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Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard

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Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard

#31

Post by robert_foss »

floatboth wrote: post #14
robert_foss wrote: post #2

Seems pretty cool. This SOC is bound to have pretty good upstream linux support to, since the Snapdragon 660 is in very good shape.

The 662 is much newer (what a weird numbering scheme…) so there's probably many differences to the 660..

It is likely based on an older silicon base design. Snapdragon 662 seems to have the internal Qcom id sm6115[1]. Being based on linux v4.19[2] also seems to point in this direction. Another hint is it shipping the same CPU core versions as the 660.

It seems to be a 11nm part as opposed to the 660 which is a 14nm part.

This all being said, it won't be plug & play with upstream linux today. But probably soon enough. This project likely is based on Qcom downstream kernels for the moment.

[1] https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/qualcomm/snapdragon_600/662

[2] https://github.com/moto-sm6115/kernel_motorola_bengalito

Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard

#32

Post by darau1 »

psychometry wrote: post #15
moistbar wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being able to touch-type is the reason I want one. You just can't do that with a touchscreen keyboard.

Can you touch type with only your thumbs? I don't think I could, but you'd have to with a keyboard that small.

I was able to touch type with my thumbs on my blackberry, in the before-times

Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard

#33

Post by dijit »

tifadg1 wrote: post #23

For english language, swipe typing coupled with autocorrect works astonishingly well. So much so that I use it regularly because of lazyness. What segment does the physical keyboard appeal to? Youngins were born and raised touching the screen, so it's archaic to them. Old timers are jaded at this point to either wait for their dream phone or buy any cheap crap. So who's the target for this 900 usd device?

There are a cohort of people who abhor touchscreens for typing but there currently exists nothing that caters to them.

Everyone making phones caters to the 80% case, there are economic reasons for this (supply chain runoffs, manufacturing equipment and software) so making something for the remaining 20% cases is increasingly expensive.

To answer your question directly, me (a 31 year old white man technologist) and my friend (a 28 year old white man technologist)

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard

#34

Post by blandflakes »

tifadg1 wrote: post #23

For english language, swipe typing coupled with autocorrect works astonishingly well. So much so that I use it regularly because of lazyness. What segment does the physical keyboard appeal to? Youngins were born and raised touching the screen, so it's archaic to them. Old timers are jaded at this point to either wait for their dream phone or buy any cheap crap. So who's the target for this 900 usd device?

Honestly, I find that it works astonishingly poorly. Autocorrect is often wrong, sometimes showing the right thing milliseconds before second-guessing itself into a totally wrong word, so now I'm having to backspace because for some reason typing the actual letters I want is bad user interface.

Agreed regarding target audience, though.

Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard

#35

Post by Pxtl »

darau1 wrote: post #30

I really wish they would just make some keyboard-case-love-child for some of the more popular mainstream devices. I really want a physical keyboard, but I don't want to give up my daily driver for a $900 unknown variable.

They were supposed to. This company was launched on an ill-fated Kickstarter for a slide-out keyboard attachment called "Livermorium" for the Moto Z. It's the reason I owned a Moto Z.

I have no interest in buying a no-name brand phone, though.

Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard

#36

Post by mulletbum »

tifadg1 wrote: post #23

For english language, swipe typing coupled with autocorrect works astonishingly well. So much so that I use it regularly because of lazyness. What segment does the physical keyboard appeal to? Youngins were born and raised touching the screen, so it's archaic to them. Old timers are jaded at this point to either wait for their dream phone or buy any cheap crap. So who's the target for this 900 usd device?

I honestly found keyboards like this cumbersome because I can only use two fingers. I thought that was there reason we got away from them in the first place? Then haptic feedback made it so touching the screen feels better, but the original iPhone showed you didn't need a keyboard. I am so confused on who would buy this device.

Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard

#37

Post by PH01 »

tifadg1 wrote: post #23

For english language, swipe typing coupled with autocorrect works astonishingly well. So much so that I use it regularly because of lazyness. What segment does the physical keyboard appeal to? Youngins were born and raised touching the screen, so it's archaic to them. Old timers are jaded at this point to either wait for their dream phone or buy any cheap crap. So who's the target for this 900 usd device?

What is your baseline for how good swipe typing is?

Pre-smartphone plenty of people touch typed text messages. No need to be staring at the screen. Stealth messages could be sent without taking the phone out of your pocket.

Physical keyboards probably appear to a significant section of people who would like to use their phone as a productivity device. Surely if swipe typing is so good it would be an option in Windows 10?

I agree on the price but I am still considering purchasing this phone.

Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard

#39

Post by nochowder »

tifadg1 wrote: post #23

For english language, swipe typing coupled with autocorrect works astonishingly well. So much so that I use it regularly because of lazyness. What segment does the physical keyboard appeal to? Youngins were born and raised touching the screen, so it's archaic to them. Old timers are jaded at this point to either wait for their dream phone or buy any cheap crap. So who's the target for this 900 usd device?

>What segment does the physical keyboard appeal to?

Sysadmins, hackers, etc. Ever tried ”swipe typing coupled with autocorrect” in an SSH session?

Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard

#40

Post by BossingAround »

tifadg1 wrote: post #23

For english language, swipe typing coupled with autocorrect works astonishingly well. So much so that I use it regularly because of lazyness. What segment does the physical keyboard appeal to? Youngins were born and raised touching the screen, so it's archaic to them. Old timers are jaded at this point to either wait for their dream phone or buy any cheap crap. So who's the target for this 900 usd device?

> What segment does the physical keyboard appeal to?

I definitely welcome this. Swipe typing has been completely unusable for me, personally (I must be doing it wrong, Galaxy S10) and the display registers so many typos when I type that I often break out the whole laptop to type a simple whatsapp message.

The price is steep; if the phone is good though, it definitely interests me.

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