The Best PDA Ever!

[Hook 3,043]

This is what I have done to solve a couple of key problems I was wrestling with.  Verizon connectivity (both Stock and Lineage) and problems with Android Auto (Lineage).  Also, the fact that I want to keep Lineage and not return to stock.  This is not a solution for everyone.  Some may even say it isn't a solution at all. However, it has made me very happy!

I first should provide some context for why I have done what I have done and why it works for me.  I retired at the end of 2019 and then Covid hit.  I am older and thus remain very cautious, even with the world trying to open up.  I stay at home most of the time.  I maybe run one or two errands in the car each day. These are short trips. Although I am not out often or for very long, I am the principle home health caretaker for my wife who has several health challenges, therefore, handsfree comms are essential in the car. However, at home, where I spend 90% of my time, I don't even use my phone capabilities.  Most people know to use my home phone or, better yet, email.

So, I have been running Lineage on my Pro1 and I love it. However, there are two problems I have had with Lineage. One is that, although AT&T works fine, I can not get Verizon to work on it.  AT&T coverage is okay, but not as strong and complete as Verizon. I'm not optimistic that a return to stock Android would fix that either. The second problem I had was I could not get Android Auto to work completely right with Lineage. It handled Navigation and my music fine, but it would not send calls to the car speakers and microphone even though that's what the settings said it would do, so no hands free.  I don't know where the problem lies and like the Verizon problem, I lack both the skill and the motivation to chase down the problem.  The Android Auto problem would be fixed by going back to stock.  But that's the thing.  I really dreaded going back to stock Android on my Pro 1. For everything else, I love Lineage.  I love the fixes @tdm and the others made, I love having only a very few Gapps and I love that it stays properly updated with current security patches.  So, dammit, I wanted Verizon and I especially wanted  (needed) Android Auto working, but I did not want to go back to stock Android.

The solution, given especially my current lifestyle, described in the first paragraph, seemed simple.  De-converge!  Peel off all the non-keyboard intensive tasks (phone, voice texting, voice messaging, etc), and put them on a separate phone along with out and about stuff like shopping apps (most of which are the culprits that don't want to do landscape).  Turn the Pro 1 into a PDA used mostly at home with my keyboard intensive tasks-- writing and editing (yup, I do that on a Pro 1), terminal stuff like SSHing into a Linux server I use, IRC, email, spreadsheets, browsing and forums, etc.

So I bought a not as cheap as I had originally intended but very nice Moto G8 Power (With Android 10, no less) and did what I described above.  Took me 4 hours to set up.  The slab goes out with me in the car.  When I come home, it stays in my pocket, but I use my Pro1 as a wifi pocket computer sitting in my front room (no computers), on my back porch or back yard. The line between use cases is so clear and, honestly, I paid $230 for a phone that gets ignored 90% of the time.  The Pro 1 is perfect once it no longer has to deal with the phone challenges or the car challenges. And if I know I'm going somewhere where there may be a long wait (not often), I take my Pro1 too.  If there is no wifi where I am waiting, I turn on the phone hot spot. The slab has a very specific function that it is well suited to.  Other than that, I'm on my Pro1.

For me, this setup just works.  I'm not unhappy that the Pro1 wasn't perfect for all my use cases.  I'm used to international phones having problems with US Telcoms.  It's the Telcoms, not the phone.  And I'm not sure I care that one particular car system doesn't work smoothly with Lineage.  They do what they need to do-- concentrate on core functionality and that is rock-solid and stable.  And I have no regrets...I would have bought the Pro 1 even if I had known of these problems.  This will also allow me to do more experimentation with my Pro 1, which is a fun consequence of this setup.

I'm sure there are many folks here for which this isn't the ideal solution,so I'm not preaching it.  But me, I'm loving it.  And I still paid less for my whole setup than a flagship iphone or Samsung and I have a really good backup phone.  YMMV

[Hook 3,043]

While still not preaching, I wanted to come back after a week of using this setup and give a follow up. I mean, it sounded great, but it's possible that when the rubber met the road that it would turn out to be a clumsy way to do things.

It has worked out even better than I imagined.  The functional dividing line between the two devices is crystal clear.  The phone (the Moto G8 Power) is always in my pocket although in fact I rarely pull it out except in the car, It is in my pocket so I won't walk out to the car without it.  The Pro1 is always with me in the house and that is the device I reach for.  If I am going somewhere where I am going to be a while and I think a keyboard might be useful (maybe I want to make some notes while waiting for Mrs. Hook at the doctors), then the Pro 1 slips easily into the same pocket as the G8 Power (I used to carry a Nexus 6p with a huge Zerolemon battery case in that pocket(look it up 😂)-- I would need three phones before my pocket got too crowded. lol). The two phones feel different enough that I have no trouble pulling out the phone I want when I want it. However, most of the time it is just the G8 Power in my pants pocket.  The Pro 1 is so trouble free without navigating phone and car functions. And it means, when the phone does ring, I don't have to mess with what I'm working on.

Oh, and the Moto G8 Power really is a great little phone-- big battery that charges fast and has very little passive discharge such that a half hour in the car and it is 100% again.  I only charged it via the wall once this week because I didn't go out in the car that day and it had only dropped to 80%

In 2009, I gave up my Samsung flip phone and Palm TX for a Nokia 5800 not because I wanted to converge or even needed to at that moment but because I could see the writing on the wall for Palm OS and PDAs and knew I would have to before too long.  I did love Symbian, by the way.  From there I jumped to a HTC Nexus One-- my choices were dictated by being in the US and refusing to do contracts for phone and data, which was much harder back then in the US.  But, honestly, I was never that happy converging pocket computer functions with telecommunication functions.  I am so happy to be de-converged again.  It just makes sense to me. I don't want a phone in my laptop either. 😉

Thank you, F(x) Tec, for making the pocket computer I always wanted.  I'm so sorry I never picked up on the Nokias that were around.

[_DW_ 628]

I have been considering something similar but not quite the same reasons.  But I have been considering just getting a Nokia Flip for phone tasks messaging / whats app and actually phoning people! and using Pro1 for everything else gaming, ssh, email, sat nav.

Main reason is I see the pro1 as quite fragile and easily knocked out of my hands while out and about.  A £80 phone getting destroyed I wouldn't care so much.