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Comment by ElCheapo | Hacker News Reader

Was my post confusing? Nothing you've written can't be done with an Android phone with a keyboard attachment. When is this super important general purpose computing thingy supposed to come into play?

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The key is the keyboard is integrated and foldable, it's the convenience and portability that is key. With an android (with two exceptions), you have to have two separate pieces, something to put them on and then pair and charge both parts.

In short: You can pull it out of your pocket anywhere, type something with both thumbs on a full keyboard, then fold it down again in seconds.

There are Android phones with a full keyboard as well, but they are closed source/hardware.

Your reply is baffling.

First you say that with "android" (as if they made hardware) you can't have an integrated keyboard.

Then you say that Android phones with a full integrated keyboard actually exist.

But then you move the goalpost saying that they aren't open source/hardware. Which is false, by the way, since this device [https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/pro1] runs LineageOS, and phones with completely free software down to the firmware level don't exist, including the N900 which needs a binary blob to start the wifi module (as far as I know) and whose hardware is not open source in the slightest.

And even after all of this I've been given zero use cases that an Android phone can't provide with the proper application installed.

> But then you move the goalpost

Let us be fair here: you moved the goalposts first by going from “it is an absolute fantasy” to, once people pointed out that they already exist, “but I can't see a use for one”.

>Let us be fair here

Why even say this if you immediately proceed by not being fair?

Pocketable computers are not a "fantasy" in the sense that there aren't any devices capable of running a desktop OS while being pocketable. This was never the argument, as also demonstrated by my other replies in the thread. My argument is that using a pocketable device as a desktop or laptop is a fantasy. It's something that sounds very cool on paper and which has a small cult following, but in reality all these people would fare even better if someone wrote an Android app tailored to their use case.

Then it's an unfalsifiable argument and people are wasting their time discussing it with you in good faith. After I got my N900, I didn't feel a need to bring my laptop on short vacations, because I could do everything on it that I could on my laptop. But no matter what I say, you believe I'd be better served with a complete suite of apps that both are specifically tailored for me and don't exist.

Of course that's true. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that if you wrote an entire gnutils userspace for Android, and gave me a slide out keyboard instead of obliterating half my screen if I need to do input, you would have given me something that is almost identical to an N900.

>My argument is that using a pocketable device as a desktop or laptop is a fantasy

It's not. My GPD Micro PC is currently my daily driver laptop, and it fits in my back pocket. I have done CAD work on it with no trouble at all. There's no "Android app" that can compete with the universe of PC software.

You should try one before you make sweeping judgements about what is and isn't possible.

Your arguments would be much better-received if you were less abrasive and threw less manipulative language like "Can we stop with this absolute fantasy" in them.

> >Let us be fair here Why even say this if you immediately proceed by not being fair?

Pointing it hypocrisy is fair in my book. If you significant change of wording isn't a shift of the goal posts then neither is the others posters clarification.

(Note: The Pro¹ from F(x)tec has been superseded by the Pro¹ X, released this month.)

And has yet to actually ship to anyone. I'm pretty sure people have been waiting ~2 years for their preorders to ship. Not to mention the specs are quite dated at this point. I think they even had to start making them with a newer chip because they weren't able to ship before the original chip lost support from Qualcomm.

Barely any good Android phones with a QWERTY keyboard exist these days.

The fxtec has been a huge disappointment. If you can even get upirs, its now dated hardware and people have been reporting many issues with it.

Also no it most definitely contains blobs.

https://community.fxtec.com/topic/3326-pro%C2%B9-x-%E2%80%93...

> Was my post confusing?

I possibly misunderstood what you were getting at. You are right - an android with a a keyboard is certainly not all that different.

You can transmit FM radio on Android with a keyboard attachment? How?

Depends how fast you can type, I suppose....

How is the presence of an antenna in any way demonstrative of the general purpose computing capabilities of the N900 as opposed to "not pocketable PC" Androids? I believe that if I were to attach a USB radio module to my phone I could write an Android app to make use of it as a trasmitter.

The point of the FM transmitter was to be able to use the N900 with a car head unit to play music from the phone.

Oh wow, that's a badass feature. I'm legit impressed (this is not sarcasm)

There are FM dongles that plug into a headphone socket, but building it into the phone from the start says to me that Nokia really knew how people would want to use it.

If the point is you can transform an android device into a general purpose machine if you use unenumerable amounts of hardware addons and hacks. Then yes, of course you are right. It will be unuseable in practice which is generally what people want to do.

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