Author Topic: Very little activity on this board  (Read 5823 times)

ArchiMark

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« Reply #15 on: January 28, 2020, 10:15:11 pm »
Quote from: jornada720
Quote from: ArchiMark
+1 for NormMonkey comments...

For my work mobile phone I use an iPhone XR Max. I have it in a silicone case that covers back and sides.

While I'm very careful with all my computing devices and phones, I have had phone slip out of my hand while getting in my car. Phone landed on asphalt pavement. Glad I had the case on phone, as there was zero damage after dropping it from about 3.5 feet above pavement.

Most people I know keep their phones in some sort of case for fall protection reasons.

And even if you don't use a case on Cosmo, you need to open it up if you want to use keyboard. So, there's the hinge opening issue due to clamshell design, as with using a laptop.

My experience with Gemini (about a year...) and Cosmo (about a month...) is that if you handle them with reasonable care, they should do fine.

Just my 2 cents, as we say....

You guys are really not rebutting my arguments. Using a case is irrelevant.

The reality is that Planet realized their hinge design on the Gemini was in need of improvement. They changed it to try and make it more reliable. This is a fact.

I have had a Zaurus and an HP Jornada 720 for over 15 years. Neither one has ever developed hinge problems. I used them daily just in the same way that I used a Gemini. The Gemini broke after a few months. I never dropped them on a hard surface. I had an HP 200LX that lasted 20 years before it developed a hinge crack.

Planet cut some corners on the Gemini hinge. That's just how it is. If yours isn't broken, that just means you don't open and close it as much as I do. Congrats.

To clarify, was not trying to argue with you or deny your experiences.

I was trying to point out that my experiences have been different.

No criticism of your experience is intended.

As I said, it was just my 2 cents, as we say.....

 
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drpeter

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« Reply #16 on: January 28, 2020, 10:32:46 pm »
All contributors have valid points IMHO.

None of the devices mentioned is guaranteed to survive a fall from height onto a hard surface- or other substantial trauma- without significant if not fatal damage.

That's equally true even for highly-engineered top-end smart-phones. Nevertheless some devices are inevitably by design more robust than others.

For hinged devices, repeated stressing of the hinge and its electrical connectors by opening and closing, particularly if unbalanced or forceful, or by flexing to-and-fro from walking, bending, squatting etc. when held in a tight pocket, may also eventually lead to failure.

It's also true that the likelihood of functional and cosmetic survival for all these devices can be prolonged by the use of a case.

But there's a trade-off.  The more protective the case, the less convenient it's likely to be in terms of portability and useability of the device.

As every use case is different, only an individual can decide where the sweet-spot lies for them between armour-plated protection and no case at all.  Or maybe varies, depending on circumstances.

Engineering the hinge mechanism naturally also involves trade-offs between robustness and other considerations including cost, opening mechanics and form-factor. Devices with the thickness of the Zaurus Cxxxx or Jornada 720 would for example be very difficult to market as a 'phone today.

Whether the engineers have made the right trade-offs for most use-cases only really becomes apparent some time after launch with feedback from experience of real-world use, whatever efforts are made to test robustness in the factory.  Recall the bendy iPhone as an example. Evidently the Apple engineers didn't think to jam prototypes in their jeans back pocket and flop down forcibly onto firm seats.

Planet have clearly decided that the hinge mechanism could benefit from being upgraded cf. the Gemini. Despite this, it being an inherent weakness of clamshell devices, no doubt some will fail sooner or later- as did some of the Zaurus and Jornadas.  How many and how soon is at this stage impossible to say- all we can do as individual owners is remember that these are not unbreakable devices and so look after and protect our own device as well as circumstances allow, or accept that ours might be one of the earlier ones to fail.
« Last Edit: January 28, 2020, 10:56:05 pm by drpeter »

Dickon Hood

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« Reply #17 on: January 29, 2020, 04:57:33 am »
The best hinge I've ever owned was on the Nokia E90.  Superb device.  They clearly learned a lot from the 9000-series; the 9500's hinge is similar to the Gemini's and is what did for mine.

Hopefully Planet will do something similar for the next Cosmo (which I fully-expect to be backing).

jornada720

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« Reply #18 on: January 29, 2020, 03:48:06 pm »
Thanks, all. My third Gemini is currently broken in the same way (hinge detached). I'm debating whether I should file a warranted claim on it. They do have a 1 year warrantee on them, right?
« Last Edit: January 29, 2020, 03:48:44 pm by jornada720 »

gymbo

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« Reply #19 on: January 29, 2020, 04:33:50 pm »
Quote from: jornada720
Thanks, all. My third Gemini is currently broken in the same way (hinge detached). I'm debating whether I should file a warranted claim on it. They do have a 1 year warrantee on them, right?
How do you mange to do that? I have literally dropped it in open position several times, and the hinge itself seems fine still. The hinge-cover gets "loose" with time, but like I said the hinge seems fine. I'm usually quite careful with my equipment, but has still dropped it on quite a few occasions, both in open and closed state, and it seems mostly fine (at least I can't see anything really broken, apart from a few "dings" in the cover-plates...).

I'm not trying to suggest that you are "abusive" of your Gemini, but am trying to suggest that there might be some difference in the quality of the hinge on the Gemini, but seems you have been really unlucky to have broken the hinge three times already. And I do believe I open and close my Gemini quite often each day, if nothing else to try and shut off those irritating, repeating alarms of the Agenda....

(Hmm, seems the board didn't accept my post, trying again. And that might have been the case on a few other occasions as well, I usually just dismiss the window after posting, without really checking if it got trough or not. Might be contributing to the topic in this thread???)

Daniel W

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« Reply #20 on: January 29, 2020, 09:01:51 pm »
Quote from: Dickon Hood
Hopefully Planet will do something similar for the next Cosmo (which I fully-expect to be backing).
Well, they set out to reinvent the Psion, with its fixed angle screen, and hired Martin Riddiford to do it. But, yeah, as the Cosmo already goes beyond the PDA concept, by being a proper phone with an outer display and a built in rear camera, a new hinge perhaps could be next (I'd prefer scissor-type key switches, but perhaps they wouldn't fit). Either way, I sincerely hope Planet will NOT just get the new MediaTek Dimensity 1000 5G SoC and start on a new device, without first working out the productions issues for real, or, if predictable scheduling just can't be had in the small-scale factories we can afford, planning accordingly.

Also, since the Cosmo project begun, little attention has been given the remaining software issues with the Gemini, and the Cosmo has so many of them, it will reasonably need many months of dedicated work. Both devices needs security patches, coming regularly. Planet MUST learn to communicate regularly and promptly speak up about problems, or backers (= investors) just learns that silence equals trouble. And there's Android 10 to think about. Then it might be time for new hardware, when the world actually has a bit of 5G coverage.
« Last Edit: January 29, 2020, 09:07:23 pm by Daniel W »