Messages

1

Cosmo Communicator - Android / V22 is out.

« on: June 22, 2020, 08:49:04 am »

Update went without issues, CODI update went through on second try (didn't bother with offline mode or anything).

Can confirm the vertical bar on the left side for the rooted image, but at least SIM access is working, so I guess that's an improvement. I'm currently booting into the rooted image only for larger changes, but for daily use don't really need it, so I just hope they fix it - and for when I do need rooted access at least it's better than before.

2

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

« on: May 30, 2020, 06:00:38 am »

Yep, I'm a tad bummed that, is spite of treating my Cosmo really carefully, the plastic on the middle hinge has cracked right through. In all honesty, I can't see anything I could have done to cause that, so yeah, some parts of the design seems not only fragile, but even prone to spontaneous failure. I have reported it to Planet, though, in the midst of a pandemic, we agreed on not trying to fix it any time soon. Also, aesthetics aside, it doesn't seem to cause me any noticeable issues. My hinges doesn't squeak even a little, and my Gemini never had more than two hinges, so I'm not too worried.

I did a full teardown of a cosmo yesterday after swapping out a keyboard - after I had it half open anyway I thought can't hurt to get into the display part to see how much is (at least theoretically) servicable there. Do you have pictures of the breakage? The way the hinges are designed I don't see much mechanical stress on there. The holes for mounting the middle hinge to the bottom section are slightly larger than they need to be for the screws, but while it may be enough to cause creaking I don't think it should have impact on mechanical stress.

The hinge is two parts (three if you count the rod), one part metal, screwing into the base, and one part plastic, laminated to the display assembly, so not realistically swappable without the display. So unfortunately the one part which can break there is a bitch to replace - I assume in service they'd just swap out the top half, meaning you get essentially a new unit. If they don't consider it a warranty repair that'd also have a $500 price attached.

3

Cosmo Communicator - Sailfish OS / Sailfish on Cosmo - some Information from Jolla ..

« on: March 30, 2020, 11:29:18 am »

Only last year they started (finally) upgrading core components, until then pretty much everything was ridiculously outdated, with a lot of unpatched security issues. Even though they slowly seem to be catching up now, there still is a lot of outdated middleware on there, some of which may not be updated because of them still trying to avoid GPLv3 software on the device. The browser engine probably also is still pretty old, and a good entrance onto a device.

SailfishOS security is pretty much "it's too obscure to bother", if somebody were to look they'd find quite a few problematic spots.

It's true for every device, but obscurity plus the fact even first jolla phone from 2013 is still getting updates is pretty unique

You're still getting updates because the way the OS and the build/release process is designed makes it easy to support it. You're not getting updates for the hardware adaptation layer and the android runtime, though - both of which are a security nightmare by now for the original phone.

Making this possible had an initial trade off making a few things harder to implement, especially when additional devices started being introduced, and it was a rather annoying continuous discussion back in 2015 if we shouldn't ease up on requirements and drop the original Jolla.

4

Cosmo Communicator - Sailfish OS / Sailfish on Cosmo - some Information from Jolla ..

« on: March 29, 2020, 02:02:13 pm »

I have a question for you. I honestly don't know the answer. Why are people so hyped over Sailfish OS even if it has security issues like you said?

Open source security fallacy. People have heard that open source can be more secure, but don't understand under which conditions this is true, so it just becomes a "it's more secure because most of it is open source". This is helped by early Jolla advertising highlighting privacy - which was true as long as you didn't add any additional services - and people mixing up privacy and security.

The underlying framework (mer) is fully open so can be audited (and I'm sure russians chosing it as their OS for government devices did that and for the UI too, as they have access to all the code) and relying on android drivers+libhybris makes it more secure than normal android device as most android exploits will not work out of the box and would have to target sfos device specifically. But the hype for me is mostly the UI with full linux under the hood, so you end up with a device that is pleasant to use and can hack on it properly without some android-type-bandaids (you can chroot into other distros too if you like I guess)

Only last year they started (finally) upgrading core components, until then pretty much everything was ridiculously outdated, with a lot of unpatched security issues. Even though they slowly seem to be catching up now, there still is a lot of outdated middleware on there, some of which may not be updated because of them still trying to avoid GPLv3 software on the device. The browser engine probably also is still pretty old, and a good entrance onto a device.

SailfishOS security is pretty much "it's too obscure to bother", if somebody were to look they'd find quite a few problematic spots.

5

Cosmo Communicator - Sailfish OS / Sailfish on Cosmo - some Information from Jolla ..

« on: March 28, 2020, 12:15:12 pm »

I have a question for you. I honestly don't know the answer. Why are people so hyped over Sailfish OS even if it has security issues like you said?

Open source security fallacy. People have heard that open source can be more secure, but don't understand under which conditions this is true, so it just becomes a "it's more secure because most of it is open source". This is helped by early Jolla advertising highlighting privacy - which was true as long as you didn't add any additional services - and people mixing up privacy and security.

6

Cosmo Communicator - Android / Update available - v20 - 26th March 2020

« on: March 28, 2020, 06:29:54 am »

Since updating to V20 (before the warning got out) I'm now at my 3rd unexpected reboot, and just had it shut off without wanting to turn on for about half an hour. So I guess I can confirm that it broke stuff :)

7

Cosmo Communicator - Sailfish OS / Sailfish on Cosmo - some Information from Jolla ..

« on: March 18, 2020, 10:54:02 am »

Here is the latest update from this wiki page for Gemini PDA. Sailfish OS for Cosmo suppose to be ported from this build. But even this build won't be finished.
https://together.jolla.com/question/186471/...-and-sailfishx/

Edit 2019-11-24
This will probable be my last edit in this wiki. We have Sailfish 3 version 3.2.0.14 for a while. Updating to new versions is easy with it. But I cannot see any progress. We still have no alien dalvik for the device, Jolla promised for 'Final phase'. I do not believe we will get it in future. But may be Jolla knows more secrets about it. And other features are still missing or buggy, here a partial list (answer calls with gemini is closed, switch microphone, screen orientation, apps orientation, battery drain with wifi, alarm not working). The device is good enough for playing around with sailfish only, but far from be a daily driver since 1.5 years.

Planet Computers says community will bring Sailfish OS to cosmo, and Jolla says the manufacture must start the process. They were all hoping other people to do the job.

Jolla is very thin on resources since late 2015 when they almost went bankrupt, and most of us left. There wasn't that much change since then, and a lot of issues from back then, including a lot of security issues, remain unfixed. I wouldn't recommend running Sailfish on a daily use device, especially if you care about security.

8

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

« on: February 28, 2020, 07:28:22 am »

After finally getting a SIM insert I was able to activati ESIM, once it rebooted with a SIM inserted. Then the Planet root image allowed me to restore everything without having an unlocked bootloader. I'm not using it as main device yet, but I use it a lot now. I generally have both the Cosmo and the Gemini with me, Cosmo in my pocket, Gemini in my bag.  As I had the Gemini the behaviour change back to how I was using the N900 after a few years of non-keyboard phones happened already with the Gemini.

Initially I liked the Cosmo keyboard less than the Geminis, but after using it a while I quite like it.

Annoyances compared to the Gemini are:

- worse battery life
- worse touchscreen response. Got better after increasing pointer sensitivity, but still registers zero events when placed on a surface and not touching the frame while touching the screen
- app switcher doesn't have app screenshots, only blank or transparent frames
- automatic rotation is not working, even with additional software
- no SIM card in the rooted boot image (unless going the unlock bootloader + patch boot image route). Not a big issue currently as I initially needed root to restore, and currently can use the non-rooted image, but for daily use I'd like it rooted. Also losing some settings (like backlight) when switching between the images.
- orientation matters when in call - speaker/microphone don't adjust with orientation changes
- worse notifications. In theory cover display should be able to get better notifications, but it doesn't really. I generally care about having the type of notification displayed, configuring the 5 LEDs on the Gemini with different colours was perfect for this.

Better:

- more memory, both flash and RAM. Especially RAM was an issue on Gemini
- screen is usable with polarized sunglasses, in both orientations. On the Gemini display was only readable in portrait
- backlit keyboard
- significantly stronger hinges

9

Cosmo Communicator - Hardware / Rooting the Cosmo Communicator

« on: February 06, 2020, 11:17:33 am »

Just being curious. What happens if we lock the bootloader again after rooting? Locked out?

What happens if we disable oem unlock afterwards?

Both unlocking and locking the bootloader wipes the device, unfortunately.

Locking the bootloader after rooting will send it into a boot loop due to failed signature verification. I've found the only way to drop out of that is to press and hold both cover display buttons until the recovery screen shows up (easier with the device closed - just hold until the regular vibrating stops). From there, go to bootloader, unlock, it'll wipe again, and let you boot back into the rooted device.