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Issues I have experience so far and other thoughts


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ISSUES:

  • Static/crackling noise in many games
  • Camera Selfie Mode is inverted
  • Camera app closes when settings are selected
  • Pictures are not that great
  • Security updates are not being released quickly enough
  • Keyboard repeats keys
  • Keyboard will randomly start repeating the last pressed key endlessly until interrupted
  • Fingerprint reader on the right is getting annoying because of how it is always getting hit due to position locking out its use
  • Screen is sensitive on the sides causing errant selections when holding
  • Cellular data stops sometimes and I have to toggle airplane mode to get it to resume
  • WiFi roaming is slow and too sticky
  • WiFi calling works, but SMS/MMS is not using the tunnel
  • Random reboots
  • Screen lockups

Also, where can I get all of the hardware binaries so I can roll my own AOSP?

On the positive, I found a holster case that is well built and fits perfectly:

https://www.amazon.com/Skycase-Holster-Handmade-Leather-Cellphone/dp/B081CMMNDV

Edited by NukaNegan
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  • NukaNegan changed the title to Issues I have experience so far and other thoughts
2 hours ago, NukaNegan said:

Also, where can I get all of the hardware binaries so I can roll my own AOSP?

Similar to pretty much any other Android phone, you do a build by pulling binaries off the device.  I don't know if FxTec has provided any "official" kernel sources but this repo has the full OEM history, which is a step above your typical "here's a tarball" that most every other OEM does:

 

https://github.com/tdm/android_kernel_idealte_msm8998/commits/oem-history

 

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22 hours ago, NukaNegan said:

Fingerprint reader on the right is getting annoying because of how it is always getting hit due to position locking out its use

I've found the most annoying with this, which is a personal problem, is when I put the phone back in my pocket, my thumb hits the reader and it unlocks!

22 hours ago, NukaNegan said:

Screen is sensitive on the sides causing errant selections when holding

And thats getting really annoying for me...I know lineageos has a feature for screen margins but I don't like to fiddle with my phone and my primary computer just in case I break either!

 

Now to find an Amazon UK link for that case...

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7 minutes ago, Toby Lerone said:

I've found the most annoying with this, which is a personal problem, is when I put the phone back in my pocket, my thumb hits the reader and it unlocks!

Try that SNAKEHIVE case, it will make things a lot easier and needs only minimum customisation.

11 minutes ago, Toby Lerone said:

And thats getting really annoying for me...I know lineageos has a feature for screen margins but I don't like to fiddle with my phone and my primary computer just in case I break either!

Here the case should help a lot too. Otherwise, I know there are probably various app from Google Play that could help you with that.

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  • 1 month later...

Unfortunately, I am just having too many issues to continue using this device as my daily driver.

Really, the only good thing is the keyboard but even that has bugs. I've had issues with just about everything else, including the paint on the back starting to run off in less than a month.

My NFC is still broken after their last mistake update, and I am tired of waiting for a fix.

It is really important, especially now with this COVID-19 virus, to have a contact-less payment option working.

I am going back to a google device. At least then I get everything I want minus the keyboard.

Good luck all, I hope it goes better for you than it did for me. I really regret my purchase.

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On 4/6/2020 at 9:20 PM, NukaNegan said:

Unfortunately, I am just having too many issues to continue using this device as my daily driver.

Really, the only good thing is the keyboard but even that has bugs. I've had issues with just about everything else, including the paint on the back starting to run off in less than a month.

My NFC is still broken after their last mistake update, and I am tired of waiting for a fix.

It is really important, especially now with this COVID-19 virus, to have a contact-less payment option working.

I am going back to a google device. At least then I get everything I want minus the keyboard.

Good luck all, I hope it goes better for you than it did for me. I really regret my purchase.

The best analogy for the Pro1 is: it's a phone with a keyboard bolted on, Android is not built for keyboard phones at all. Meanwhile, something like the N900 and Maemo is built from the ground up for use with a keyboard.

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6 hours ago, Wasmachineman_NL said:

Android is not built for keyboard phones at all. Meanwhile, something like the N900 and Maemo is built from the ground up for use with a keyboard.

Actually the support for hardware keyboard IS part of Android, and has been it 'always', or at the least for very long. BUT it is not optimised for it, as they clearly focus on devices with fake keyboards only. So any fancy features would be needed to by added to android. Though a lot of clipboard and text/page navigation and the like, is as you would expect it in a PC. including task-switching.

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It's so strange that the experience people have with the phone vary so wildly. Is there so much difference in build quality that the software suffers from it?

In all honesty, dragging the N900 into the discussion again is... not fair. Maemo itself was built as an OS specifically for internet tablets, not smartphones. I quite vividly remember that the quick-start of the N900 had the possibility of calling at the very last page, almost as an afterthought. That being said, Android supports hardware keyboards out of the box. They even have a page dedicated to it!

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I think part of it is the variation in the expectations people bring to the phone.  This phone is not for everyone.  It's not a polished experience at all times.  I expected that and it is a trade I'm willing to make for, not only a physical keyboard, but for a phone I can easily tweak, root etc.  This phone is perfect for me, not because it is a perfect phone, but because it closely aligns with want I want and need.

Quite honestly, that was the appeal of the Nexus phones I had previously.  They also had rough edges in both software and hardware, but they were my first choice over Samsungs or anything else.

Edited by Hook
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On 4/12/2020 at 2:30 AM, Hook said:

... It's not a polished experience at all times.  I expected that and it is a trade I'm willing to make for, not only a physical keyboard, but for a phone I can easily tweak, root etc.  ...

These were my exact expectations. And they turned out to be a huge let down. I have yet to get into key remapping. Without remapping, the keyboard is utterly useless and I feel mocked every time I try to use it. Heck, I have to fold my precious "physical" keyboard away to get access to something as simple as a question-mark on my virtual keyboard!

The rooting and tweaking is useless without the ability to make (and restore!) NAND-backups. The ever present fear of bricking my Pro1 prevents me from doing anything "fun". Like fixing the audio distortion and audio volume problems that cripple this phone to a point where it becomes useless ... as a phone!

Unfortunately, I am not a programmer and have only limited knowledge about Android. Even though, I would like to try my luck with TWRP. But I can't, because fastboot on the Pro1 is lacking the boot option. And without NAND-backups, even one flipped bit trashes my data partition.

No, this is no fun at all 😞

(sorry for my negative vibes here ...)

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5 minutes ago, daniel.schaaaf said:

These were my exact expectations. And they turned out to be a huge let down. I have yet to get into key remapping. Without remapping, the keyboard is utterly useless and I feel mocked every time I try to use it. Heck, I have to fold my precious "physical" keyboard away to get access to something as simple as a question-mark on my virtual keyboard!

 

Not sure I'm following this.  Even without key remapping, the keyboard is perfectly usable if a little weird.  You can certainly get a question mark—Fn (slant arrow)+L  FinQwerty restores using the shift for all num row symbols, but can't for ? or /.  FN+L and FN+P is a little strange, as I said, but it's learnable.

Not having TWRP is inconvenient—I've twice had to reflash my phone using factory images and both times had to completely rebuild it.  The second rebuild was my fault because I had failed to notice I let Titanium Backup use internal memory, which is useless.  😄  But the fact is, it really isn't easy to brick the phone in a way that doesn't allow you to recover from flashing factory images.  I'm neither a programmer nor one who is deeply knowledgeable about Android under the hood.  But there are a lot of folks here and on Discord who are and are very helpful if you run into trouble. 

I've never really had an sound problems with phone calls other than the being too loud.  Staying home most of the time, that's not much of a problem, but I can see how it could be and I hope it gets fixed soon.  Out in the world, I text more than I call.

Sorry you are having such a hard time with the phone.  I'm not trying to be dismissive. 

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32 minutes ago, Hook said:

Sorry you are having such a hard time with the phone.  I'm not trying to be dismissive. 

Tanks, this was good to read 🙂

The slant arrow(s) doesn't do anything on my phone. I just get a lower case "l" or "p". I also have sticky keys and a dead key on my wish list of "things never to see the light of day".

Whether the Pro1 can be bricked or not is a matter of definition. To me, a phone is bricked, when one needs to re-flash its partitions using a computer. Actually, I have never encountered a phone that cannot be un-bricked (a word that shouldn't exist if bricking was as irreversible as the word "brick" implies). Over the years, I have grown tired of restoring my data after a brick. With Google shielding Android more and more from the evil of h4x0rs ... power users and sd-cards, I tend to get an allergic reaction from touching devices that may be "unstable" 😉

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4 minutes ago, daniel.schaaaf said:

The slant arrow(s) doesn't do anything on my phone. I just get a lower case "l" or "p". I also have sticky keys and a dead key on my wish list of "things never to see the light of day".

I suspect you need to go to to Settings, System, Languages & Input, physical keyboard, tap Fxtec Pro 1.  When the box pops up tap set up keyboard layouts.  Then make sure all keyboard layouts are unchecked.  Then arrow back and it should show your layout as default.  Without FinQwerty, picking *any* keyboard layout will mess up being able to use the FN key.

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