The pre-order site https://store.fxtec.com/product/fxtec-pro%C2%B9-x-256-8gb/#t... says
"Be one of the first to pre-order your Pro1 today. Shipping globally is estimated to be September 2019." ? Is it in the pre-order state since then?
Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard
211–220 of 358 posts
Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard
#212There'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.
That's about as thick as most phones with a "Tuf" case.
Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard
#213Looks quite cool, and seeing that the order page is taking a hammering, I'm sure lots of orders are being placed. However the name reminds me of HBOs Silicon Valley show where they end up over-jargoning the product names. I wish they had come up with a more friendlier and catchy name like "Slidey" or something.
And they could then call NFC "Slidey sense".
Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard
#214Earlier 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…
>Some of them are programming languages. Are you doing programming on your smartphone? I agree with the rest - sweaty fingers or wet fingers in general, or god forbid you want to wear gloves where it's cold. But programming on a smartphone?
>Are you doing programming on your smartphone?
No, mostly because it lacks a physical keyboard.
Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard
#215It'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…
> 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. This is not true. Librem 5 will have a lifetime support, beating both Google and Apple, because Purism upstreams all their drivers to get the main Lin…
> except possibly problems with the small screen
That's the number 1 problem by far. A lot of programs run on it, but that doesn't mean they're usable. Until we start seeing responsive linux apps, the linux smartphone is going to remain a gimmick.
The only people seemingly interested in tackling this problem are Librem and the KDE team (with Plasma Mobile/Kirigami).
Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard
#216There'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…
I don't like using phones without a case because they're too thin for me. I get cramps.
So thickness wouldn't be an issue for me. I hope I'm not the only one.
Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard
#217There'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…
I've used its predecessor the Pro1 with Sailfish OS for 4 weeks. (While having fond memories of using my Nokia Communicator in the past for SSHing into servers to fix things.)
For me, the compromises were not worth it. The phone is too clunky and heavy and virtual keyboards are good enough these days.
Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard
#218Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is really fat: about 14mm, nearly twice as thick as most current phones.
I don’t mind more thick than current phones. There’s absolutely no reason to think every user has the same demands for form factors. Just like some people would only ever buy a truck and others sedans.
I don't get the use case for thin phones, and believe it's just marketing-driven preference. We're told thin phones are better over and over, and slowly the market starts to believe it because the message is saturated and there's no counter-message to it.
It couldn't be that thick phones are heavier to carry around. The difference between a 8mm phone and a 16mm phone couldn't be more than 200 grams or so. That's making you sweat as you carry it? It couldn't be that it's tough to hold up to your ear. My Nokia 7210 was probably one of my best phones ever and it was by today's standards a thick brick. Google tells me it was a whopping 17.5mm thick. So what is it? What practical benefit do you get from a thin phone? The only thing I can think of is the ability to carry it stealthily in your pocket, but is that really the driving use case?
Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard
#219Is the chipset supported by the mainline kernel? Their earlier "linux phones" basicly needed an android kernel and Linux support was close to non-existant.
Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard
#220Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is really fat: about 14mm, nearly twice as thick as most current phones.
It really depends if it needs a case or not, my note10+ feels fine with a case and almost too thin when the case is off
I agree. My Pixel 3 feels great in my pocket, but it's too thin and slippery in the hand. My case is for comfort as much as its a precaution!