- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
All the other discussions I found on Lemmy dismiss it because they find the idea of a second phone ridiculous. Or because they don’t buy into the “dumb phone” concept. But I think it makes a compelling phone on it’s own, and you wouldn’t need a second.
But really look into it. By every indication it appears designed to be a fully featured main phone. It has some compromises made to fit the keyboard first philosophy, but it has everything you’d need and more. Dual SIM (eSIM+physical), a headphone jack, micro SD Card support, a 50mp camera with OIS (I know megapixels don’t mean much but I think it shows it’s not gonna be the cheapest crap camera), NFC/Google Pay support, Android Auto, Qi2… That doesn’t read “second phone” to me. It’s just… phone.
They have now said that it will have an unlockable bootloader too. I’m not finding much to dislike here. 8GB of RAM is somewhat low but should be fine. The processor is still a question mark but honesty as long as it’s not bottom of the barrel it should be perfectly fine. I have always gone for flagship phones but honestly I’ve started analyzing what I actually do on my phone and I pretty much never push the hardware. I like knowing I have the top of the line but I basically just web browse, message, read email, scroll Lemmy, and listen to music/podcasts. Very occasionally watch some YouTube but that’s usually on my TV or PC. No gaming or anything. I should be able to do all of that on this device, some of it won’t be as good on that screen obviously but it should still be doable. I need the camera to at least be decent. Not great just not garbage. Like it’s fine if the low light performance is meh and the video isn’t the best. But I don’t want to look at my photos and regret taking it with that device, so we’ll see.
I don’t want a dumb phone, and I don’t think this is one. You should be able to do everything any other phone can. I don’t think it’s a second phone either. I think they’re just leaning into that for marketing reasons, so that when anyone points out the tradeoffs of this form factor they can just wave it away as a secondary device.
It appeals to me because it’s a small phone. Seriously nobody makes one worth using. Unihertz sure, if you want a bad software experience with no updates ever. But otherwise you just have the non-plus sized iPhone/Galaxy S. Those are considered small. Or maybe the flip-foldables. It also appeals to me because it has major character and (imo) style. I’m bored of glass and metal sandwiches. Give me this! A plastic device with a swappable back that has a (vegan?) leather option? Hell yeah.
You must log in or # to comment.
Ah damn, I was hoping this was Linux first… (aka. Raspberry pi computing Module based)
This looks awesome and would consider looking more into it as a real alternative to the current crap, BUT…
-
I will never buy a product that isn’t already produced and ready to ship. Funding campaigns like this are imo most likely scams, very often not serious and if they truly are great, I’d rather wait for V2 or V3 to come, before buying
-
the physical keyboard is great for english users but terrible for people who need to use 2 or 3 languages on their phones.
-
I need android or iPhone to run the local authentication apps for banking, doctors appointments app and even some times payment methods
I will never buy a product that isn’t already produced and ready to ship. Funding campaigns like this are imo most likely scams, very often not serious and if they truly are great, I’d rather wait for V2 or V3 to come, before buying
To be fair this company already ships hardware in physical retail stores (keyboard cases for existing phones). I’m fairly certain they’re serious here but yeah waiting for the real deal is always a better bet.
the physical keyboard is great for english users but terrible for people who need to use 2 or 3 languages on their phones.
That’s true, or depends on which languages. Some use QWERTY layouts already like Spanish. I’m bilingual in Spanish and don’t forsee any issue with typing in Spanish on this. They have said that holding down a key works like you’d expect, bringing up diacritics/alternate symbols. The typing suggestions can be bilingual no issue. They said they do want to ship more keyboard variants (QWERTZ/etc) but can’t commit to more SKUs at this stage.
I need android or iPhone to run the local authentication apps for banking, doctors appointments app and even some times payment methods
Non-issue. This is an Android phone, that will supposedly have the latest version and full Play Store access.
I suspect that since they already make the keyboard cases, that all they’re planning on doing is making that but a bit smaller, and getting a no-brand Chinese phone manufacturer to make a small stubby square phone that fits in it.
I’m curious what the average Android app will do when presented with that little square aspect ratio. I’ve vaguely dabbled in phone dev before and there’s lots of twatting about to deal with different device sizes (tablets vs phones) and ratios. The proliferation of folding phones may mean there’s decent support for some apps, but I don’t expect that to be universal by any stretch.
On their website, they have videos or renders of how some features work and there seems to be a lot of wasted space to the left and right of the interfaces. So maybe just transparent margins?
-
“Smart enough” would have been nice marketing, no?
$400usd to pre order a phone thats almost the same as the phone i had in 2011, but golly would I like to have one
This Lemmy comment will be performed in the voice of that fat British guy on Youtube shorts that talks about marketing
You see, the problem with marketing it as a “second phone” is that you’re implying that it’s too shit to be someone’s first phone. Or that you’ve chosen to do something to it that would make it impossible to live with.
I remember in 2018, Verizon started offering a tiny little Android phone branded as a Palm of all things, and that small but vocal minority who insist they want small phones started clamoring for it only to be told that it’s a “companion device” and you still had to have another device active on that line. It cost $350 plus $10 a month on top of another device and plan.
There was essentially no one on earth who wanted a special phone they only used to take to the gym with them, they refused to sell it to people who specifically wanted it, and so it didn’t sell well, to say the least.
It does look good but solves nothing when it comes to Google/Android turning hostile to stuff like LineageOS, F-Droid, etc.
No, but while I’d love a Linux phone it’s just not viable for me yet. They can’t make phone calls in my country without VoLTE support.
Communicator will launch on Android 16, with support for up to at least Android 20. We’re committing to a minimum of 4 years of Android version updates and 5 years of security updates.
Idk, Pixels ate supported for like 7 years. So after about 5 years, this phone is toast?
Just out of interest how long do you keep a phone because I feel like 5 years is pretty much around the time everyone’s looking to get a new phone.
minimum of 4 years of Android version updates and 5 years of security updates.
*if we dont go bankrupt
Pixel batteries will degrade to the point of being annoying in under 7 years. 5 years is a pretty good lifespan for a phone.
[citation needed], my family all runs pixels and my father is still on the pixel 6, so nearing 4.5y of daily use. Other family members get my previous models (7 Pro, 8 Pro) when I upgrade, so they are getting phones that have been used heavily every day for at least a year before I upgrade. I haven’t heard any complaints from any of them regarding battery charge/duration. I upgrade whenever I am interested in the new model, or when their device goes EoL for security updates, then pass it on.
Last issue we had regarding hardware was the nexus 5X dying, and that was because LG fucked up during manufacturing… again…
You can use a phone beyond the manufacturer security updates. They aren’t the only layer of security in Android, that was the whole point of Project Mainline.
I’m a current clicks user on my Motorola Razr and I preordered this to use as my singular phone. I use my phone as a communication device, not for media consumption, I watch a video on my phone once a week and use Lemmy. So far the square screen of the RAZR works great for this except for the few times the OS requires the inside screen and the placement of the external cameras.
I bet I could write code on that thing… I’m so tempted to try it. Coding on the go lol
This a phone made by a youtuber. Do with that information what you want
True, though they do have help from some people who worked at/designed the old BlackBerry and have shipped several well received pieces of hardware before.
It is way too expensive for me, and the keyboard only supports the english layout which is a no-go, but damn do I want one.
Same situation with all the fancy split keyboards - they have 10 buttons per row, my layout needs 12 buttons per row.
An iPod Nano sized Android or Apple phone is something I wish existed as my second phone for apps that don’t play nice with custom roms.
My second phone is a Nokia t800 with KaiOS. 99 bucks and I can bring it hiking for 3 days without recharging.
The screenshot looks like Niagara Launcher.
It is, they’re partnering with them to make a customized version for the phone.
Whoah! Having recently tried the launcher, I could see how that would pair really well with a physical keyboard in that you can get to any app with ~2 clicks by typing it’s first letter and tapping the screen, or even without looking at the screen by typing the whole name and hitting enter.
I never had a phone with a physical qwerty keypad, I went straight from a T-9 and Palm Graffiti (the best input method for a decade!) to full touchscreens. Having said that, this looks interesting and I do think they found a market niche. I’d be interested to mess with it for a couple of days to see how the form factor would work for me.
Non-sens if it’s not as secure as pixel+GrapheneOS 🤷♀️😬
