Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard • Hacker News Board

Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard

#131

Post by tyfon » Thu, Apr 01, 2021, 1:49 PM UTC

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?

It targets me since my hands are way too fat and I need to type Norwegian. None of the keyboards from apple (who doesn't even have swipe in Norwegian), google or microsoft supports compound words.

Combine that with my fat fingers that generally press 3-4 keys on my iphone at the same time I have to spend a lot of time erasing what I just wrote. A physical slide out keyboard would be great.

Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard

#132

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Apr 01, 2021, 1:49 PM UTC

rainingmonkey wrote: post #65

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?

Everyone who remembers how much better phones with slide-out keyboards were. Commenters here seem to be focusing on the available OSes, but most flagship phones from a few years ago without a locked bootloader will run Lineage or Uubuntu Touch. FXtec's offering here is just that the bootloader won't be uncooperative. The real killer feature is the keyboard. Those questioning the utility of a slide-out keyboard on a p…

[deleted]

Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard

#133

Post by vimacs2 » Thu, Apr 01, 2021, 1:50 PM UTC

Ashanmaril wrote: post #102

It's a sad fact of life that if you want a good phone that will age okay, and be supported for at least a few years with OS/security updates, and will have decent customer support if you run into issues, you're just gonna have to get a phone from one of the big guys. Making a phone is hard. Every time I see one of these niche phones that tries to appeal to a crowd with offers of "privacy" or "user control" I think it…

All good points. However, just as an fyi, you can use stuff like GApps to use Playstore Apps without having to buy into Google's digital anal probing.

Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard

#134

Post by acd » Thu, Apr 01, 2021, 1:51 PM UTC

Happy there are more Linux phones on the market. When there is a good premium Linux phone with open boot loader I will buy one. Smartphones are really small computers and we should be able to run whatever operating system one wants on them. Freedom as free choice of os.

Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard

#135

Post by alpaca128 » Thu, Apr 01, 2021, 1:53 PM UTC

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #55

Swenrekcah wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First of all, there are other languages than English. Some of them are programming languages. Also a touchscreen can not be operated with sweaty fingers or slightly unusual conditions. No they really can not be reliably used, recent years’ improvements notwithstanding. If I ever need to use my phone in an emergency outside in the cold with wet, sweaty perhaps bloody hands, I’d appreciate a 100% physical keyboard cont…

> If I ever need to use my phone in an emergency outside in the cold with wet, sweaty perhaps bloody hands Man, we have very different lifestyles. Are you a serial killer? :) > Some of them are programming languages You’re the first person I’ve known who programs on phone hardware rather than using a larger computer with emulators. It must be quite painful for you!

Preparing for those situations isn't stupid, similarly using seatbelts and creating backups is usually a good idea. Sure, you can go without and you'll be fine...until you're not. And then you'll be glad for every little measure you took beforehand.

You don't need to write code on your phone? Me neither. But if some server suddenly starts acting weird while I'm on a roadtrip and everything I have is a smartphone, I sure as hell would not enjoy the typical SSH session using swype and autocorrect.

Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard

#136

Post by RHSeeger » Thu, Apr 01, 2021, 1:53 PM UTC

aceazzameen wrote: post #106

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?

This targets me exactly! Well, sort of. The original Moto Droid was my first Android device, and I loved the slide out physical keyboard (paired with SwiftKey prediction and autocorrect!). It was the best of both worlds. I miss that typing experience. This phone looks perfect! Up until I saw the processor. A snapdragon 662 sounds like it would be a step back in time. So I guess I'm on the jaded list. My dream phone w…

I miss my Droid keyboard. It was so much more convenient than the current screen keyboards, even with swipe. Swipe + auto-correct gets every 3rd word wrong for me.

Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard

#137

Post by anotheryou » Thu, Apr 01, 2021, 1:53 PM UTC

blandflakes wrote: post #34

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.

Apple? My swiftkey on android is sooo much better.

Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard

#138

Post by Causality1 » Thu, Apr 01, 2021, 1:54 PM UTC

I feel like there's not going to be a lot of overlap between people who want physical keyboards and people who like curved screens.

Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard

#139

Post by andreygrehov » Thu, Apr 01, 2021, 1:54 PM UTC

I see positive comments about the keyboard, but is it really a good UX to type on such a small keyboard? I mean, when you use your laptop, pretty much all of your fingers are involved in the process of typing, whereas if the same keyboard is part of a mobile phone, you only use your thumbs, which is the opposite of how qwerty keyboards supposed to be used. It feels like the idea of a full-blown keyboard on a mobile phone sounds cool, but when it comes to practice, must be a complete misuse of a technology. It's like if smartwatches were made with 8K display – sounds cool, but how practical it really is?

Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard

#140

Post by degenerate » Thu, Apr 01, 2021, 1:56 PM UTC

wazoox wrote: post #124

seanhunter wrote: post #110

There's no free lunch, and it's easy to overlook the compromises involved in the devices that used to have physical keyboards. By modern standards, blackberrys had a woefully small screen and phones with slideout keyboards were very fat. This device doesn't look fat which suggests to me that the compromise might be either battery life or low processor power. That said, although this is definitely not for me, it's gen…

It is really fat: about 14mm, nearly twice as thick as most current phones.

And that's without a case! I can't even imagine what a case would start to look like for this thing. It would be its own feat of engineering...

Then again, if you're always holding it with two hands, who needs a case, right? :þ