Messages

1

Cosmo Communicator - General Discussion / Cosmo as a daily driver - experiences/review

« on: March 16, 2020, 01:09:53 am »

I don't find the CODI useful at all, since I'm using a smartwatch with the Cosmo. I'd love for PC to add the option to just completely disable the CODI in a later update, but I can't imagine that they'd offer that.

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Cosmo Communicator - General Discussion / QR Code Scanning

« on: March 15, 2020, 11:18:22 am »

I've logged a bug for this because I'm having similar problems with other apps.

For example, in Telegram, if I try to take a photo within the app, the scaling of the live view is all distorted.

I use another app called Zipgrade that scans test papers, but I can't use it on Cosmo because the camera view is so distorted that I can't get the boxes in the camera view and on the test papers to line up.

In both cases, rotating the screen does nothing to help - sometimes it just makes the distortion even worse.

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Cosmo Communicator - Hardware / Screen tearing after returning from standbymode

« on: March 15, 2020, 01:22:03 am »

Thanks a lot for your reply, and your testing. It happens with any app after I exit from standby mode. I had it with Youtube, Google Chrome (all in landscape mode). It could be also batch related.

I've experienced the same screen tearing, though it seems to only happen to me when waking the screen from standby (still on the lockscreen). Japanese PCB, US keyboard..

Thanks a lot. I also have the issue during startup when the animation starts. Did you also report it to Planet Computers? I don't know if it is hardware related or it can be solved trouh an update.

If I can reliably replicate the problem, I'll report it. I have experienced some odd behaviour with the screen dimming and brightening all by itself, again after booting the device. This made me think something might be up with the hardware, but again, can't replicate it. Only happened a few times.

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Cosmo Communicator - Hardware / Screen tearing after returning from standbymode

« on: March 13, 2020, 06:53:20 am »

Thanks a lot for your reply, and your testing. It happens with any app after I exit from standby mode. I had it with Youtube, Google Chrome (all in landscape mode). It could be also batch related.

I've experienced the same screen tearing, though it seems to only happen to me when waking the screen from standby (still on the lockscreen). Japanese PCB, US keyboard..

5

Cosmo Communicator - General Discussion / Latest updates on Indiegogo

« on: November 15, 2019, 03:32:08 am »

I seem to recall that during the Gemini campaign, backers found nuggets of information using other outlets like Facebook.

It's so good to see that PC has learned from their mistakes and for Cosmo has prioritised keeping backers updated using the campaign platform itself....no wait...

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Cosmo Communicator - General Discussion / Latest updates on Indiegogo

« on: October 23, 2019, 03:01:48 am »

Maybe I'm just being selfish here, but given that European ones have far further to travel -- and given the uncertainties around shipping that Brexit will cause (whenever it happens -- don't blame me, I didn't vote for it...), wouldn't it be more reasonable to ship the EU Cosmos first, before they get all snarled up??

You could definitely argue that way. I suspect that one reason for the JP units being prioritised is that they need to fulfil a retail order there, so are producing the retail and the indiegogo units at the same time. Delivering the retail would surely be very nice for their cashflow. It's just a hunch. Incidentally, I'm still waiting for my JP PCB version, albeit with the UK keyboard. I expect this puts me somewhere at the back of the queue.

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Cosmo Communicator - General Discussion / Welcome to those from the Indiegogo forum

« on: July 21, 2019, 12:22:41 am »

OMG, that looks amazing, how easy was it to do it on the bottom panel ?

The bottom one was fairly easy. The top one was more of a pain though because I did that first. I think I took about 5 attempts to get the shape cut exactly to size and then lined up properly. Apparently if you use a hair drier and heat the stuff up it makes it easier to apply, but I didn't know that at the time.

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Cosmo Communicator - General Discussion / Welcome to those from the Indiegogo forum

« on: July 17, 2019, 10:01:59 am »

Andrew over on the IndieGogo forum has apparently successfully pimped his Gemini with the type of durable vinyl adhesive wrap used on cars.

I thought I'd follow up with some actual photos. These are doing really well after a little over a year. The corners have tiny bits missing but otherwise still great.

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Gemini PDA - General Discussion / Big announcement on 5th November

« on: November 05, 2018, 04:43:41 am »

At that price, I can't say it's very enticing. I'd like to have a proper camera on my Gemini, but not enough to fork out that much.

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Gemini PDA - General Discussion / Big announcement on 5th November

« on: October 30, 2018, 05:15:01 am »

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE GEMINI PDA.

THANK YOU FOR BELIEVING IN THE PLANET COMPUTERS TEAM.

THANK YOU FOR HELPING MAKE OUR VISION A REALITY.

On behalf of the team at Planet Computers we want to take this opportunity to say thank you. Without you, the Gemini community, we could not have come as far as we have in the last 18 months.

It has been an amazing journey and one we are so glad you joined us on. We want you to know just how grateful we are for all your support - whether backing us on Indiegogo, buying a Gemini from our website or engaging with us on social media and beyond.

That’s why we want you to be the first to know that we will be making a BIG announcement on 5th November regarding the next chapter in the Planet Computers journey.

So look out for our social media posts and check our website on the day because we don’t think you’ll want to miss this.

LET'S JUST SAY THE NEWS IS 'OUT OF THIS WORLD'...

So, what do you think is this big news? (Have they, perhaps, shipped my connectivity pack...)

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Gemini PDA - Hardware / Upgraded external camera

« on: October 25, 2018, 10:41:23 am »

I found the quality of the addon camera to be excruciatingly bad. After a few weeks of not wanting to use it because it was so bad, I removed it and sold it.

If there's a Gemini v2 that has a proper camera that doesn't stick out, Planet will get my money.

12

Gemini PDA - Android / Tips for making the most of the keyboard

« on: September 24, 2018, 02:50:44 am »

I saw in another thread a lot of tips related to getting more screen real estate, so I thought I'd make another thread about ways of making the most of the keyboard. The general goal is to not touch the screen, or at least minimise touch.

1. Use KISS Launcher

This is brilliant, because when you're on the home screen, you simply start typing to get the app you want. It's so fast for getting those apps that aren't in your planet bar. You don't need to touch anything other than your keys. You can also pull up contacts (or turn that off) and use it as a search engine box, which will pull up a browser.

https://f-droid.org/packages/fr.neamar.kiss/
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=fr.neamar.kiss

2. Use Saka Key in Firefox
(Apparently also available for Chrome but haven't tested that)

Once you've learned a few of the keys, this is a real time-saving addon. If I double tap the F key, all the links on the page get letter codes, so you can navigate with the keyboard. It has things like tab switching, back/forward, new tab and tons more that I haven't got into yet. The only annoyance I don't think it solves with Firefox is that when i open a new tab, the focus doesn't immediately go into the address bar, which does happen as standard on desktop. Anyway, great little addon!

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/saka-key/

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Gemini PDA - Android / How likely is Android 8 really?

« on: August 08, 2018, 08:40:41 am »

Sue me for wanting a 700 bucks device to be up-to-date and secure at least for the first 1-2 years.

Hear hear! But, alas, this is how the mobile industry is right now, disposable everything! Even my 8 year old thinkpad running debian will likely be more secure than my gemini in a few year's time!

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Gemini PDA - General Discussion / 4G Gemini as main device ?

« on: August 08, 2018, 05:22:20 am »

Does anyone here use their 4G Gemini as their main device ? if so what issues have you found with it ?

My Gemini works better than I had anticipated as my single device. I'm deferring a switch to Sailfish until the V3 release, because I still need to use a few Android apps. It's been brilliant at replacing my laptop in work situations where tasks are simple like data entry or document editing.

I only have a few issues, and none are dealbreakers:

- the addon camera module is shockingly bad. I find the image quality to be so embarassing I don't want to look at the photos, let alone share them with anyone. But hey, the module was an addon, and it's clear that the focus was squarely on getting the keyboard done well, at the expense of many other things.

- on the move, the form-factor adds a level of inconvenience. I use a smartwatch so I can quickly get at incoming messages, but I find myself deferring replying for when I've arrived at destinations, mainly because I don't like thumb-typing. But that's probably just me.

- when you need to supply a QR code to be scanned, the form factor can cause a bit of clumsiness because the keyboard can get in the way of lining the screen up with the scanner. I've not had any fails with this though.

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Gemini PDA - Android / How likely is Android 8 really?

« on: August 08, 2018, 05:20:44 am »

To be fair to the OP, you have the issue of security with outdated Android installs. That's the main reason why I'd want to see Android 8 on Gemini. It's not about the features, it's about the security.