I would buy a Linux smartphone with a Blackberry style keyboard (this means no fiddly slideouts) for my handicapped wife as long as Android apps can be made to work, by sideloading, emulating or whatever.
Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard
141–150 of 358 posts
Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard
#142I have another British 'phone with a better keyboard on order for delivery starting in June: The Astro Slide 5G from Planet Computers: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/astro-slide-5g-transforme... I bought their Gemini offering which is a great PDA but not so good as a mobile phone. Their new offering promises to provide a solution for both.
I'm also looking forward to the Slide. Interesting to note that even with all the kerfuffle surrounding their processor "downgrade" during production, the Astro Slide should be a bit more powerful [1]
Hopefully it will land sooner too...
[1] https://nanoreview.net/en/soc-compare/qualcomm-snapdragon-66...
Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard
#143It'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…
I never needed customer support for a phone and never done any updates (I have not updated my phone for like 3 years, because I know the next update disables call recording). I'd love a phone with good specs, as many open parts as possible and with all schematics and BOM so I could fix it myself if something goes wrong.
> I have not updated my phone for like 3 years
So you are using an outdated browser with security bugs? Good luck with that...
Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
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
Half-height, allowing the screen to slide out? Probably with a separate one with 4-corner shock bumpers on the screen.
Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard
#145I 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 p…
Some handicapped people, like my wife, need a physical keyboard. My wife is happy with the keyboard in Blackberry Key2.
Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard
#146It'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 Linux support [0].
Any app from Debian repositories should work (except possibly problems with the small screen). Many apps are already available [1].
[0] https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/community-wiki/-/wikis/Freque....
[1] https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/community-wiki/-/wikis/Freque...
Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard
#147I 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.
The PinePhone will be coming out with a keyboard add-on soon
Hopefully not as a slideout. My wife is handicapped and don't manage fiddly slideouts. She is happy with Blackberry Key2 style keyboards.
Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard
#148There'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.
It does look like two phones. I wonder if it wouldn't be better to make it actually two phones (or separate phone-sized devices), so you can use the touchscreen part as a phone, and have the other part be a pluggable keyboard + powerbank.
Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard
#149I 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 p…
See historical: Danger Hiptop, aka Sidekick
Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
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
Half-height, allowing the screen to slide out? Probably with a separate one with 4-corner shock bumpers on the screen.
Or a zip-lock bag. Which would also make it waterproof!
It's thin, light, when inflated it provides excellent protection, why doesn't everyone carry their phones in a sandwich bag?