinephone has been around for 12 months now but have recently done a deal to ship with manjaro by default (all though you could change to another linux distro I guess). Biggest issue with the pinephone is just the lack of app support atm, linux based phones can run most linux apps but things like YouTube Facebook etc would probably be in a web wrapper. But its a very interesting concept and it would be nice to see native linux on phones really take off
I am seriously confused about this pine64.com store. First they say one price, then they add shipping, then they add some random number as “VAT” although it’s not their role or place to even ask for VAT, but our customs when it’s not coming from EU (and if it’s coming from inside EU, the VAT should already be in the price, not added afterwards). Is this store even legit? Seems rather some dubious SCAM site? No?
just a reminder…
About PINE Store …
The main purpose of Pine Store creation is servicing PINE64 community. Most of the profit generated from Pine Store uses for production cash flow, new product engineering fee, sponsor community event expense, maintain server cost, and also supporting other open source communities.
and never had issue when I ordered things there… bought the pinebook and pinebook pro.
PINE64 Forum | Manjaro on PinePhone
Search engine > "PINE64 forum" > go to forum > Ctrl+F > "Phone"
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Have watched countless videos about the pinephone during last year and half, read many forum posts - at least when I did it never was ready for actual consumer usage. Am kind of sick doing that all over again, so asked here, if the “Manjaro PinePhone” is finally a “ready product” or still some kind of half-assed developer-targeted prototype, and yet, you suggest me to go dig in the mud again. No thanks. On top of that the shop started asking weird taxes that they should not ask. And even if they did somehow, then the numbers were not correct (we have 20% VAT here, they were asking 25.3%).
Thats an interesting mash of words.
I guess you could argue that an apple is a half-assed pear … but we all know thats a bit silly, right?
No one. Nowhere. At any time. Has presented the pinephone as a fully functional drop-in replacement for current consumer smartphones.
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Is this forum a scam too? If you passed that false assumption about scam, here is a clarification about the prices, VAT and shipping:
From some documentation i have at hand:
About the Android part:
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What would you call a piece of hardware, that does not have even all of the drivers present and is sent out to developers so they can “do something with it” and maybe write some drivers and software if they feel like it, hopefully?
Yes, Linux phone can’t exactly be a drop in replacement for Android neither IOS, however, does all the included hardware have now working drivers and are they functional in Manjaro version? 
Like, can you make normal phone calls now? Does mobile LTE data work? Does camera work? Does wifi work? Does GPS work? You know the “normal phone functions” everybody expects today.
Is it? I didn’t recognize it to be a store with dubious taxes.
For Chinese webshop to cash in VAT for EU is kind of illegal as far as I know, as they will never pay them to the destination country customs. And on top of that I risk paying the VAT in local customs second time. Eff that.
My pinebook pro arrived in a reasonable time as have the accessories I’ve purchased. I am awaiting the pinephone currently.
These q’s would get better answers asking directly on the pine64 forum or reddit
https://forum.pine64.org/
https://www.reddit.com/r/PINE64official/
I asked you first. If you think the forum is a scam, Manjaro team members posting links to a scam shop that commercializes a phone that runs Manjaro, then i think we are not on the same page.
The EU VAT is based on the “destination principle”: the value-added tax is paid to the government of the country in which the consumer who buys the product lives. That was never different. Even if i buy something from local shop, i still pay VAT.
Each country has their own customs office taxes, they establish that, but has nothing to do with VAT and is impossible to be the same value, and probably never above 5% of the package value. Usually when you go to pick up the package they ask what is in the box and you pay their service for ensuring the package has no illegal content and you received it undamaged. 
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