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Cosmo Communicator - Hardware / Re: Teardown guide for battery and CoDi replacement.
« on: August 30, 2023, 05:05:35 pm »
Hi all.
Many thanks for posting the stripdown pictures. My Cosmo battery never did last more than an hour or so from new, but I only use it indoors for watching YouTube, so have it plugged in most of the time.
Like others here, the battery soon started to swell and force the back off, and I got a shock when I flipped the back off (it tends to fall off anyway, as the plastic tabs that hold it on are incredibly fragile, and soon crumble off--as do the plastic rings that hold the screen side joiner rod on: I'll never risk an Astro if it's made of the same fragile stuff!).
Huge battery glued in so thoroughly that it cannot be removed without distorting the phone, and warnings stuck over the ID labels so I couldn't even see what make it was! It's unbelievable that anyone would design a device to look eminently robust and easily dismantleable, only to gum it all up inside and fill it with warnings not to touch! And made of plastic that crumbles to dust almost just by looking at it!
My Cosmo is only holding on by a wing and a prayer, but my laptops are all broken, so I still rely on it, and will see if I can get a new battery, now you have given me the number. It's a shame that Planet's service is so appalling once they have sold us the things. They don't really deserve us keyboard lovers.
Incidentally, a tip you might find useful to reduce keyboard jams, is to just cover the keyboard with transparent tape. It still works, and keeps out most of the dust. The hinge still fills up with grit and dust, that breaks off more and more of the plastic rings for the rod that holds it together, so it will probably be in two pieces before long, but at least the keys can be protected. Outrageous to charge so much for things that are so poorly designed. :/
Another tip that works very well, that I adopted the first time the slippery metal slipped through my fingers and nearly broke my bare foot that I had to put in its way to stop it smashing on the kitchen tiles straight out of the box... Is to put a strip of the fluffy side of sticky backed velcro along the edge of the lid nearest the hinge. Then get some of the two sided velcro used for cable tidies and cut enough to fit comfortably around a couple of fingers. Sit this ring of velco on the strip you've stuck on the device, and you can slip two fingers through it whenever you want to hold the phone in one hand while writing with the other. I found it was almost imposible to use the device safely, except on a table, until I adopted this simple safety fix. It's amazing how well the velcro around ones fingers works, and how comfortable it makes typing while standing up away from flat surfaces.
Anyhow: It's good to know I'm not the only one still using a Cosmo, and, many thanks for providing a service that the manufacturer couldn't be bothered with!
Cheers.
Many thanks for posting the stripdown pictures. My Cosmo battery never did last more than an hour or so from new, but I only use it indoors for watching YouTube, so have it plugged in most of the time.
Like others here, the battery soon started to swell and force the back off, and I got a shock when I flipped the back off (it tends to fall off anyway, as the plastic tabs that hold it on are incredibly fragile, and soon crumble off--as do the plastic rings that hold the screen side joiner rod on: I'll never risk an Astro if it's made of the same fragile stuff!).
Huge battery glued in so thoroughly that it cannot be removed without distorting the phone, and warnings stuck over the ID labels so I couldn't even see what make it was! It's unbelievable that anyone would design a device to look eminently robust and easily dismantleable, only to gum it all up inside and fill it with warnings not to touch! And made of plastic that crumbles to dust almost just by looking at it!
My Cosmo is only holding on by a wing and a prayer, but my laptops are all broken, so I still rely on it, and will see if I can get a new battery, now you have given me the number. It's a shame that Planet's service is so appalling once they have sold us the things. They don't really deserve us keyboard lovers.
Incidentally, a tip you might find useful to reduce keyboard jams, is to just cover the keyboard with transparent tape. It still works, and keeps out most of the dust. The hinge still fills up with grit and dust, that breaks off more and more of the plastic rings for the rod that holds it together, so it will probably be in two pieces before long, but at least the keys can be protected. Outrageous to charge so much for things that are so poorly designed. :/
Another tip that works very well, that I adopted the first time the slippery metal slipped through my fingers and nearly broke my bare foot that I had to put in its way to stop it smashing on the kitchen tiles straight out of the box... Is to put a strip of the fluffy side of sticky backed velcro along the edge of the lid nearest the hinge. Then get some of the two sided velcro used for cable tidies and cut enough to fit comfortably around a couple of fingers. Sit this ring of velco on the strip you've stuck on the device, and you can slip two fingers through it whenever you want to hold the phone in one hand while writing with the other. I found it was almost imposible to use the device safely, except on a table, until I adopted this simple safety fix. It's amazing how well the velcro around ones fingers works, and how comfortable it makes typing while standing up away from flat surfaces.
Anyhow: It's good to know I'm not the only one still using a Cosmo, and, many thanks for providing a service that the manufacturer couldn't be bothered with!
Cheers.