Shipping email (I got my Gemini PDA)

[pakman]

Well, in a massive act of self-control I had the box unopened at my elbow all afternoon. and waited until I got home from work before opening it! It is a pretty nice device, I'm typing this on it right now. The keyboard will take a little getting used to, but it is already much faster than my old Zaurus. Now to update my sig 😀

[candlerb]

My Gemini arrived today too, woot!

First impressions:

- packaging is excellent. Contents: PSU and USB-C cable, case removal tool, micro fibre cloth, some stickers, and a getting started leaflet

- the screen has a protector pre-applied.  I'm guessing they will sell replacements; none are included

- it takes a micro SIM (not nano), which luckily is what my old phone had. It also takes a micro-SD card.

- Keyboard is, well, OK. However the keys are more wobbly than I would like, as if each one is balanced on a little balloon. I never used a Psion so I don't know how it compares.  I did used to own a Sony Vaio palmtop, and it was much better than this.

- I think it'll take a while to get used to pressing Fn-O to get a minus sign.  Also Fn-K for @ (I think it would have been much better as shift-quote, which is the standard position on a UK keyboard, but is instead used for tilde)

- During setup, under "Physical Keyboard" it offers me a Keyboard shortcuts helper.  This shows the following shortcuts:

Home = (magnifying glass) + (return)
Back = (magnifying glass) + (backspace)
Recent = (ALT) + (Tab)
Notifications = (magnifying glass) + N

Which is great, except I have no idea what the magnifying glass key is.  It's not the Planet / Alt key.  So of these, Alt-Tab works (but also Fn-A is also dedicated to bringing up the app switcher)

- It will also take a while to get used to using voice control for calling, and sadly this is broken for me.  I tried "call <name> mobile" and it told that I needed to authorize Google to access my contacts. I clicked Continue, it flashed back "setting turned on for <my google account>", but it then went back round asking for authorization.

It now speaks out loud "sure, but when it's safe, you'll need to go to your phone and tap the notification. Then you can let Google access the contacts on your device".  Which is back to the same page again.

- Android version is 7.1.1 (Nougat), which is reasonably up-to-date - although 7.1.2 was released two months ago, on 5 Dec 2017.  If Planetcom keeps releasing updates that will be a major attraction of the platform for me.

- The default screen sleep time (30 seconds) is way too short for me, but just involved digging around settings a bit to fix.

- I see the reflashing tool has appeared on the Support site.  Sadly it's Windows only, and the Android/Debian dual boot is marked as "Technology Preview".  Going forward, if the Debian part can be upgraded independently that's fine.  If the whole phone has to be reflashed each time a new release comes out, that will be a major pain :-(

I'm now just trying to decide whether I should reflash with this or not...

[jutleys]

Has anyone here got this problem below you can see the keys are misaligned a user on facebook has this problem.

[Varti]

- It will also take a while to get used to using voice control for calling, and sadly this is broken for me.  I tried "call <name> mobile" and it told that I needed to authorize Google to access my contacts. I clicked Continue, it flashed back "setting turned on for <my google account>", but it then went back round asking for authorization.

It now speaks out loud "sure, but when it's safe, you'll need to go to your phone and tap the notification. Then you can let Google access the contacts on your device".  Which is back to the same page again.

I guess it might be because your SIM is still authenticated to your previous phone, as mentioned here:
”If you have two-factor authentication set up on your Google Account to send you an SMS message, leave your SIM in your current phone until you have performed the initial Gemini setup.”
https://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=34768
Try to put back the SIM in your old phone, and see if you get any authorization request or SMS on it.

Varti

[geomannie]

Hi,

Re: Replying to Shipping email (I have NOT got my Gemini PDA)

The nightmare delivery scenario. Hermes website say the package was delivered this evening and allows me to see the (supposed) signature. It is not mine. Goodness only knows where my Gemini is. What happens now? Do I have to prove that the signature is not mine?

I usually avoid Hermes at all cost. I now remember why.

[ArchiMark]

Hi,

Re: Replying to Shipping email (I have NOT got my Gemini PDA)

The nightmare delivery scenario. Hermes website say the package was delivered this evening and allows me to see the (supposed) signature. It is not mine. Goodness only knows where my Gemini is. What happens now? Do I have to prove that the signature is not mine?

I usually avoid Hermes at all cost. I now remember why.

Very sorry to hear this....

It is a very awkward situation....

Had this happen once here in the USA. Had to keep insisting to delivery company that no, did not get the package. Finally, a few hours later, after they contacted driver, the driver realized that they delivered to another address in my neighborhood. Driver retrieved package and delivered to me.

So, if you haven't called Hermes yet, you better do so now and be very firm that you did not receive package, it is not your signature, and that they need to quickly contact driver to backtrack on his route and figure out where the package is.

Hope you get this worked out.

Mark

[geomannie]

Hi ArchiMark

Thanks for your concern. For sure I have reported it to Hermes but its Saturday evening and no support until Monday. Ergo no chance of calling the driver back. I will just have to wait and steel myself for Monday's assertiveness. Wish me luck.

geomannie

.

Hi,

Re: Replying to Shipping email (I have NOT got my Gemini PDA)

The nightmare delivery scenario. Hermes website say the package was delivered this evening and allows me to see the (supposed) signature. It is not mine. Goodness only knows where my Gemini is. What happens now? Do I have to prove that the signature is not mine?

I usually avoid Hermes at all cost. I now remember why.

Very sorry to hear this....

It is a very awkward situation....

Had this happen once here in the USA. Had to keep insisting to delivery company that no, did not get the package. Finally, a few hours later, after they contacted driver, the driver realized that they delivered to another address in my neighborhood. Driver retrieved package and delivered to me.

So, if you haven't called Hermes yet, you better do so now and be very firm that you did not receive package, it is not your signature, and that they need to quickly contact driver to backtrack on his route and figure out where the package is.

Hope you get this worked out.

Mark

[geomannie]

Update: My Gemini has arrived!

It seems that my Gemini entered into a quantum state whereby it was simultaneously delivered and not delivered. My guess is that the local courier signed at 18:39 last night on my behalf that he had delivered it so that he could earn his fee. It was actually delived it at 14:00 today and I was not asked to sign.

This is all very shabby from Hermes. Last night I was anxiously sending enquiry emails to Hermes and checking with neighbours in case it had been left with them.

DO NOT USE HERMES!

Hi ArchiMark

Thanks for your concern. For sure I have reported it to Hermes but its Saturday evening and no support until Monday. Ergo no chance of calling the driver back. I will just have to wait and steel myself for Monday's assertiveness. Wish me luck.

geomannie

.

Hi,

Re: Replying to Shipping email (I have NOT got my Gemini PDA)

The nightmare delivery scenario. Hermes website say the package was delivered this evening and allows me to see the (supposed) signature. It is not mine. Goodness only knows where my Gemini is. What happens now? Do I have to prove that the signature is not mine?

I usually avoid Hermes at all cost. I now remember why.

Very sorry to hear this....

It is a very awkward situation....

Had this happen once here in the USA. Had to keep insisting to delivery company that no, did not get the package. Finally, a few hours later, after they contacted driver, the driver realized that they delivered to another address in my neighborhood. Driver retrieved package and delivered to me.

So, if you haven't called Hermes yet, you better do so now and be very firm that you did not receive package, it is not your signature, and that they need to quickly contact driver to backtrack on his route and figure out where the package is.

Hope you get this worked out.

Mark

[candlerb]

I guess it might be because your SIM is still authenticated to your previous phone, as mentioned here:

Thanks for the suggestion.  Actually I ended up doing another factory reset (I hadn't realised that I had to enable cloud backups to Google on my old phone, in order to transfer app settings to the Gemini).  And after that it worked.

I'm sure I accidentally came across a way to switch between multiple desktop screens, but I can't find it any more.  I do wish manufacturers would *document* features and what keystrokes access them, instead of leaving us to discover like some sort of adventure game. I'm too old for those :-)

[Varti]

Update: My Gemini has arrived!
(...)
DO NOT USE HERMES!

Glad to hear that, and after reading all these issues with Hermes I hope that Planet will switch to another delivery company for the next batch...

I'm sure I accidentally came across a way to switch between multiple desktop screens, but I can't find it any more.  I do wish manufacturers would *document* features and what keystrokes access them, instead of leaving us to discover like some sort of adventure game. I'm too old for those :-)

I can't verify this on my phone since it only has Android 2.3, but I believe you have to press the Recent Apps icon on the right part of the screen, maybe also the same key on the keyboard will work:

https://www.howtogeek.com/195624/how-to-swi...android-device/

Varti

[speculatrix]

do we have any idea of the highest order number that's shipped so far?

[vader]

Out of the blue, mine turned up this morning. No problems so far, keyboard is brilliant, I am in googless mode with fdroid app store - waiting for sailfish now

It is a high quality device, really solid and just works. For those wondering, i am order 5xx and live in Australia. It came with a US plug (as explained in the indiegogo comments section) but that is no problem - I have many adapters. I'll give it a proper go when I get home tonight.

Telephony all works as expected, VoLTE, SMS 4G - yay.

[Da_Blitz]

Another AU order as well, number ~90, everything seems to work fine with a bit of tweaking

[speculatrix]

seems like there's at least two potential members of the Australian Gemini Users Group!

with @vader being order 5xx, it makes me wonder how long me with order over 4500 will have to wait.

[bogomips]

Has anyone here got this problem below you can see the keys are misaligned a user on facebook has this problem.

My 9 key is the same.