[sudo-discuss] Broke fancy smart phone, arg.

[GtwoG PublicOhOne]

A decent plurality of mobile device users are fed up with carrier
shenanigans, Spynet, planned obsolescence, and other "heads they win,
tails we lose" games to extract money out of people. 

This points to the need for a grassroots project to design & have
manufactured, a mobile device that's robust and fully user-serviceable,
which can also include other benefits:  

= Perspex instead of glass for the touch-surface on the screen.  Main
housing either aluminum or thick enough plastic to withstand drops. 
("Lite" as in devices = "Lite" as in beer, "no thanks!")

= Four visible screws at the four corners of the screen module, into
brass inserts in the plastic housing: remove the screws, remove &
replace the screen in a minute or two. 

= Circuit board mounted to main housing with via the same screws, with
rubber grommets to protect against drop impacts.  Battery separate from
circuit board so it can be replaced by end-user. 

= Hardware switches to enable selectively turning off the audio
transducers (mic and earphone), camera, and GPS, and turn off power to
the entire unit.  This obvious privacy/security enhancement would add
less than $5 to the component cost of the unit. 

= Data storage on micro-SD card, so you can keep your data while
changing out other components or if you ship the device back to a third
party for whatever reason.   Two card slots to enable selective data
copy from A to B.

= Connectors for wired headset (bluetooth sucks & is highly insecure)
and keyboard/mouse.  Nearly 30 years ago I saw a prototype IBM keyboard
that was about the size of a touchtone dial and intuitively easy to
use.  Each key surface was split into four indentations such that your
fingers pressed multiple keys at once, thereby achieving "chord
keyboard" compact size without a learning curve to use it.  By now the
patents have expired so this could be freely manufactured. 

= Multiple SIM Card slots to enable software-selectable use of multiple
carriers.  This enables direct and immediate use of competing carriers
moment-to-moment, and if it was widely adopted, might force carriers to
behave better.  This would also enable keeping multiple unrelated
telephone numbers on one device (such as personal and work, for partial
pushback against the 24-hour work day).   

= Secure operating system with full user control (rather than a walled
garden or equivalent, see also:
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/10/googles-iron-grip-on-android-controlling-open-source-by-any-means-necessary/
re Google's efforts to manipulate the Android ecosystem).

= And last but not least, default to G.711 audio for voice calls,
because putting up with G.729 and its pre-1935 (proof on request) audio
quality in 2013 is absurd.  Less bandwidth for Spynet, more bandwidth
for speech. 

That would be a mobile device that you control, that isn't subject to
yearly planned obsolescence, that doesn't spy on you everywhere you go,
and that you can repair with nothing more than a small Philips
screwdriver.  At that point, I'd even get one;-)

-G.


=====


On 13-10-28-Mon 2:56 PM, Pete Forsyth wrote:
> So, today I dropped my fancy smart phone (HTC One S) and smashed the
> screen to smithereens. I have almost (almost! but I think not quite)
> just had it with the concept of cell phones, almost ready to just
> figure out how to plan ahead and make use of my land line and wifi.
>
> But I don't think I'm there -- I just rely too heavily on stuff like
> Google Maps and text messaging when I travel or am otherwise out and
> about.
>
> I thought I'd throw the question out there before I up and buy a new
> phone. Does anybody have a 4g, T-Mobile compatible phone they'd
> recommend...or perhaps one to sell?
>
> Or... what are some good "I'm sick of dealing with cell phones" hacks
> these days?
>
> Pete
>
> p.s. I'm (finally!) out of my TMobile contract and happily so. I am
> also done with insurance plans. I want to just buy something free and
> clear, something that I can unlock and potentially throw a foreign SIM
> into in the future. Even if it means spending more up front. I'm sick
> of cell carrier shenanigans and don't want to play their money games
> if I can avoid it.
>
>
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