Re: The new QWERTY device project
 

I suppose there might be special cases when you need a small device and functions dumbphone simply can't offer (say, internet messaging or voice calls), so it's offered as a "backup" to the main device.

Personally I'm not a fan of small devices, but if they manage to ship, there is a thing I like about that campaign. They basically took the cheapest MediaTek chipset available with 4G and managed to keep the price competive with budget smart phones on same SoC (at least for early Kickstart bakers) instead of overpricing it for "smallness". This pretty much fits its usage paradigm as second/backup phone.

Actually there are MediaTek-based smartwatches running Android, which are technically phones, but usually they run on way older hardware (like MT6580 with 512MB RAM).

Re: The new QWERTY device project
 

A few points wanted to share:;)

- N810's build quality is robust, and the metal feeling is awesome. But in its time, there were no touch gestures for even scrolling the contents. Therefore you need to accurate pointing at the scroll bar to "move down" the page. Which is not the case with multi touch anyway. Time to move on.

- I wanted to state that the width of N810 is on par with those so-called huge phones, and N810 will be thicker than this coming device. I know it's still smaller in length and width but it's not that much difference in feeling.

- As I stated before unless you want to use 4 years old hardware, but modern suppliers don't do devices below 5 inch anymore. It's not possible to develop anything below 5 inch in my own at this stage.

- 5.5 inch isn't that big. My Moto Z seem to be a good size. Try one before you comment.

- For battery, the more it goes up with size, the more battery life it generally gives and the extra amount with the bigger size out perform the extra consumption of the screen. That why those pads in general have a very long battery life

To conclude the talk on the sizes:

- Currently only 5.5 inch is considered. I don't find any problem with operations in SFOS on 5.5 inch, and it's generally a great balance overall with battery, screen, camera, a more PC towarded UI.

- To get a device like 3.5 inch or 4 inch, it's not possible for now and I don't see any point doing that.

- Time to move on. :)

Re: The new QWERTY device project
 

Size does not matter... Livermorium does...

"We" must have this...

Re: The new QWERTY device project
 

There is no point in continuing arguing about the screen size. It is set in stone and the choice has been made based on (1) actual constraints that can't just be ignored (parts availability*) and (2) design decisions (as in engineering, not aesthetics). It's not just a blind random choice.

In all honesty, I would buy this device even if Chen came up tomorrow announcing that the only way to build a keypad in 2017 is to source blinking RGB keys.

Let's move on and be supportive. The device will be as good as it gets, or won't be at all, and even with some minor frustrations depending on people's preferences, it will still be far better to people who want an open bootloader with a keyboard and a choice of OS than anything any other manufacturer has to offer (or impose). It will in fact be the only device to offer that. There's no match.

* This tiny Jelly device got $1.25M and there were enough resources to build working prototypes before the campaign, plus it does not try to reinvent the wheel, it's just a small Android phone. Livermorium plays another move here, and this seems to be something that may be more interesting to people in this thread.

Re: The new QWERTY device project
 

I probably should have been more specific- rather than screen size I meant more phone size- if you can fit the same 4"+ screen in the same dimensions of older <4" phones then sure.

The problem is when the phones are bigger to put a bigger screen. For example my current phone is about the same size (height) as my n900. Current phone has 4.3" screen, because it's more screen than borders.

Figure out/plan it to be a smaller phone with maximum screen coverage, rather than big borders to fit all the components (making the phone bigger)

Rambblerabblerabble

Re: The new QWERTY device project
 

That would certainly be an interesting device to run SFOS on. Swipe gestures vs buttons become more important when the buttons are smaller.

Re: The new QWERTY device project
 

@chenliangchen

Will you plan a crowdfunding campaign?
is there a chance for paypal accounts?
cause i have no credit card. :D

Thanks for all your work...

We need this phone...:)

Re: The new QWERTY device project
 

the problem is that people tend to have different preferences about phone size so you cant please everyone with only 1 model.

my problem is that its not a matter of preference, id love to have a huge screen, but i cant.
when on the go i use my phone in portrait, and a 5" phone (16:9) is the largest that im able to use (with bezel, might be a little bigger for bezel-less phones) with one hand.
i dont want to go about dropping everything (but the phone) to do anything useful with it, if i cant type on the portrait onscreen keyboard with one hand it aint the decvice for me.

one thing i dont understand though

where do you find a design for a qwertyslider that big so as to not have to develop it from scratch?
the last landscape qwertysliders were produced way before screens got that big, so ... you'd asume there arent any designs that big you could use?

question: have you considered a touchscreen phone with optional magnetic keyboard? (like tohkbd https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A834DyFiBUE)
you'd have a wider range of designs to choose from, just need to add pins and magnets on the back.

Re: The new QWERTY device project
 

Please no. Not magnetic keyboard again. Just... no.

Re: The new QWERTY device project
 

if you're already adding pins and magnets, you might as well just add a bracket mount...