Recent Posts

21

Astro Slide - General Discussion / Re: Estimation of Astro shipment based on Cosmo Campaign

« Last post by Daniel W on October 06, 2021, 07:44:36 am »

The camera issue was addressed by Shuntcap's custom builds of the camera software.

While Shuntcaps lovely custom builds alleviated multiple quality issues, they are, by neccesity, rather basic, lacking even white balance control, and the viewfinder is, for technical reasons, pretty slow. I am, however, mainly looking forward to better camera hardware, with better optical resolution, faster and more accurate focus, better dynamic range etc. A main camera module clearly surpassing my 2013 Samsung would be nice.

Oh, well, I'm getting off topic. Would mass production actually begin on Monday (October 11), we could perhaps push all the estimated dates 17 days earlier (than October 28), but as I read Update #40, Planet will place the order for mass production on Monday, not actually begin mass production, so I think the actual date when the factory begins assembling Astros for backers, might remain to be determined. That said, I'd love to be wrong.

22

Gemini PDA - Linux / Re: bare-bone Debian (or any other OS)

« Last post by panv on October 05, 2021, 11:14:07 am »

Yes, is it possible ? and how do I move around from a tty to another ? couldn't find any shortcut.. (alt+ctrl+fn )

23

Astro Slide - General Discussion / Re: Estimation of Astro shipment based on Cosmo Campaign

« Last post by makoshark on October 04, 2021, 09:31:11 pm »

I did some similar, though cruder, estimations for the Cosmo, https://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?topic=35829 and it ended up arriving much later than my estimations.

I saw your post.  It looks like you have more details and added the actual result!!
I will put the actual dates if I have time, too.

I am currently using Blackberry KeyOne and planning to use Astro as a daily driver. 
I wish I can get Astro before Christmas...

24

Astro Slide - General Discussion / Re: Estimation of Astro shipment based on Cosmo Campaign

« Last post by Zarhan on October 04, 2021, 05:13:52 am »

That said, I do look forward to not needing the CoDi, perhaps finally getting a working compass and a better camera.

The camera issue was addressed by Shuntcap's custom builds of the camera software. The primary feature I'm interested in would be better speech quality for phone calls...

25

Astro Slide - General Discussion / Re: Estimation of Astro shipment based on Cosmo Campaign

« Last post by ArchiMark on October 03, 2021, 08:01:47 pm »

Based upon PC's update today, that production should start after the Chinese holidays, so about October 10th....

I guessing we'll be lucky to see our Astro's by Christmas....and might be after New Year........

So it goes.....

 

Mark

26

Astro Slide - General Discussion / Re: Estimation of Astro shipment based on Cosmo Campaign

« Last post by Daniel W on October 03, 2021, 02:51:02 pm »

Add to that further post-Covid delays, the ongoing electricity shortage in China, the general chip shortage and the Chinese New Year in early February, and the Astro might end up a full year late...

I did some similar, though cruder, estimations for the Cosmo, https://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?topic=35829 and it ended up arriving much later than my estimations. While it would be nice to get it before Christmas, as long as my Cosmo works, I am in no real hurry this time (getting by on a Gemini while waiting for a Cosmo was painful, though). That said, I do look forward to not needing the CoDi, perhaps finally getting a working compass and a better camera.

27

Astro Slide - Hardware / Re: Back side of the display ugly?

« Last post by Daniel W on October 03, 2021, 02:32:02 pm »

I think we need to factor in that the Astro tries to achieve something no other slider, to the best of my knowledge, ever has, namely to completely slide the screen away from the base, leaving 100% of the bottom area available for the keyboard.

All other sliders I know of, exposes somewhere between 50 and 80% of the bottom, hiding some of the mechanics between overlapping parts, at the expense of cramped keyboards. Essentially, the Astro tries to combine the keyboard area of a clamshell with the outside main screen of a slider, without exposing the keyboard on the back of the device, as 360 degree hinges does.

While pebble-smooth phones may be visually pleasing or just so plain that there isn't much design left to potentially object to, I don't really care how my phone looks, as long as it works well. I open my Cosmo about thirty times a day, so if a minimal acceptable life span of the Astro is three years, the rock-up slider must work flawlessly about 33000 times.

Regarding Apple, I doubt they'd approve this form factor, at all.

28

Astro Slide - General Discussion / Estimation of Astro shipment based on Cosmo Campaign

« Last post by makoshark on October 03, 2021, 01:26:20 am »

I created Astro estimated event dates based on Cosmo campaign.

It looks like PR1 samples were introduced on 7/12/19 for Cosmo.
For Astro, this date was 9/5/21.

PR1 Samples: Cosmo-07/12/19 >> Astro-09/05/21

PR2 Production Run: Cosmo-08/16/19 >> Astro-10/10/21
Production Start: Cosmo-09/03/19 >> Astro-10/28/21
GMS Approval: Cosmo-09/06/19 >> Astro-10/31/21
Ready for Assembly: Cosmo-09/18/19 >> Astro-11/12/21
First Mass Production: Cosmo-09/26/19 >> Astro-11/20/21
Start to Ship: Cosmo-10/12/19 >> Astro-12/06/21
Backers from Japan, USA: Cosmo-11/15/19 >> Astro-01/09/22
On the way to Europe(Germany, UK): Cosmo-11/22/19 >> Astro-01/16/22
3500 out of 4000 Produced, 80% of Backers received Cosmo-12/09/19 >> Astro-02/02/22

I am hoping much earlier schedule for Astro, but if it goes similar timeline, many of backers will receive Astro Dec 2021 - Jan 2022.

29

Cosmo Communicator - Linux / Re: Ubports for Cosmo

« Last post by sven1999 on October 01, 2021, 02:34:48 am »

you shouldn't need to rewrite the `boot.img`

Last time I checked, the boot.img files differed between versions. So, better rewrite it?

30

Cosmo Communicator - General Discussion / Re: Camera

« Last post by shuntcap on September 30, 2021, 12:30:31 am »

I read you don't support Astro. How will we do it? Your optimization changes functionality substantially.
Should we petition for a device to be made available to you to work on?
Or a subscription to buy one for yourself?
I don't know ... I'm open to every possibility, but I would like to see the same result on Astro. 

Sorry for my long absence from the forum. I've pretty much shelved the Cosmo as I just haven't had much free time to hack on it.

I still won't be backing the Astro, but I've been watching the updates.  This time around they're paying close attention to the camera image quality.  They just might get the camera working right finally.  But if they don't, I have backed the Pro1 X which supposedly has the same camera sensor as the Astro.  I plan to port GCam to the Pro1 X once I receive my device, and that port might just work on the Astro, too.