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

[Jeremy Entwistle]

= And last but not least, default to G.711 audio for voice calls.

Just curious. Why G.711 instead of opus?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Opus_bitrate%2Blatency_comparison.svg

Jeremy
-- 
https://twitter.com/jwentwistle

On 2013-10-28 20:58, Pete Forsyth wrote:
> G! I love this annotated feature list, and would gladly jump into a
> Kickstarter campaign to produce one. I'm sure I can't be the only one.
> 
> Thank you, to you and the others who have repled to my request. Today
> I bought, for $150, a Alcatel Fierce, brand new, which seems to be a
> pretty decent phone with a mediocre screen and a mediocre camera. I
> believe I will be happy with it (all things considered) and am
>  happier with $150 of liability in my pocket every day than $500.
> 
> I will also order the repair kit for the One S, and hope I can get it
> back up and running.
> 
> Pete
> 
>  On Mon, Oct 28, 2013 at 5:37 PM, GtwoG PublicOhOne
> <g2g-public01 at att.net> wrote:
> 
>> 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/
>> [2] 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.
>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> sudo-discuss mailing list
>>> sudo-discuss at lists.sudoroom.org
>>> http://lists.sudoroom.org/listinfo/sudo-discuss [1]
> 
> 
> 
> Links:
> ------
> [1] http://lists.sudoroom.org/listinfo/sudo-discuss
> [2]
> http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/10/googles-iron-grip-on-android-controlling-open-source-by-any-means-necessary/
> 
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