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Stardate: 20220119.2337
Location: Kitchen
Input Device: 5th gen Amazon Kindle running LineageOS
Audio: Downstairs TV
Visual: termux, Kindle in repurposed, ill-fitting, bluetooth keyboard
case from Goodwill (wrong size, but works)
Emotional: Winding down.
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I made a visit this evening over at the midnight.pub[1] where tetris
phosted about, "chasing that elusive N900 successor."[2] I have been
on this quest as well. I was one of the early adopters of the N900
and still have the device(s). It was one of my favorite phones.
Unfortunately, I could not use it as a cellular phone after AT&T
sunsetted their 2.5G network (sound familiar?)
After the N900, the next keyboard phone I used was the NEC Terrain[3],
which was a rugged phone that ran Android 4. The keyboard was below
the screen and was not a slider. Similar form factor to a blackberry.
Illuminated keys. Good enough for what I needed.
The next keyboard phone is the one I am currently using, the
unihertz titan[4], which runs Android 9 (10 might be available?)
I am still running it stock and could have possible AT&T sunsetting
issues with it as well, even though it is totally compatible with
their 4G network (AT&T, disco my phone again and buh-bye!)
The Pinephone[5] was mentioned as a successor to the N900. I have been
watching the development of this device as well. I have read about
the recent release of the external keyboard case on mastodon and
other haunts. It is an add on and looks like there are still some
quirks. Not sure if I want to go that route...but the community
support looks pretty hopeful.
My use of Android is not typical. I don't use gapps and just install
a few apps from f-droid or sideload stuff. I change the launcher to
t-ui (terminal user interface) and have 2-letter aliases to launch
my apps if I need to. Aside from phone and text messages, I mostly
live in termux, which has a repository for most apps that I need.
If it's not available, there is UserLAnd, which runs debian and
other distros.
I think this practice of living in the terminal on a mobile started
with my use of the N900, which ran maemo (modified debian.) The
N900 to me was more like a small computer that could make phone
calls, rather than a mobile that can do computer stuff. One of the
things I liked to do was plug the phone into the USB port on my
work laptop or PC at home, enable USB networking and ssh into
my phone and use the tools there. The community support[6] was
excellent as well and taught me many things about the phone and
general scripting in linux as well. I think I still pattern my
mobile use this way and look for features in phones similar to
the N900.
The unihertz titan has the keyboard and the tools that I need. I
still don't like touching screens with fingers and I still prefer
pressing hardware buttons. I miss the precision of the old stylus
on the resistive screens from the Palm days...N900 had a plastic
stylus and built in stylus silo too. At least the keyboard can
also be a touchpad and do scrolling on the titan. Good enough.
Now that I have ruminated on this some, I don't think I need to
further this quest for the N900 sucessor for the time being. The
titan (and Gemini PDA) is still able to provide me with the tools I
need as a mobile user.
[1] gopher://midnight.pub/1/
[2] gopher://midnight.pub/0/posts/753
[3] https://www.gsmarena.com/nec_terrain-5553.php
[4] https://www.unihertz.com/products/titan
[5] https://www.pine64.org/
[6] http://maemo.org/
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