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I'm at "peak phone". I can't go to a dumb phone and I'm locked into apple and google's ecosystems, but I am underserved by them and actively working on moving a

I'm at "peak phone". I can't go to a dumb phone and I'm locked into apple and google's ecosystems, but I am underserved by them and actively working on moving away from them. I've been buying small computing platforms and testing out PCIe LTE modems as well as playing around with the LimeSDR LTE[1] networking getting ready for 5G mesh networking with the next model. I want to carry a brick that I control in my backpack or pocket and use my own input and display devices[2][3]. I don't need another $1000 light up rectangle / digital leash. I haven't played a mobile game in years, none of the apps on my phone are increasing my enjoyment of the tool. Basically it's there for banking and so I can check Slack if if I'm running errands and something else happens. I made the decision to start working on the DIY phone project when I found out the iPhoneX used the primesense depth camera on the front. It's 100% for more tracking and advertising stuff without any of the cool AR/Depth stuff that I want. Also potentially SUPER creepy social control when you have thousands of high detail copies of everyone's face because they posted them with goofy masks on them. As if the instagram to Deepfakes pipeline was too complicated. Then google mothballed Tango a couple weeks after I got a ZenPhoneAR. The emperor has no clothes at this point. We don't need their phones and they don't want us to know it yet. I have a $300 Firefly[4] board that dual boots Ubuntu and Android and has HDMI in. I'm working on automating my control of an external iphone through HDMI and a hacked together capacitive touch overlay so I can control it with a mouse like stylus so I won't have to deal with the communication gap from iMessage being so wired up to my life. I'm pretty sure I can virtualize iOS or OSX with a bit of work to solve that problem too then just work on migrating out. There are starting to be very appealing X86_64 tiny computers like the LattePanda[5]. The walled media messaging garden between iOS and Android bugs the crap out of me. If I send someone a phone vid from iOS to android they get a thumbnail that looks like a 1996 RealPlayer DVD Rip. I want an Ono Sendai but cooler, the tools are here now. Fuck the adslabs. [1] https://www.crowdsupply.com/lime-micro/limenet https://www.crowdsupply.com/lime-micro/limenet [2] https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/5/16966530/intel-vaunt-smart-glasses-announced-ar-video https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/5/16966530/intel-vaunt-smart... [3] http://www.bosch-presse.de/pressportal/de/en/mobile-world-congress-2017-new-bosch-microscanner-bml050-for-interactive-laser-projection-90624.html http://www.bosch-presse.de/pressportal/de/en/mobile-world-co... [4] http://shop.t-firefly.com/goods.php?id=64 http://shop.t-firefly.com/goods.php?id=64 [5] http://www.lattepanda.com/ http://www.lattepanda.com/

dredmorbius 9y ago
You are my spirit animal. I think I've outlined a similar set of preferences myself, and this has been the on-the-road computing experience I've wanted to see for .... years? It's absolutely stubbornly resistant to happening. I've been using an Android tablet for the past 2.5 years, and have absolutely hated it pretty much from the start. The best thing about it was Termux, but something (Memory management? App model? Hardware limitations? OS bugs?) keeps trashing that. The apps ecosystem is abysmal. Arguably moreso on Android than iOS, for reasons I've iterated on G+. The hardware ecosystem, most especially for peripherals, is similarly abysmal. Apple, at least, having a small number of specified form-factors has a set of offerings, specifically of folio-type keyboard-case systems, that work. For Android, I find that such products are specific to specific versions of a product -- say, the Samsung Tab of a given size -- the folio keyboard case that fits one will not fit others. This is beyond frustrating. The quality of those products is also exceedingly limited. Logitech have failed me and failed me badly. (I strongly discourage use of either Samsung or Logitech products based on my direct experience with products, support, and quality. Across multiple cases for both.) Given (theoretically) wireless connectivity options, the notion of being able to carry: 1. A vox handset. 2. A mobile-capable display. Something that will fit into a backpack, messenger bag, or bike bag -- this does not have to be pocketable and actually preferably isn't. Women (or men who carry them) may substitute a purse. 3. Additional locally managed storage. Multi-terrabyte storage is available in card-deck-sized form factors (or smaller). This fits somewhere within the bag above. 4. A folio-style case (see illustration on link below). 5. An integrated full feature keyboard. 6. Ideally some sort of trackpad / mouse interface as well. Touch-interface is too constrained. See click-vs-drag ambiguity mentioned here: https://redd.it/5x2sfx https://redd.it/5x2sfx 7. The ability to share work with a "real" system as well. I'm actually partial to Git-based, file-based synch, not via some "cloud" system. Problem of course being that several major applications, most notably browsers, handle this poorly. 8. A full and real userland and Linux environment. I've tried the rest. This is the best. I'm sure there's a global market for about five of these systems, but that's how IBM started in the 1950s. One of my previous rants on this: https://ello.co/dredmorbius/post/lqgtwy_rhsfbdh5cdxb1rq https://ello.co/dredmorbius/post/lqgtwy_rhsfbdh5cdxb1rq And for the general problem of poor-quality mass-market products, the Tyranny of the Minimum Viable User: https://redd.it/69wk8y https://redd.it/69wk8y

dredmorbius 9y ago

You are my spirit animal. I think I've outlined a similar set of preferences myself, and this has been the on-the-road computing experience I've wanted to see for .... years? It's absolutely stubbornly resistant to happening. I've been using an Android tablet for the past 2.5 years, and have absolutely hated it pretty much from the start. The best thing about it was Termux, but something (Memory management? App model? Hardware limitations? OS bugs?) keeps trashing that. The apps ecosystem is abysmal. Arguably moreso on Android than iOS, for reasons I've iterated on G+. The hardware ecosystem, most especially for peripherals, is similarly abysmal. Apple, at least, having a small number of specified form-factors has a set of offerings, specifically of folio-type keyboard-case systems, that work. For Android, I find that such products are specific to specific versions of a product -- say, the Samsung Tab of a given size -- the folio keyboard case that fits one will not fit others. This is beyond frustrating. The quality of those products is also exceedingly limited. Logitech have failed me and failed me badly. (I strongly discourage use of either Samsung or Logitech products based on my direct experience with products, support, and quality. Across multiple cases for both.) Given (theoretically) wireless connectivity options, the notion of being able to carry: 1. A vox handset. 2. A mobile-capable display. Something that will fit into a backpack, messenger bag, or bike bag -- this does not have to be pocketable and actually preferably isn't. Women (or men who carry them) may substitute a purse. 3. Additional locally managed storage. Multi-terrabyte storage is available in card-deck-sized form factors (or smaller). This fits somewhere within the bag above. 4. A folio-style case (see illustration on link below). 5. An integrated full feature keyboard. 6. Ideally some sort of trackpad / mouse interface as well. Touch-interface is too constrained. See click-vs-drag ambiguity mentioned here: https://redd.it/5x2sfx https://redd.it/5x2sfx 7. The ability to share work with a "real" system as well. I'm actually partial to Git-based, file-based synch, not via some "cloud" system. Problem of course being that several major applications, most notably browsers, handle this poorly. 8. A full and real userland and Linux environment. I've tried the rest. This is the best. I'm sure there's a global market for about five of these systems, but that's how IBM started in the 1950s. One of my previous rants on this: https://ello.co/dredmorbius/post/lqgtwy_rhsfbdh5cdxb1rq https://ello.co/dredmorbius/post/lqgtwy_rhsfbdh5cdxb1rq And for the general problem of poor-quality mass-market products, the Tyranny of the Minimum Viable User: https://redd.it/69wk8y https://redd.it/69wk8y