Topics

1

Gemini PDA - Android / Going back to my old iPhone

« on: May 13, 2018, 05:02:48 am »

After being in the first batch to receive my Gemini, I am going back to my old iPhone 5s as my primary phone.
My reasons are, using out of the box Android
1. Bluetooth controls do not work if the gemini is closed - this was the main one
2. In the dark, because of the nerve damage of my fingers from cancer treatments, I have difficulty locating the correct key, particularly the Fn key to turn off the display
3. Gemini randomly totally reboots during a phone call, with no cause that I have been able to determine (holding Gemini to ear, Gemini in speaker mode sitting on a table) - only 6 times so far...
4. Bluetooth disabled after reboot, regardless of settings prior.

If point one is fixed, I may re-try moving to the Gemini as my primary phone.
Point 2 could be solved, at least for me, with keyboard backlight, or as a minimum, identified keys being backlit, preferably by a preferences app
Points 3 and 4 minor irritants that I could put up with if I could overcome 1 and 2.

Other than this, I managed to get all the functionality I wanted migrated from the iPhone with only a little effort. (calendar/contact sync to NextCloud being the prime one). It's a shame but I will continue to support the Gemini, it being a great idea from an old Psion Revo user.

2

Gemini PDA - General Discussion / Gemini reboots during phone call

« on: April 09, 2018, 03:42:39 am »

Out-of-the-Box Gemini, twice now, been in the middle of a conversation and the phone goes black and shows the android boot screen about 30 seconds later.

Oops, there it goes again, third time in as many days, twice in 15 minutes, whilst I was typing this message I was on a phone call and the phone goes black, rebooting about 30 seconds later.

This is immediately after the previous reboot, I received a call from the person who was disconnected and we resumed our conversation.

The phone App does not record the fact that either of the two calls have been made (no buffers flushed I guess).

The first phone call was under 10 minutes, with the second less than 3 minutes before reboot.

I tend to keep phone calls short, as in a few minutes. Not a big fan of long phone calls.

Battery at 75% (after both reboots) with performance and power saving in 'Normal'.
I am in Australia, using 4G VoLTE, with Telstra as my carrier.

Suggestions?

3

Gemini PDA - Hardware / [Solved maybe]Does not remember volume for bluetooth devices

« on: April 03, 2018, 07:36:59 am »

I find that when I connect via bluetooth to my car (3rd party device), the Gemini always sets the volume to somewhere near 40%
I have to turn the car volume way up, which is a problem if something else plays on the car system as it's volume is then set really loud.
So, rather than turning the car volume up, I have to turn up the Gemini volume, which involves opening the Gemini.
Then, I don't need the car volume so loud.
My problem is that the Gemini doesn't seem to remember volume settings for a bluetooth device.
It would be nice if it did.
Not sure if this is hardware or software, if software, I am out of the box Android.

4

Gemini PDA - Android / [Solved] Existing contacts phone numbers not working

« on: April 01, 2018, 10:42:42 pm »

Interestingly, having sync'd my contacts with my NextCloud, I have found a couple of contacts whose number does not want to work with Messages.
All my contact numbers have international prefixes, eg. +61 x xxxx xxxx.
It appears that if I go into Contacts, edit the phone number, delete the leading +, which causes the number to compact down to consecutive digits, and re-insert the +, which causes the phone number to resume it's nicely formatted appearance, IMHO, all of a sudden, the phone number is now 'fixed' and works with Messages.
Not the ideal fix, but I do get told by Messages that the contact phone number won't work, up front, it's just a pain to have to edit the contact to 'fix' it.

5

Gemini PDA - Android / Using minimal Google, preferably only Apps

« on: March 27, 2018, 02:45:17 am »

What do I need to do to disable anything Google except the App store?
I have my own hosted email and NextCloud services.
I am currently using BlueMail for email. Calendar,  Contacts (with DavDroid to sync), Messages,
I only want the App store to keep things up to date, everything else can go.
I have no interest in Google Assistant, docs, drive, gmail, etc.
Any pointers to an Android noob (ex IOS, at this stage).

6

Gemini PDA - Android / Change 'hostname' so nice name appears in WiFi

« on: March 26, 2018, 01:26:49 am »

Can I change the hostname of my Gemini, it is currently 'android-???' where I have obsfucated the actual numbers.

7

Gemini PDA - Android / [Solved]Google Authenticator can not find camera

« on: March 24, 2018, 11:27:34 pm »

Google authenticator version 5.00 on Google store, does not appear to find the camera.
So, I could not scan the Q-Code to register my home linux login.
The App has camera permissions.
Any suggestions?

8

Gemini PDA - Hardware / Wired headphones. Faint buzzing/scratching noises

« on: March 23, 2018, 08:23:16 pm »

Has anyone tried the ancient and venerable technology of wired earphones?

Do you hear faint intermittent 'buzzing' and 'scratching', apparently when cpu is being used, because it becomes more pronounced when scrolling, particularly using the touch screen.

Another way of describing the sound is like dust on a vinyl record during a silent part.

Using keys to scroll still makes the sound but after the key 'bip' sound.

Using bluetooth headsets don't make this soft sound.

I tried turning off both WiFi and Bluetooth to see if that made a difference, none.

When actually playing something, in my case Audible audiobooks, you can't hear the sounds then, stopping playback then I hear faint noises. As you know, Audiobooks are simply spoken so there is lots of silent parts in which the sounds are not audible.

Whilst on the faint sound, has anyone noticed that pressing a key causes the key sound to be played, sometimes, multiple times, terminating the previously started sound, as though the internal debounce mechanism is firing off the sound for each bounce? So, instead of a 'bip', it's sort of like 'b b bip'.

This is under stock android, in case anyone is asking.

Edit: it appears the 'crackling' lessens once the display turns off. Tap the on key so the display lights up, the crackling resumes, once the display goes black again, the crackling becomes very faint, pulsing every second. And no, it's not my heartbeat

9

Gemini PDA - Android / Android Noob: How do I backup/restore my Gemini?

« on: March 17, 2018, 10:41:17 pm »

I know real men don't do backups, but I do backups.
How does one go about doing backups and restores of the Gemini?
Preferably using Linux (I use Gentoo), but I will dual boot to Windows 10 if I have to, like I used to do with my iPhone.

10

Gemini PDA - Android / [False alarm]SMS: Not all recipients recieve message

« on: March 17, 2018, 10:11:58 pm »

I don't use 'Messaging' because all of my contacts have phone numbers in the format +61 4xx xxx xxx, including spaces.
So, Messaging refuses to work because of this formatting. I am not going to edit hundreds of phone numbers, in particular, removing the international prefix.

I installed 'Messages' version 2.9.052 from the Google store and disabled 'Messaging'.
'Messages' seems to have an issue with multiple recipients, whereby not all addressees actually receive a group message.
I tried sending multiple messages to the group and to individuals only, an individual in the group consistently failed to receive messages whilst I can send an SMS directly to the individual.

Basically, I am unhappy if I can't rely on my SMS app to actually work!

Can anyone suggest an SMS App or setting that reliably sends SMS/MMS messages?

11

Gemini PDA - Hardware / Bluetooth controls stop working after a while? Audio is fine.

« on: March 14, 2018, 11:20:27 pm »

I am using a Skullcandy bluetooth headset with volume and play/pause control.
I seem to find that if the Gemini is closed and has been for a while, the controls do not respond, even though sound continues to play.
If I open the Gemini, the controls will respond and continue to respond for a while, even after closing the Gemini again.
The audio continues to work, even after long periods, it's only the controls that seem to stop working until the Gemini is 'prodded'.

Is this something others are experiencing?

12

Gemini PDA - Hardware / Bluetooth disabled after reboot?

« on: March 14, 2018, 08:15:42 pm »

I seem to notice that after a reboot of the Gemini, Bluetooth defaults to off.

Am I missing some setting somewhere?

13

Gemini PDA - Android / [Solved] Recommend a Podcast App for an ex IOS Downcast User?

« on: March 14, 2018, 04:28:07 am »

I am looking for recommendations for a podcast app.
I have tried "Podcast Go" and it sort of does what I want but screws up on updating my RSS Feeds, sending all sorts of rubbish to my apache server. I suspect buffer overruns have screwed it's configuration.

So, what I am attempting to do is

    1. Subscribe to multiple podcasts via RSS feeds that I host - I don't subscribe to podcasts directly on my devices, only on my PC - download once, use multiple
    2. Mark old episodes as already listened to when initially subscribing
    3. Manage subscriptions to existing podcasts, including unsubscribe, 'go check for new episodes now', 'download new episodes now' - only using WiFi
    4. Automatically listen to new episodes, offline, for an individual feed or even overall, don't care which
    5. Delete the downloaded episode after listening

That's all I want, everything else is superfluous, at least to me. Couldn't give two hoots about directories, searching for podcasts, adverts, playlists, what the author had for dinner, etc.

Thanks, in advance

...Lyall