Cosmo as a daily driver - experiences/review

[mjiba]

i am begining to really develop a distaste for how unsturdy the device is. my codi lcd just broke from being in my pocket on a walk.... the glass is fine, somehow the panel underneath is just toast.... anyone has a good experience getting this kind of thing fixed? so far i have only heard negative things about planets support.

I had the same experience recently.  Had Cosmo in my front pocket as usual and took it out to check the time...codi did not display anything.  Normally I would not be surprised, but after a reboot, still no codi.  When I examined it more closely, I could see two cracks on on the display panel under the glass.   No more codi even if the new firmware is more stable.  I emailed Planet last week but only received an automated response.  Shame    

If you hear anything, please let the community know.  I'm sure there will be other people experiencing this down the road.  

I also noticed a crack on the right hand side hinge...that was some time ago though.

Couldn't agree more that the build quality is disappointing.

[vldmr]

So recently my daily driver started to greet me with a message "Too many attempts. Enter password" By too many attempts it means attempts to recognise fingerprint. Which attempts are certainly futile as the only thing it could try to recognize was mesh of my shorts pocket where I carry it (cover screen facing body -- always). I am not sure if that started with shorts season  here and used to work  normally during jeans season, but it starts to get very annoying - having to type password in a bright sunlite when you need to make a call.

As everyone else here I hope the problem will be resolved with the next firmware update, and as everyone else here I am pretty certain it won't. I am at version 19 still by the way

[Zarhan]

So recently my daily driver started to greet me with a message "Too many attempts. Enter password" By too many attempts it means attempts to recognise fingerprint.

For me, the fingerprint sensor hasn't worked reliably ever since I upgraded to V20. It works reliably for a few attempts after boot, but then fails.

Typing in PIN is not that bad if I set the auto-lock only to occur with more easygoing pace (only lock after 20 minutes or so).

[Daniel W]

But to be a little serious: Could the "spring-effect" of the hinge cover put a strain on the hinge? So that it actually IS NOT advised to keep it in open mode for prolonged time? Would be surprised if it was exerting enough force that it really should be an issue, but maybe if the whole phone is a little curved as well, it might be enough to BE an issue...? If the phone somehow has been bent in some situation,

If referring to my particular Cosmo, it has never been bent in any situation, nor dropped, knocked, sat on, or even kept in a tight pocket (when carrying it, I keep it in my shirt pocket, inside the Gemini slipcase - as my Cosmo slipcase still hasn't arrived). It once got brushed off of a low bedside table, and landed on a curtain (it's a bit long, so it spills out on the floor), but that was weeks after the hinge cracked, and the event left no visible marks on any part of the device.

For reference, my Gemini got hit by a falling loudspeaker, that sent the hinge cover flying and left the Gemini completely flat, with the screen forced open 180 degrees. That incident required some massage of the metal part to get it back into shape, but I noticed no relevant difference in the hinges afterwards, during the several months I kept using it daily, until moving over to the Cosmo. It might be worth noticing that the spring tension in a Gemini hinge cover is significantly less, even when the device is new, and on mine, it had grown less yet with use.

If the act of leaving a Cosmo open on a sturdy surface, could somehow affect the integrity of the materials it's made from, then, I'd say, something is quite wrong with the design. Made to look and work much like a small clam-shell laptop, I would consider the open position to be its normal state, when not in transport. That said, to keep dust and debris out of the keyboard, I tend to keep mine on my desk, folded and inside the Gemini case, during my workdays (and at night, for the same purpose, I cover it, opened, with a thin microfiber cloth). Also, lest I fumble, which is rare, I never slam my Cosmo shut, like the Planet people tends to do in their videos. I close mine slowly, with both hands, to where the screen rests on the keyboard, then giving it the final nudge, to make the magnets take over and close it completely. So, I'd consider myself fairly careful.

[gymbo]

But to be a little serious: Could the "spring-effect" of the hinge cover put a strain on the hinge? So that it actually IS NOT advised to keep it in open mode for prolonged time? Would be surprised if it was exerting enough force that it really should be an issue, but maybe if the whole phone is a little curved as well, it might be enough to BE an issue...? If the phone somehow has been bent in some situation,

If referring to my particular Cosmo, it has never been bent in any situation, nor dropped, knocked, sat on, or even kept in a tight pocket (when carrying it, I keep it in my shirt pocket, inside the Gemini slipcase - as my Cosmo slipcase still hasn't arrived). It once got brushed off of a low bedside table, and landed on a curtain (it's a bit long, so it spills out on the floor), but that was weeks after the hinge cracked, and the event left no visible marks on any part of the device.

I do believe you have stated before that you are very careful with your device, so the "the phone somehow has been bent in some situation", I meant it could have happened during production or shipping as well. But it would really not be any better if it is produced in such a manner that it is "bent" when finished...

If the act of leaving a Cosmo open on a sturdy surface, could somehow affect the integrity of the materials it's made from, then, I'd say, something is quite wrong with the design. Made to look and work much like a small clam-shell laptop, I would consider the open position to be its normal state, when not in transport. That said, to keep dust and debris out of the keyboard, I tend to keep mine on my desk, folded and inside the Gemini case, during my workdays (and at night, for the same purpose, I cover it, opened, with a thin microfiber cloth). Also, lest I fumble, which is rare, I never slam my Cosmo shut, like the Planet people tends to do in their videos. I close mine slowly, with both hands, to where the screen rests on the keyboard, then giving it the final nudge, to make the magnets take over and close it completely. So, I'd consider myself fairly careful.

I totally agree that it should handle being open on a table/desk for a prolonged time, as I also agree that it is the way it is (should?) be used with the device "open". Like I said earlier, I am only trying to make sense of why it has happened... But it seems the most probable cause is some fault in the material in the hinge. Which points to a problem on Planets' side, with either materials in general, or with quality control. (It might of course be difficult to spot defaults in the material in a hinge during a quality control, but it certainly still points to some problem for Planet...)

Hope you will be able to get it fixed, or that it at least does not deteriorate further, and you can live with it as is!

[da9l]

I've had my Cosmo for around a week now, and can, rather unfortunately, say that i won't be using it as my daily driver / phone. Its not that i do not like it. I was actually quite surprised as to how well its been working, and the keyboard is much better than expected.

But its just too inconvinient, having to open the device to get things done. Which is why i think their next device, the Astro is the best possible solution to this type of device. Its the best of both worlds.

I do think i will try to use it as a daily driver at one point though. But i think it feels more like having a small laptop rather than having a phone with a full keyboard, which is also why I'm hesitant to use it as my main phone

[vldmr]

I've had my Cosmo for around a week now, and can, rather unfortunately, say that i won't be using it as my daily driver / phone. [...]

But its just too inconvinient, having to open the device to get things done. Which is why i think their next device, the Astro is the best possible solution to this type of device. Its the best of both worlds.

If CODI would live to its promise, then you would not even had this topic started. The promise was that you could handle all your urgent phone tasks such as answering phone call or message, playing your music, navigating and all such, from the external screen (CODI), without opening the device.

The reality turned out to be unresponsive slab with the life of its own in your pocket, making calls, switching various setting and abusing fingerprint scanner -- all on its own agenda (and sucking a lot of battery juice at that). Sure we can still hope that manufacturer will fix it. But I would say you can expect just the same from their next model - nice promises. There will be next "Black hole galaxy whatever" after astro, where the next promise will go, and the astro will be just another unfulfilled bastard of crowdfunding...

Sorry for bad mood, covid and all that flows with it, you know...

[da9l]

I've had my Cosmo for around a week now, and can, rather unfortunately, say that i won't be using it as my daily driver / phone. [...]

But its just too inconvinient, having to open the device to get things done. Which is why i think their next device, the Astro is the best possible solution to this type of device. Its the best of both worlds.

If CODI would live to its promise, then you would not even had this topic started. The promise was that you could handle all your urgent phone tasks such as answering phone call or message, playing your music, navigating and all such, from the external screen (CODI), without opening the device.

The reality turned out to be unresponsive slab with the life of its own in your pocket, making calls, switching various setting and abusing fingerprint scanner -- all on its own agenda (and sucking a lot of battery juice at that). Sure we can still hope that manufacturer will fix it. But I would say you can expect just the same from their next model - nice promises. There will be next "Black hole galaxy whatever" after astro, where the next promise will go, and the astro will be just another unfulfilled bastard of crowdfunding...

Sorry for bad mood, covid and all that flows with it, you know...

You are not wrong though. The only reason i didn't back the Gemini back in the day, was becausee i could't imagine how it would be practical in everyday use. The Cosmo said to fix those worries, with Codi, but i have just ended up turning mine off. In practical terms that leaves me with a gemini with a backlit keyboard. A shame really.

But with Astro i do see a potential now that i know how Planet does things. They wont have to worry about software on some obscure proprietary screen because it would all be in the main screen . They also wont have to worry as much about Android having to be in landscape mode.

They do need to work on their software and promises though.

[Mks1967]

Hi All, I had mine since Feb 2020, with great expectations and subsequent great deceptions. Back in the day, when I started trying to use this, I posted the issue of general usability in real world, where you are hopping in and out of your car many times a day, urgently need a quick gps guidance, check and answer some emails while you drive, make some calls at the same time, edit some documents and excels, in short, the real usage any person who does not work on IT but types a lot during his day, will give to it. The result is that unfortunately and despite the great support from some people in this community, the unit turned to be a dead brick for what I need from a device like this, and what was promised by Planet in his marketing and will definitely not back the new thing, which is a copy of the FX1.

After months of being stored in his box, I got it out now to update to the latest V22 and for curiosity to see if something has changed, but from the comments I see, we are where we started. Don't get me wrong, I think the unit is great for someone who needs a pocket PC and enjoys tinkering with it, most likely someone working in IT, who spends his day in a controlled environment, commutes in public transport and has some meetings in coffee shops - this last one is a funny cliche used in all marketing stuff, but which I have never seen happen in real world.

As resume, the unit has a very niche market and Planet has not being honest marketing it; they could learn a lot from people like CAT with the S6 series, they clearly have a niche market and they market clearly to that niche market, clearly showing who can benefit from the units capabilities and usability limitations outside that niche application.

Hope this comments helps other potential business usage oriented clients avoiding Planet's marketing misguidance.

Rgds,
Markus

[VAMM]

If referring to my particular Cosmo, it has never been bent in any situation, nor dropped, knocked, sat on, or even kept in a tight pocket (when carrying it, I keep it in my shirt pocket, inside the Gemini slipcase - as my Cosmo slipcase still hasn't arrived). 

IMO, you will be sorely disappointed by the quality and usefulness of the slipcase. In my case, relying on the slipcase caused more damage than it prevented. Once you've slid the phone in and out a few times, the case no longer grips the phone very well. In my case, I pulled the phone (in its case) out of my pocket. Case was upside down in my pocket for some reason. As the case came out of my pocket, the phone slid out and hit the driveway. Now the two back corners are damaged on either side of the hinge.

Personally, I think the case is worthless - a waste of money and yet another layer making the phone awkward to use while on the go.

As far as the phone itself goes, the two biggest issues with using it as a daily driver are the randomness of the front screen turning things on or off and making calls at random while in my pocket. Yes, you can screen lock it but that makes using the phone even more awkward as you are now unlocking it on the front screen (with its terrible responsiveness) AND the main screen if you have to use it. Why does unlocking the front screen not unlock the main screen?

The second usability issue has been that with each update since v19, the phone becomes more and more unstable. I now have regular multiple reboots per day, alarms don't go off and the phone sometimes doesn't ring when a call comes in. And with each reboot, I have to go into settings and turn the keyboard backlight on which now also sometimes doesn't turn on even after you set it to turn the backlight on (if you go back into the Cosmo settings the backlight magically comes on without touching the slider as if it suddenly remembers, "Oh yeah, I'm supposed to have the backlight on aren't I? Thanks for reminding me!"

The Cover Display and the main phone also seem to be very poorly integrated. It is obvious when you use the CODI that it is its own computer and that it doesn't really want to talk to the main phone. You essentially get two computers to deal with (and update) on one phone that don't really seem to like each other very much. That makes for great seemless usability.

And then there's Ledison. Why it is even installed on the Cosmo baffles me. It does nothing and yet there's even a setting in the Cosmo settings for it. Go ahead, turn it on and watch it do nothing.

After six months of using the Cosmo, I've also cooled toward the keyboard which was originally the big draw for me. Some keys seem to be unresponsive and others too responsive producing multiple presses. It's like there is one perfect tap at one perfect force that makes the key work correctly and if you fall outside of that parameter, who knows what you'll get. At this point, it's not much better than an on-screen keyboard for all the typos that need to be corrected.

[Zarhan]

Why does unlocking the front screen not unlock the main screen?

I'm not sure about all the other points, but it *does* work like this at least for me. Actually, one of the problems that I have is that occasionally Codi locks but the main screen does not. But anyway, unlocking CoDi *does* unlock the main display too.

Also, I have to say that if you skip the brown paperbag releases of V20/V21, I've gotten better behavior from V22/V23 than with V19.

[VAMM]

Why does unlocking the front screen not unlock the main screen?

I'm not sure about all the other points, but it *does* work like this at least for me. Actually, one of the problems that I have is that occasionally Codi locks but the main screen does not. But anyway, unlocking CoDi *does* unlock the main display too.

Also, I have to say that if you skip the brown paperbag releases of V20/V21, I've gotten better behavior from V22/V23 than with V19.

I use a swipe pattern. Unlocking the front screen does not unlock the main screen (or at least, I can't figure out how to enable that functionality). For me, V23 has made my phone worse. It was fairly stable until I installed v23. That's when the daily reboots started.

[Zarhan]

I use a swipe pattern. Unlocking the front screen does not unlock the main screen (or at least, I can't figure out how to enable that functionality). For me, V23 has made my phone worse. It was fairly stable until I installed v23. That's when the daily reboots started.

Ah, I use fingerprint + PIN.

[Daniel W]

If referring to my particular Cosmo, it has never been bent in any situation, nor dropped, knocked, sat on, or even kept in a tight pocket (when carrying it, I keep it in my shirt pocket, inside the Gemini slipcase - as my Cosmo slipcase still hasn't arrived). 

IMO, you will be sorely disappointed by the quality and usefulness of the slipcase. In my case, relying on the slipcase caused more damage than it prevented. Once you've slid the phone in and out a few times, the case no longer grips the phone very well. In my case, I pulled the phone (in its case) out of my pocket. Case was upside down in my pocket for some reason. As the case came out of my pocket, the phone slid out and hit the driveway. Now the two back corners are damaged on either side of the hinge.

Personally, I think the case is worthless - a waste of money and yet another layer making the phone awkward to use while on the go.

Ouch, a case that drops the phone instead of holding it, certainly doesn't sound right, so yeah, I can see why you're less than impressed with it.

Anyway, three days ago, my Cosmo slipcase finally arrived, just one day short of four months, since it was supposedly sent from HK. Either covid-19 has that much of an impact on shipping times or, maybe, Planet should look for another logistics partner. Getting an email about an untracked letter being sent in early April and then nothing for next to four months, until I got a notice from Swedish customs requesting VAT, an import fee and VAT on the fee (because Sweden) for something from a company still within the EU, isn't such a great delivery experience. But, well, now it's here.

Since leather stretches a bit, making a slipcase with just the right friction fit, must be quite tricky, and might be a bit hit and miss. My Gemini slipcase was very tight at first, but with some use it loosened up to "about right" and stayed that way. I used it every day, first with my Gemini and then with my Cosmo, and it never got too loose. Since it is a tad short, it still failed to protect my Gemini, the one time I dropped it (inside its case), as the device, and not the case, hit the ground first. Luckily I got away with a minor cosmetic dent.

So far, I'm quite pleased with my Cosmo slipcase and I have no complaints about the quality. In my experience, "low quality", often tends to be "uneven quality", so maybe I just got lucky. I mean, I've owned a few Thermos brand vacuum flasks, which were ok, and then I have this really cheap knockoff, that somehow manages to be better. That just has to be luck.

The Cosmo case was also very tight at first, but now it, too, has loosened up some, and is about as snug as my Gemini case. Time will tell if it'll remain like that. I like that the Cosmo slipcase is a tad longer than the device, though whether that would actually protect the corners of the device, in case of a fall, would probably depend on exactly how it fell. Let's hope I don't need to find out.

I can understand that "yet another layer" can feel awkward. I used to keep my previous phone inside a calendar cover ($1 on a fleamarket) that just happened to be a the right size. It was a two-step process to get the phone out and as the cover was lined with slippery fabric, I had to be quite careful with my smooth-as-a-pebble all-glass phone. Compared to that, the slipcase is easier to use, but offers less protection.

[Zarhan]

On cases, I've been really happy with the case I mentioned in the belt cases thread, https://www.ebay.com/itm/Gemini-PDA-Leather-Protective-Cover-leather-wallet-case-Belt-version/183930595274?hash=item2ad31e27ca:g:lzIAAOSwzFBbREAu - a bit expensive but it has served me very well. Cosmo's own offering to my understanding did not really have a good belt attachment...and frankly, Cosmo is *way* too big to be shoved into a pocket, especially considering how fragile the CoDi apparently is.