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.
I’m into it. Would make a great work device. The power keyboard product also looks like an interesting product.
Only if you have a recent device. I have a older perfectly usable device that doesn’t rate one of these.
Not that I don’t understand why they can’t accommodate all models.
Something like this might work better on an iPhone or non-Pixel Android device. I own a Pixel 6 Pro that supports the Qi2 charging protocol, but it didn’t work properly from my personal experience. It would charge very slowly (well below the speed of other Qi2 capable phones). If I happened to be streaming audio or watching a video while charging, the battery would continue to drain even though it was receiving power, and it would eventually start heating up.
Just a data point, but I’ve been using wireless charging since the… Nexus 6? Maybe the 6p. And I’ve owned most of the nexus/pixel phones, including the 6 Pro. Never had issues with wireless charging, even when actively using the phone. It would warm up a bit from the constant use, but it would still fill the battery. It’s my primary way to charge, I only use the cable if I need the phone next to me (streaming twitch at my desk, watching Netflix in bed…) and the battery is low. As soon as I’m done/back home, it goes straight to the wireless charger. Get a text, grab the phone, reply, back it goes.
You might have a fault somewhere :/
That’s a cool idea
I believe just buying a normal phobe or Pixel+Graphene if you want privacy and make it dumb instead.is it that hard to contron oneself from staying away from addicting apps?
I do not want a dumb phone. I don’t buy the concept of dumb phones. I want to use this like a normal phone and do all the normal phone stuff like I said in the post…
While I fully understand why it doesn’t have umlauts that’s a dealbreaker for me for this and probably pretty much every such device that will ever come out nowadays.
If they make a model with a QWERTZ keyboard I might consider it as my next phone.
I’m sure if this sees any kind of success more localization is inevitable.
“Smart enough” would have been nice marketing, no?
Those keyboards are 100% nostalgia. There’s a reason we stopped using them. When touchscreens and onscreen keyboards were crap, they were a godsend. But at this point, they’re just pain. Swipe, drag the spacebar for forward/backward. I’d rather keep a slightly larger screen and the on-screen keyboard.
This keyboard is touch sensitive actually, meaning you can swipe to move the cursor. Actually I’m wondering if it couldn’t support swipe texting.
Anyway I have no nostalgia for the keyboard, never used a phone with one.
Swipe texting didn’t come out of the box back in the day either.
Given that this isn’t either of the big names with its own OS. I imagine third party support will be… Limited
I had a palm treo, an HTC VX6800, an OG droid with a slide out keyboard, and a blackberry.
The screens were very small < 3.4", the keyboards survived because didn’t eat screen space. The moment affordable 5" phones hit, the old physical keyboards were ditched.
They’re perfectly serviceable for sending a quick text, maybe a paragraph in an email if it keeps you from needing a laptop. But the people who think they’re going to code on it for something more than a stunt are going to be in for a surprise :)
Looking forward to the review. I’m into it for nothing else other than the physical key board.
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.
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.
minimum of 4 years of Android version updates and 5 years of security updates.
*if we dont go bankrupt
I don’t get the keyboard appeal… Not since swiping became a thing. Sure, back in 2005 it was awesome, but what year is it?
Same thing but flipped: I have never understood the appeal of fat-fingering the screen and vaguely rolling over the keys of a word so software can take a wild guess at wtf you are trying to say. “byrpkugs”? Ah yes, buttplugs, clearly.
My first phone was a bar slider qwerty dumbphone, followed by a bar slider qwerty running android 2.1, if I remember right. The phones were both garbage but the physical keys were fucking fantastic.
I’m disabled now and so only have the use of one hand, otherwise I’d be all over phones like this. Shit, even though this is not ideal for me, I’m still like 🤔
Swiping has become increasingly shitty for me and predictive text is approaching unusable. I would love to have a physical keyboard again.
This has puzzled me for a long time. I had the same phone from the introduction of the original swype to it becoming inexplicably worse, to gboard being functionally better if you can ignore it probably spying on you via goog services even with internet permission removed, to that also becoming mysteriously worse, and all the other attempts at implementing it coming and going while never reaching the level of swype or gboard at their peaks.
I considered maybe my old phone had a deteriorated touch panel but three phones later and it’s still never been as good. I’ve been wondering if the tired scenario occurred of some common code like an unattributed foss library that had an update that broke the original functionality of multiple swipe keyboards and none of the keyboard devs ever noticed.I’ve also noticed that swipe typing has become increasingly shitty, until I realized it’s me. I’ve become too proficient, and/or sloppy/clumsy. I’m too fast, basically, causing inaccuracy and imprecision. If I just slow down and swipe with more precision, it’s a lot better.
As someone who considers themselves a large proponent of swipe texting i have been increasingly running into issues where a word i want to type is almost unreachable with swipe texting because the letters are in too straight of a line on the keyboard and so it only interprets the beginning and ending letters or it takes another word that lies an a similar line
But see, you cant become too proficient at a physical keyboard, you either hit the correct button or you didn’t and there’s no computer deciding edge cases the wrong way because there aren’t edge cases.
My last keyboard phone was the Motorola Photon Q ( which was awesome, had that thing for years) I’ve had 3 total touch screen only phone since then, and only in the last year has it gotten truly terrible. I’m actually in the process of converting a Razr 40 Ultra outer screen into a slider phone with a blackberry q20 keyboard. But if it keeps being a pain in my ass I’ll probably just get the Clicks.
Regarding the first paragraph, I still think a physical keyboard at this size is slower than swipe typing, regardless of inaccuracies with the display keyboard. But I bet it’s simply a matter of subjectivity.
Physical keyboard > touch keyboard.
I hate touch keyboards. 9 times out of 10 they’re fine. But there’s that one time where I keep missing the exact same letter for maybe 5 attempts, even when I carefully try to click it exactly spot on 🤬
I’d have become a murderer if not for completion suggestions and spell checkers
I’d rather have T9 than swiping. T9 actually worked.
Actually the keyboard is touch sensitive. I’m wondering if they couldn’t make it so that you could swipe to type even on this…
Man, if this thing can run one of the various Linux phone OSes, I’m buying it in a heartbeat. Shame about the huge corner radius on the screen, though. That’ll make it annoying for terminals.
$499 no thanks.
$200, Linux. I’ll accept no less. And take your AI crap and you can cram it up your ass.
I have a pinephone, it was $200. It is also hot garbage, with the performance of a 56k modem with the software cohesion of liquid shite with sprinkles.
And I knew going in that it was bad. But it was so much worse. I tried using it as my main phone for a few days, and jesus it was pain. From programs not scaling, UI elements being inaccessible, the phone locking up, the lock screen freaking out, the camera not working, the fact that it only ‘works’ on 1/3 carriers in the US, I don’t think I ever got hotspot functionality working, then I threw it in a drawer for a few months, tried it again, manjaro’s package manager freaked out and corrupted itself (and some other stuff, it’s been a few years), and the only way to fix it without going insane and restoring file-by-file was to reinstall from scratch… which required setting up the distro from inside another system.
Jesus fucking christ, what a shitshow. And I’ve been using Linux off and on for just about 20 years now for desktops, 10 years for servers.
‘you get what you pay for’ couldn’t be any more true here. For a niche device, it can be good or it can be cheap. If it is both, it is using economies of scale, and thus is not niche. And let me tell you, every single phone that is running ‘full’/‘desktop’ Linux, I assure you, is a niche product.
You’re just making numbers up now. there’s no way that a $200 phone is going to be any good. Especially if it’s a niche product like a Linux phone.
Come on you got to be even moderately reasonable
$500 for a niche device that won’t sell millions of units and that comes with not medium-high specs, isn’t too bad. And it has unlockable bootloader.
$200 and Linux is impossible unless it’s something with a CPU from a decade ago like the pine phone (the allwinner a64 was launched in 2015 and it was a low end one, imagine using it today)
That’s really aggressive… I said they’re NOT pushing AI with this which is great.
Do you have a recommendation for a full featured Linux device usable as a phone? I’d love that but most seem more expensive and in my country basically none of them can even make a phone call due to not supporting VoLTE so it’s not yet a realistic option.
No, I mean “them”. I agree, its a step forward and I’d get one but not for that price.
My second phone is a Nokia t800 with KaiOS. 99 bucks and I can bring it hiking for 3 days without recharging.
I bet I could write code on that thing… I’m so tempted to try it. Coding on the go lol
Wow, I kind of hate that I don’t really need a new phone right now. And just bought a new GPU. This looks awesome.
I agree, I would totally but it as a main phone. Especially if it gets Lineage OS!
But last year I already bought F(x)tec Pro 1X, which is also a great keyboard phone and I usually don’t update phones too often 🙂
Looks cool. Did you consider the Planet Computers’ offerings?
Anyone got a a link to the unlockable bootloader confirmation?
If that’s confirmed, its a big deal - to me at least though I’d also want some comments or info from clicks about other OSs running on the device?Warning: reddit link
https://www.reddit.com/r/ClicksKeyboard/comments/1qjldo5/comment/o12ylej/
Whether or not we’ll actually see full ROMs or Linux distros isn’t going to really be knowable until developers have one in hand.
Reddit links are safe these days since my filter has them blocked.
Best I could find was a reddit AMA from the cofounders of the company, who say in one of the replies that you can request a code to unlock the bootloader. (Ctrl + F bootloader should show it up.)
