eldarion
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Posts posted by eldarion
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4 hours ago, Flash-a-holic said:
BTW have you guys seen https://www.clicks.tech/? New Blackberry style keyboard case for iPhone.
https://www.clicks.tech/about literally the same building as fxtec. I am not 100% sure it's them but the probability of it being a coincidence is very low (checking on streetview and it's not like it's a giant office with hundreds of companies there).
The fact that they don't mention that they are fxtec is very fishy IMO. It's like they perfected this scheme of launching a credible site with lots of FAQ and order options and then it catastrophically fails.I would avoid that project like the plague until it hits the shelves or is available to directly order.
They already tried something like this and I did not work out ( https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/keyboard-mod-a-physical-keyboard-for-the-moto-z#/updates/all ) though they did offer pro1 vouchers and some refunds I believe (?) (for all the good it does to have gotten that voucher...)I mean it's nice that they are trying and I do want them to succeed but the track record so far is so bad that it is almost certainly a management issue.
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See
They have at least acknowledged this in the latest indiegogo update:
QuoteWe understand some users are experiencing poor cellular signals and occasional call drops, our team is looking into this with an effort to produce an OTA within the next month or two.
But it's not looking good as this has been known for super long and the announcement says they're just now (??!!!) starting to look into this. Still one can expect a software fix at least, though it's not certain.
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Hi Björn,
there have been a few updates since August, see here. There seems to be a know issue where backers don't get the updates via e-mail anymore but I don't know if it has been acknowledged by indiegogo or fxtec. Seems weird that the support hasn't directed you to the indiegogo updates page, what do you mean with "roasting"? On the internet this word usually means they're literally insulting you based on information they have about you.
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New manufacturing status info directly from Chen
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I strongly recommend against purchasing a cosmo communicator. Had both devices for a while. I gave away the pro1 but still have the cosmo.
The cosmo hardware is held back insanely by the amoled cover screen. You can turn it off but there will still be bugs and power drain. The keyboard is honestly quite good.
Software wise the cosmo is also a dead-end. Support is just as awful as fxtec stock except lineage doesn't work even remotely as good as on the pro1. Ubuntu is not good at all on the cosmo and it's a libhybris "port" anyway which is even worse on mediatek chips.
If you want an alternative device the astro is probably good (planet is certainly a lot more transparent than fxtec right now). Unless planet launches a new device and drops all support, just like with the cosmo...
The one thing I will say is that the cosmo doesn't even remotely have as many structural issues as the pro1. A key can get stuck and some have reported duplicated keys but nothing resembling the touch panel tirefire that the pro1 is sporting.
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Hi, don't worry too much. For some reason fxtec uses the dumbest support system on the planet.
The support tickets form a queue and they process the oldest tickets first. The problem is every time you reply this updates the ticket and thus your ticket is now the newest ticket in the system.
So very unintuitively your best bet to get a reply is to send an email and the wait patiently (several weeks, usually) without sending anything else in that email thread. Otherwise you're just bumping yourself to the back of the queue every time and support will never even see you ticket.
Before you ask, no idea why they don't have an auto-reply or something that explains this to their customers. Would have taken a few minutes to do it and made their customers a lot happier, but I digress..
Have you seen the updates here or on indiegogo? You're not getting your phone in 2021, it's delayed. If you have purchased the phone from the fxtec website, historically it has been possible to get a refund. On indiegogo probably impossible.
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I'm an evil-mode user actually. The problem with thumb typing is some key combinations require a lot of travel and leaving the home row. On a planet keyboard you can easily do C-x one handed but with the pro1 keyboard it's not really possible.
With a software keyboard you can do it one handed, though overall typing will be slower.
TBH with the the n900 I was happy being able to write shell commands and use tmux. Emacs on a mobile device has never been a good experience, except on the cosmo.
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Yeah well. I had a pro1 I gave away and emacs was unusable there too. Even something as simple as C-x C-c is difficult for me. Now on a REAL keyboard (planet computers cosmo) this was amazing but PC makes terrible software.
On termux there is a custom key row so no issues using things like tmux on the fold3 without hacker's keyboard.
Would it be nice to have a hw keyboard sometimes? Sure.
But as of now the tradeoff to get a hw keyboard is making business with a shitty company (includes planet computers) and hoarding replacements, praying to be spared from a hardware failure and hardware CVEs. I was so anxious with the pro1. I'll take reliable over hw keyboard any day of the week.
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Also got the fold3 thanks to this recommendation. The software is surprisingly good (with android 12 already available as beta) and I've grown to like the software keyboard a lot (there is a split keyboard option where I seem to perform even better when thumb typing).
The outer screen is excellent too for one handed use. I haven't had problems with prolonged one handed use but I'm a hobby powerlifter. The thing is comparatively heavy.
And there actually are decent case options. Overall super happy with it, can recommend.
I was afraid of the longevity aspect but the construction is quite impressive. There is also native support to stop charging at 85% and disable fast charging which is great.
It's not like the device has a history of developing ghost touches 😉 though it hasn't been out for that long.
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Are you prepared to buy a second phone as cold standby (preferably not a pro1)? It's not a question of if your phone will break down but when. It's not just software, you will need to do some stuff on the hardware too (including replacing parts unless you want to wait 9 months).
And are you prepared to wait a very long time to get your phone?
Ubuntu currently isn't very good on phones in general, so you will certainly have more luck with lineage.-
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Have you guys looked at an android security bulletin lately? https://source.android.com/security/bulletin
The appeal to target android devices is incredible for attackers, since there are so many older devices around. I can't wrap my head around the "I'll stick with stock" or "I'll stick with LOS16" messages around here. That seems like insanity for a device that isn't airgapped or even worse if you actually operate a browser on it and access arbitrary web pages.
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I've thought a few times about how it might have made more sense to NOT have any stock at all. I mean if you're going to half-ass something and have a good alternative, why not skip the half assed solution anyway?
But I think that GMS certification was a big part of it, including safetynet. I hope in the future fxtec will have the balls to skip the google stuff from the start, one could interpret the pro1x shipping with lineage as a hesitant first step in that direction.
But there should definitely be a biohazard splash screen if you're using stock. It's a paradox to me - you would be using stock for "important" stuff like banking with safetynet. But at the same time, with stock you're using outdated software with missing fixes, features and security patches. And not to mention all the business-y stock photos from fxtec. I don't know any IT admin who wouldn't get a heart attack if they knew that folk working at the company are using a phone that's running a patch level from early last year or something.The availability of alternatives is the one huge difference between fxtec and planet computers, BTW. I have a cosmo sitting in a drawer somewhere. It seems mind boggling that some people are using the cosmo as a daily driver. Do you really want to install your password manager on a device that is missing critical security updates and has an OTA updater with arbitrary code execution backdoors??? Never mind the fact that you're running the most popular/widespread operating system on hardware/software that's made in china.
In all threat models I can think of a compromised device is always the end of all things, that's literally the worst case.-
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Is anyone here in Berlin, DE? I have a pro1 that I'm not using. The condition is basically mint - except for the Sim tray, that thing can go straight to hell. There might also be an issue with the FP sensor, I never quite got it to work, but might be my fingers..
I don't want anything for it, so giving it away for free - the thing is I don't want to deal with shipping or anything, so you'd have to come pick it up. It would be nice if the person uses it instead of profitting off it on ebay but that's mostly a pinky promise..
Edit: it's given away now.
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16 hours ago, Rob. S. said:
It's for a reason that I said "over-optimistic", not just "optimistic". And in an earlier post I also said, yes, over the 1½ years I've been following this forum, there's no denying that there seems to be a pattern.
Yes – still neither you nor I have proof that it wasn't the factory where that promise originated in the first place, with Fxtec just repeating it publicly, and then something didn't work out in the factory, with one of the suppliers, whatever.
Without real proof, Fxtec still should have the benefit of doubt, as every accused should 😉
You are right, thank you for correcting me, I completely agree. It's weird that there's no statement from fxtec about some of those things (especially since fxtec has had no problem putting out statements about various other things in the past). What's the harm in putting out just a simple tweet or anything when you just promised to ship all devices? They were also saying they are on track for general availability in a few weeks BEFORE covid hit china, so we're not talking about minor setbacks that need an explanation, but basically black swans from the perspective of the company and customers.
This post from Chen actually rules out the massive covid impact - allegedly back in Q1 2020 they had a massive batch prepared but for some reason that batch still hasn't made it to the pre-orderers. And the forum is full of stuff like this. This post basically busts all of the "covid so can't get the parts" yet there is no plausible explanation for what happened with it. If it was stolen, what's the harm in telling so?
I believe it's fairly clear there is some stuff they do not want us to know about, for whatever reason (probably PR/marketing), that is the only sane explanation. But if it's in the interest of the company, that might be best. As long as they deliver - and they do!
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It's not just "optimistic" deadlines. Do you remember when they were saying they had a batch that would fulfill ALL pre-orders? Seems like some black hole swallowed the devices 🙄. The phone exists and is great, but this kind of communication / silence is not some kind of optimism. It seems really hard to rule out malicious intent when you look through the old announcements. They must have known it was not going to work out, and they still published the lie.
Nothing about being crooks (I have yet to hear about someone who doesn't get his/her phone or refund) but calling what they're doing "optimism" is a disgrace to all the companies that don't publish lies IMO.
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3 hours ago, _DW_ said:
I've decided to get an Astro over the pro1(x) as its not really an upgrade (more ram and storage don't make any difference to my usage) and I wanted to back them making hardware keyboard phones need all the backing they can get 🙂 but I couldn't afford to be backing 2 phones this year. I am hoping 2022 will bring a new device to the Fxtec family and I will be getting that 🙂 (fingers crossed a 5.1" device lol)
Be interesting which I find more usable I see it more Astro been for computing tasks (one I would take to work) and Pro1 the phone I would use at other times.
And I have to agree with the portrait keyboards they are more usable for quick messages and emails but the phones are rubbish for games and general tasks I found (based on BB Key One)
I do have a cosmo and honestly the keyboard is a LOT better than the pro1 if you want to do some actual work (something like tmux, emacs or vim). I find it very painful to use emacs on the pro1 because I can't touch type. On the planet keyboard this is possible, provided you can put the device somewhere or on your lap. But TBH, at that point you could be using an actual laptop... instead of running planet's shitty OS with 1+ year old security patches on a chipset that's not well documented or supported.
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Another thing I'd consider is that you're almost bound to require help from support at some point in time. The QA seems awful (my fingerprint sensor literally never worked!), there's no official case for no reason (why not just mass print the 3d layout already created by some nice folk and put a price tag on it) and the hardware has known issues.
So honestly I don't understand the "hardware is great" comments. No, the hardware isn't great. The assembly quality is honestly akin to lottery, some of the parts are almost guaranteed to develop issues on their own (hello ghost touch display) and the support/communication just exacerbates that.Yeah the repairability is a lot better than most devices on the market right now, but if you have to wait 10 months for your spare part with no communication that's just not a good way to capitalize on it.
If I could go back I'd seriously just pick another phone. Yes the keyboard is great and LOS works well, but having something good that's unreliable is not worth it for me. I switched to another phone and my pro1 is collecting dust in the drawer because if I'm going to have to use a backup phone anyway I might simply use it now.
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https://www.xda-developers.com/pro1-x/
has a secret perk token URL btw.
4 out of 100.
Funnily enough, it's more expensive than the pre early bird.
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Just now, Hook said:
I did the "Enthusiast" Perk. Lol. I think it just keeps me in the loop for their progress emails, but happy to contribute to the cause. I do hope this means that official versions of the OSs will be on their way to us as well.
Raises the question of what is the point of ordering a Pro 1 from the store anymore. Confusing.
See the FAQ on indiegogo:
Will the Pro1-X be available after the campaign?We are currently intend to have the Pro1-X available only during the campaign as part of a limited run.I don't really understand that decision either, but I don't understand most of fxtec's decisions TBH-
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I don't see the value of the specs, there's literally no reason to have 8gb ram on android... the thing is there's a case included, which is awesome. But if the hardware is still as wonky, I won't be ordering one.
Would be interesting to know, what has changed compared to the pro1 assembly. If the QA and assembly is still as unreliable, or if it has improved.
Some of the stuff on the kickstarter is also quite dishonest, there's a benchmark plot (because of course there is) and it has the oneplus nord as "2020 5g flagship". What are you guys smoking, it's literally a budget phone. Put something with a snapdragon 865+ on there and you need to change to log scale -_- -
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/pro1-x-smartphone-functionality-choice-control
The indiegogo page is still in draft mode though.. (link is from the androidpolice article, so it's probably a mistake that the page is still a draft...)
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On my (recent batch) device it flat out doesn't work. I registered the same finger 8 times and I cannot get it to unlock. So I literally gave up on the FP sensor and am using a PIN to unlock. Due to the position of the sensor I guess it's better like this anyway..
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1 hour ago, EskeRahn said:
I do not think that F(x)tec ever planned to produce more than what was ordered. Perhaps a small overhead buffer, primarily for any needed warranty replacements, but I never heard that they would carry an extensive stock. There MIGHT be some dealers that want to take that chance though. We know that a few dealers had bought a handful for stock a while back - but they were sold out practically immediately. I do not know if any dealers currently got a stock.
Well last december it was communicated that the main goal was to have 1-day delivery for christmas. That would require more than just a few spare units. Not sure if that has changed this year, with the pandemic people are less likely to order a phone for christmas, etc..
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3 hours ago, tdm said:
Thanks for the thought. It's mostly just me and @npjohnson
but I'm not sure about his feelings on donations. We have both received devices for development, which I personally consider due reward in itself.To second @EskeRahn , I literally wouldn't be able to use the pro1 without the LOS fixes. And getting Q and R? For me it wouldn't be about "due reward", you guys deserve a goddamn altar 😉 and I would definitely like to be able to show my appreciation.
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Self-built slider
in General Discussion
Posted · Edited by eldarion
https://suite.endole.co.uk/insight/company/14816776-clicks-technology-ltd?page=people-contacts but it is undoubtedly them. The company lists Adrien and Chen as company directors, among others
The moto mod campaign failed because (among others) Motorola basically left the mod market to die after claiming they would help with marketing etc. It's quite well documented in the indiegogo I linked (at that time livermorium/fxtec was quite good at communicating and being transparent).
edit: by the way it's also mentioned in the launch video https://youtu.be/e2n2ftM-MwI?t=199 so it's not really a secret