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    Home Unlabelled Android Help Two simple rules for better one-handed user experience

    Android Help Two simple rules for better one-handed user experience

    May 02, 2018

    Android Help Two simple rules for better one-handed user experience

    Two simple rules for better one-handed user experience

    Posted: 02 May 2018 04:00 AM PDT

    Why bother making a glass phone without wireless charging?

    Posted: 02 May 2018 09:08 AM PDT

    Google Opinion Rewards to incorporate ‘Cross Media Panel’ research program, add incentives

    Posted: 02 May 2018 07:25 PM PDT

    The smartphone notch is a status symbol - LG surveyed the public, and gave it what it wanted: Another notch

    Posted: 02 May 2018 10:02 AM PDT

    The U.S. Patent Office Granted Samsung 180 Patents Yesterday covering a Folding Phone, a Transparent Phone Display & more

    Posted: 02 May 2018 10:28 AM PDT

    LG G7 ThinQ Impressions!

    Posted: 02 May 2018 07:42 AM PDT

    Pentagon Orders Stores on Military Bases to Remove Huawei, ZTE Phones

    Posted: 02 May 2018 07:04 AM PDT

    Hands on with a Planet Gemini PDA Smartphone.

    Posted: 02 May 2018 04:34 PM PDT

    Last post I could find about the Gemini was from about a month ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/86u2x5/planet_gemini_review_a_tiny_computer_with_big/

    So I figure this might be of interest to some folks in /r/Android as it's actually managed to get produced and shipped.

    Got mine yesterday. Feel free to AMA if anything below doesn't cover questions you might have.

    First thing I did was install TWRP onto it, of course: https://i.imgur.com/2vFR16b.jpg

    Despite being MediaTek based, Planet has done a good job releasing images and, yes, even sources for getting the most out of this device possible. After giving Android exclusive run on the device for a week or two, I plan to dualboot with Debian installed.

    Initial impressions:

    • It's a lot bigger than it looks, both in hand feel and pocket feel. Hefty, too. It has weight. Build quality feels very, very solid.

    • Side by side of the Gemini closed and a Razer Phone in a thin TPU case: https://i.imgur.com/9Ea6n8o.jpg - So yes, the Razer is already quite a large device and the Gemini is even bigger.

    • The keys on the keyboard do kind of feel fragile. I come from using a mechanical keyboard, so this may be part of it. Definitely can type faster than when using a screen. Size of the keyboard does not prohibit handheld thumb typing when it comes to my hands. It's easier to type with thumbs than it is to try to touch type, but touch typing isn't difficult. I know this doesn't sound like the highest praise, but they did a good job with the keyboard. It's just like the Psion of old. But also, it's JUST LIKE the Psion of old... and small keyboards have improved since. I have to make sure I press in the middle of each key.

    • In short with the keyboard: Don't want to or can't bring a 10-11" netbook/chromebook with you and don't want to bring a compact USB keyboard with you in which you can hook up to your phone using an OTG cable... yeah, the Gemini's keyboard is a good option.

    • The click shut is soooooo satisfying. It closes and then with a slight press further, locks shut. There's no way this thing is flipping open on its own.

    • There are several LEDs within the device. One on the keyboard for charging status, one closer to the charging port for charging status... and 5 more in the middle of the device between the plate gaps. They can be animated, programmed, assigned for specific contacts so you can know who you're talking to without needing to open the device and look at the screen.

    • You would push the Google Assistant button along the bottom edge of the phone to answer and hang up on a call without having to open the device to use the screen.

    • The 5 LEDs in the middle lid are painfully bright. I can't even aim a camera directly at them without the colors clipping to white. They are bright enough to where I imagine they can even be used as an alarm for deaf people. I had afterimages for several minutes after inadvertently directly looking at the LEDs while animating. Short gif of LEDs in random mode: https://i.imgur.com/beF2URQ.mp4

    • The screen is bright and crisp... however. It IS a portrait screen and refreshing from right to left when you use it in landscape mode.

    • The screen is also refreshing at 54hz and not 60hz... leading to some noticeable stuttering depending on how something draws.

    • It does not autorotate, unfortunately.

    • Color accuracy and contrast is smashingly excellent. The screen is, hands down, the best thing about the device. No ghosting, no bleeding, the color seems rich at all brightness levels. Resolution is 2160x1080.

    • Picture of playing "Dance Bear" by Snakadaktal. I like using this video as a screen test because it's very rich and colorful and also they use double exposure like effects which can expose weaknesses in some screens. (Black crush, smearing, bleeding, etc) https://i.imgur.com/3DEh0ps.jpg

    • Performance in general isn't lacking. The Mediatek Helo X27 SOC (10 core, 2+4+4) Single threaded performance is about on par with the Snapdragon 820 series... multithreaded/gaming performance is a bit worse. I'd probably drop it down to the Snapdragon 620 series in feel for heavy tasks. It also uses the Mali GPU instead of the Adreno. I use a Moto Z Play as my primary device and generally have no issue with the performance on a day to day basis.

    • Touch latency seems very average. No complaints there.

    • Wifi is average. 5Ghz access does seem to cut short compared to some of my devices so I've had to leave it connected to my 2.4Ghz SSID. No complaints about throughput, however.

    • Have not tested LTE or call quality yet.

    • The front camera (didn't order the rear one) is abysmal. Very washed out and fuzzy. The camera software settings are basic, at best, and useless, at worst. Case in point, Hue can be adjusted in 3 steps. Low, Medium, High. High turned my face green. For something that is 5MP, I honestly thought it was a VGA camera upscaled at first. To make matters worse, there's no perceptible quality difference in the preview when I switched it from 5MP to VGA. I hope this is something they can fix with software updates.

    • Oddly enough, the video mode supports 4K recording. (LOLWUT) The resultant video file was indeed 4k. Didn't look like it though.

    • Battery is user removable. Current usage case isn't typical but I seem to be heading towards an average of about 8 hours SOT. Battery is 4220 mAh. With the youtube video playing and trying to take pictures, I have "About 9 hours remaining."

    • The feel of the software is unfinished, but excellent as it stands. I quite like the Planet App Bar. Touch Alt and a shortcut row of icons pops up from bottom of the screen. Is global, so it will show up in any app you're in at the moment. https://i.imgur.com/h6r25MD.jpg

    • Android is about as stock as it gets otherwise. Has the Google Suite (and the resulting duplicate apps), has MediaTek specific apps but they're all separate apps instead of being integrated/skinned into the OS.

    • Was even able to install a rooted kernel (provided by Planet) and use Magisk Manager without issues.

    • I, however, had to use proprietary software to flash the device. (Mediatek Flash Tool) Mediatek requires a scatter file (partition locations and layout) and thus you can't just simply use fastboot. Hopefully with further development, simply flashing images in TWRP will be all you need to do.

    • Substratum also works without any issues. Needs root, though.

    • The device comes with 7.1.1 and November 2017 security patch level. Says device is fully up to date when I tried to update. Oreo is promised.

    • Speakers are arse. Clear at lower volumes, easily distorted at higher volumes when playing videos. No bass. Not something you'll be using at a listening party. Clearly for telephony use and not much else.

    • At least it has a headphones jack if you're going to want to hook it up to speakers for better quality sound.

    How do I feel about it overall?

    It's tough to say because half of these features (great screen, large battery, 4k recording even if the sensor is poor) are in phones much more expensive than this one... but even as it stands, this device being about half the price as these more expensive phones seems a tad high. The Wifi+LTE Version is $599 when I was able to back it for $449.

    Wifi model was $399, now $499.

    Keeping in mind that they have allowed for open source support, this goes a long way in keeping the device's lifespan prolonged. Like the HTC HD2, this device will be very hackable on the software side. A Debian/Android Dual Boot image is available... Sailfish, Postmarket OS, Ubuntu and LineageOS will also be available for this device in official and unofficial flavors.

    So for techies who like hacking every little aspect of a device to their liking, this is probably a pretty sweet deal. For regular users who just want a phone with a keyboard? Lack of slider/screen on outside may prohibit this to most.

    Keyboard, however, isn't going to be nearly as comfortable for long term typing as I would be able to do on something at home. I can't help but to feel that despite growing up in the era of Palmtops and always being into them... and that this device being geared specifically for people like myself... that I've grown past them. Form factors became more efficient, even at the cost of usability... and now I'm just too used to a phone and touchscreen even though I was one of the loudest (still am) to crow about disappearing physical keyboards.

    Fortunately, the device is much more powerful, and thus much more useful, than the palmtops of old. I ordered this as a tinkering and much-more-portable writing device and for that, it'll definitely come in handy.

    submitted by /u/rat
    [link] [comments]

    Google Now Launcher is (finally) dead

    Posted: 02 May 2018 08:52 AM PDT

    Samsung is Giving Galaxy Owners $500 of In-App Purchases to Select Games Right Now

    Posted: 02 May 2018 11:04 AM PDT

    Honor/Huawei's bootloader unlock page disappears with no explanation

    Posted: 02 May 2018 10:35 AM PDT

    Vivo's X21 with underscreen fingerprint sensor gets global launch

    Posted: 02 May 2018 05:17 AM PDT

    Twitter 7.43 beta updated to include bottom navigation

    Posted: 02 May 2018 08:10 AM PDT

    This may be a server side switch as the app updated last week but the change appeared today.

    There also seems to be no swipe left and right between tabs/feeds now

    Screenshot

    submitted by /u/ayyymen
    [link] [comments]

    Verizon's Oath signs distribution deal with Samsung to place four of its most popular apps on millions of Samsung devices across the U.S. and eventually globally, the company told Reuters on Tuesday.

    Posted: 02 May 2018 05:03 AM PDT

    Hands-on photos of the OnePlus 6 leaked

    Posted: 02 May 2018 05:55 AM PDT

    LG G7 ThinQ Offers Deep AI Integration for Maximum User Convenience

    Posted: 02 May 2018 07:04 AM PDT

    Notch On/Off setting in action (Honor 10)

    Posted: 02 May 2018 07:58 AM PDT

    Top 5 smartphone vendors Q1 2018

    Posted: 02 May 2018 10:07 AM PDT

    5 ways Google Pay can save you time and money at checkout

    Posted: 02 May 2018 10:41 AM PDT

    Google Contacts v2.7 prepares a new home screen widget and name suggestions using sources like Google Maps [APK Teardown]

    Posted: 02 May 2018 07:18 AM PDT

    Lineage 15.1 Official for Xiaomi Mi 6 & Mi Mix 2

    Posted: 02 May 2018 07:01 AM PDT

    Google Wunderkind Is Building a Secret Social-Gaming Startup

    Posted: 02 May 2018 12:22 PM PDT

    In the Apple quarterly earnings call, Tim Cook said, "Our main task with iPhone right now is to convince Android users to switch to iPhone." What changes would Apple have to make to persuade you to switch?

    Posted: 02 May 2018 01:16 AM PDT

    Full Quote:

    Tim Cook: Our main task with iPhone right now is to convince Android users to switch to iPhone. In addition, we need to take care of our current iPhone users so they remain iPhone users.

    I wanted to promote some discussion based on the prompt.

    Off the top of my head, Id say

    1. Fix notifications
    2. Freedom to change defaults on some apps
    3. Homescreen customization
    4. USB access to the FILES app.
    5. Improved keyboard support.

    These just seem like the low hanging fruit. And they are mostly software quibbles. What are the annoyances about iPhones and iOS that keep you off the platform?

    submitted by /u/thinkbox
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