Messages

1

Cosmo Communicator - CoDi / Set Outside Speaker Volume without CoDi

« on: October 13, 2020, 04:43:15 pm »

As I mentioned in another thread, my CoDi update failed, and I find the phone works better without it.

I do have one problem, however.

Sometime before I bricked CoDi, I seem to have turned down the volume on the outside phone speaker, probably by pressing it with my cheek. If I answer a call with the phone closed, the person can hear me, but I can't hear them at all. I have to open the phone and enable speakerphone to make phone calls. This can be annoying at times.

I wonder is there a way to adjust the outer speaker without CoDi?

2

Cosmo Communicator - CoDi / Re: CoDi is a broken feature at this point

« on: October 13, 2020, 04:38:11 pm »

Sorry to resurrect this old thread, but I''ve been using Cosmo for several months without CoDi, since the last firmware update failed, and I really don't miss it. Prior to that I found it more annoying than useful.

Most significantly, CoDi seemed to impose a massive hit on battery life, even when I turned it off in the settings (and it always came back on when the phone rebooted). With cover display on, I was generally getting 3/4 of a day on a full charge. I'd usually get a full day with it disabled in settings. However, with the firmware bricked, I'm easily getting a day and a half.

3

Astro Slide - General Discussion / Re: Astroslide

« on: August 06, 2020, 05:08:07 am »

Though Android in general doesn't seem to have very great mouse support, I would indeed like to have a trackpoint (I used to have one as my only pointing device for several years) for my Remote Desktop sessions, but I'm not sure where the mouse buttons could fit.

I like this idea. Perhaps the mouse buttons could be on the front edge, in front of the space bar, and could double as volume control when the phone is closed.

I love my Cosmo, but the outside screen never lived up to its promise, and always felt rather clunky. Everything going to the second screen was going through an extra layer, so never felt as responsive as I'd like. Another phone with two screens would need to have the OS controlling both directly. Having a single screen seems a better solution. The only thing that might be better than the Astro solution is a mechanism that allowed the screen to spin 360º, so it could either be closed with the screen protected against the keyboard, or flipped around to allow the phone to be used in portrait mode. I expect cables would be tricky to manage in that case!

4

Astro Slide - Hardware / Re: Does SD card share slot with second SIM card?

« on: August 03, 2020, 09:16:04 pm »

Personally I'd find the option of a second SD card quite useful. I think it would be great to have a tray with a SIM slot, a SD slot, and a third slot that can take either SIM or SD card.

I expect the option of an ESIM will be available regardless.

5

Astro Slide - Hardware / Does SD card share slot with second SIM card?

« on: April 26, 2020, 05:25:46 pm »

I think there will continue to be the option of an eSIM.

Personally I would find the option of a second SD card more useful than a second SIM. Having room for 3 cards, 1 SIM, 1 SD, and the third either SIM or SD, would be fantastic.

6

Astro Slide - Hardware / A typo in the specs...

« on: April 26, 2020, 05:20:13 pm »

I expect the dimensions will be around the same size as the Gemini/Cosmo. The keyboard dimensions have remained the same as the Psion 5, and I doubt that will change now.

7

Cosmo Communicator - Android / Is it possible to edit keyboard layout?

« on: December 18, 2019, 03:34:42 pm »

Ooh, I hadn't thought of trying long pressing. I intuitively expect that to repeat the character like on a PC. While that's useful, the different options available for each vowel mean that the accent I want is in a different screen position or number key for each vowel. It's useful for occasional use, but awkward for regular use.

8

Cosmo Communicator - Android / Time Format in Agenda

« on: December 17, 2019, 05:28:18 pm »

Oh yes, I noticed that about setting locations. I was wondering if there was a keyboard shortcut I was missing.

I agree it needs better keyboard navigation. It would be great if you could do everything (or almost everything) from the keyboard.

I also think the year planner view could be more useful. It blocks out the whole day if there's anything in the calendar. I have reminders like "put the bins out" that don't need a full day block. I'd like only full day events to block out the day, with timed events shown as a coloured dot. Also I have multiple calendars linked, so it would be great if colour was used to indicate which calendar events were in.

Is there a way of feeding suggestions back to Planet?

9

Cosmo Communicator - Android / Is it possible to edit keyboard layout?

« on: December 17, 2019, 05:16:15 pm »

That looks useful. I find the default layout quite good, except that I do some writing in Irish, which uses áéíóú accents. On a PC keyboard (in UK or Irish layout), I can get these with right Alt key and the vowels. On the default Cosmo layout it's a slightly more convoluted Alt+e then vowel.

10

Cosmo Communicator - Android / Time Format in Agenda

« on: December 17, 2019, 06:28:17 am »

Thanks for the information. I hope the Adenda app gets continued development, as it has the potential to be a unique selling point for Planet.

I figured out the up/down arrows can select AM/PM, but it should still have the option of 24 hour input. I haven't encountered the random alarms - that one could be annoying!

I still think they have the core of a great app with Agenda.

11

Cosmo Communicator - Android / Time Format in Agenda

« on: December 10, 2019, 04:36:11 am »

Hope fully this is an easy fix, and I've just missed a setting.

I have my time format on the Cosmo set to 24 hour, and in Agenda it displays correctly in lists of appointments. However in the create/edit entry dialog, it is insisting on using 12 hour dates. To make matters worse, the AM/PM selector appears to be a screen only control, and doesn't seem to accept keyboard input (at least the obvious option of pressing "A" or "P" to select it doesn't work for me.

Hopefully there's a way of setting it to 24 hour date entry. Forcing everyone to use 12 hour dates would seem a major omission, especially since I believe 12 hour dates are fairly alien to one of PC's major markers, Japan.

12

Cosmo Communicator - Hardware / USB-C

« on: October 09, 2019, 07:33:25 pm »

Okay, I take your point, I wouldn't expect ANY USB-C device to work with the Cosmo. For example, I'm not sure we can ever expect a EGPU to be compatible. I was more thinking of if a supported device fits the connector it should work. Users shouldn't be expected to remember that certain things must be connected to the left port, while others will only be accepted by the right port.

13

Cosmo Communicator - Hardware / USB-C

« on: September 29, 2019, 12:33:03 pm »

Got to say it would be really nice if we could have a USB hub connected to mouse, keyboard, monitor, external storage, and possibly wired ethernet. We could then connect one USB-C to be attached to everything. If we could receive power through the same USB-C that would definitely be a bonus.

This is definitely within the capabilities of USB-C. My girlfriend can connect her MacBook to an EGPU box that's connected to external monitor, keyboard, mouse and provides accelerated graphics. Her MacBook is a little old, so she's using a Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) converter, which doesn't support charging. However, at some point she'll get a new MacBook, which will give USB-C charging through the same port.

The Cosmo may not be quite it, but at some point I could definitely see a Gemini/Cosmo sized device offered as a true desktop replacement, and for that to be accepted, connecting a single connector to convert to desktop mode would definitely make it a lot more appealing.

One minor point, but for this to be mainstream and not a nice enthusiast device, we need to get away from quirks like you must charge from the left port and you can only connect the monitor to the right one. For it to be mainstream, it needs to take the approach, "if the connector fits, it will work".

14

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

« on: June 24, 2019, 04:50:53 pm »

Thanks for letting me in!

Looking forward to taking part in discussion. Hoping Cosmo lives up to expectations.

I almost miss Plantar, though. Only almost. :-)

15

Cosmo Communicator - Hardware / Keyboard layout

« on: June 24, 2019, 04:45:53 pm »

The Gemini/Cosmo have had exactly the same layout as the Psion 5 from prototypes to final product, right down to the odd irregular spacing around the edges (I'm pretty sure the prototypes did use a Psion keyboard). I was wondering if this was to allow the old moulding tools to be reused.

I'm generally very happy about this, but it is definitely a UK layout with a vertical return key rather than a US one with a horizontal one.

I don't know if it was essential to keep the Psion layout, but I'm not surprised that there will only be one physical layout, as varying the layout between markets would mean additional tooling, which is a significant expense on a short run product.