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Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard

fxtec.com

231–240 of 358 posts

Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard

#231
post #227
post #211

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?

That page you linked to is for the Pro-1. The OP is about the newer Pro-1x.

Well, was the Pro-1 ever delivered!?

Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard

#232
post #170

I still consider my old Nokia E70[0] my favorite phone of all time, so I am definitely in the target demographic for this, as I'm 100% sold on the usefulness of a physical keyboard on a phone... However the CPU just doesn't match the "pro" branding, or the price range. I'd personally rather throw an extra $200-300 on top to get a flagship CPU and then it would be close to a perfect phone for me! As it currently is, t…

There's "dual boot" in mobile space https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GjXQFnMHGY :)

Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard

#234

I see little advantage vs. any other Android smartphone + Bluetooth keyboard of your choice.

Being built right into the phone is a huge advantage! Even if you manage to get a perfect bluetooth connection (which, on Android, is a much bigger ask than many realize), and ignore the fact that you now have another separate device to charge - there's no beating this form factor. Your options are to use a horrible oversized clamshell design (eg [0]) that turns your phone into a tablet, or don't physically attach to your phone at all and end up being a 2nd device / accessory to carry around with you / manage / lose.

[0]https://www.amazon.com/BESTLIFE-Universal-Wireless-Bluetooth...

Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard

#235
post #177
post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ex-Blackberry here. BB didn't bail; not enough people were buying the phones for hardware manufacturing to be self-sustainable.

Yes, but, you cannot build a new brand in a couple of years. If you look at the Wikipedia article, you'll see the Priv, the first all android Blackberry, was released in 2015, and they bailed in late 2016. You cannot re-invent a brand in a bit more than a year. They should have expected years to see significant adoption. Worse, the people who trusted Blackberry, often didn't want a Chinese company making their hardwa…

> 2015

iPhone happened 2007, Android, 2008. Their “people love our software never hardware” self deception had completely wiped positive brand values by that point, along with trust from the market towards mobile hardware keyboard, because BB engaged anyone getting close to their level of sophistication in the technology, rendering competitors’ implementations inconsistent and lackluster as the result.

I still don’t fully understand serial suicides in phone market 2007-2012, it was strange times. Lots of companies were politely asked to finish their free lunch session and most decided to burn their retirement instead of accepting it.

Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard

#236
post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The textblade ( https://waytools.com/ ) would be the ideal form factor in my mind. Unfortunately, it has been 6 years since they said they were going to release it though there have been people (testers) using it for real for several years.

I saw the Textblade the first day it appeared on HN and I still droll over it. It's a real shame the company has been so shady (and they were from the start). I would really love for someone to clone it and actually bring it to market.

Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard

#237

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 p…

The keyboard is actually a little bit too big for most hands, but I have been using this device for about 2 years now and generally it is a dream to type on. It took about a month to get comfortable with the layout but I can thumb type without looking at the phone. I have never owned a pure-touch based phone so I can't really compare to the modern touchscreen experience though.

Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard

#238

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…

IMO the Nokia E7 was the perfect phone in all dimensions. Modern phones are impractically large. Man, I'd love to see some innovation in phone design. How did we go so far backwards?

Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard

#239

Like the concept, but $800 for a phone with Snapdragon 662[1]? Even with the keyboard and other pluses, that's a hard sell. That processor will be fine for most applications, but I'd hope for something slightly more powerful, like a 730G. I feel like a 662 might be too limiting, and at $800, that's a very crowded market, even if you are targeting a more open device. [1] https://www.notebookcheck.net/Qualcomm-Snapdrag…

They probably don't have the quantity to get access to better chips+support.

Re: Pro1 X: A Linux smartphone with slideout keyboard

#240
post #206

Promising but I will wait until to see some independent reviews. The reviews for other Linux phones are always terrible so I am really looking for a simple smartphone running Linux

The only change between this phone and the pro1 (non-X) is the downgraded processor -- so I encourage you to check out the original pro1 reviews. For the most part they are 'if you want a keyboard it is a good phone--it is otherwise mediocre in every way'. Also - the 'linux' support is a bit of a stretch, the community ported over ubuntu touch which is basically just android.
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