I don't need it so wont, but ran across sort of a neat thing today ( may be old news to others )

Clockwork "uconsole".

A portable case for a RPI SOC, screen, keyboard, battery..  So far, eh, whatever, but its also got a slot for a 4G cellular modem.    Sounds like a good candidate for a DYI VoIP phone.  Sort of like i was talking about a few threads ago, but in a nice case. 

WiFi, so when you have no cell.. still works...

And has BT of course so could be used as a meshtastic node too. 

Fri Mar 15 2024 19:12:06 UTC from msgrhys

In the early morning, my father awoke to that creepy EAS tone emanating from his phone. It was a tornado warning.

 

Seriously, that tone is creepy.

Shouldn't it be? 

Yes, it should. That doesn't change the fact that it is :P

Sat Nov 01 2025 07:29:55 UTC from ParanoidDelusions

 

Fri Mar 15 2024 19:12:06 UTC from msgrhys

In the early morning, my father awoke to that creepy EAS tone emanating from his phone. It was a tornado warning.

 

Seriously, that tone is creepy.

Shouldn't it be? 

*le sigh*

I've got an "older" phone (if 2022 counts as "old") so I guess I'm off the upgrade train.  I don't have the newest-and-best Google Messages.

So I switched back to Textra.  Ironically, I originally moved to Google Messages because it has some spam filtering, and I'm moving back off it because of spam.  Even with the filters on, the amount of text spam I get now is simply ridiculous.  And the version of Google Messages I have doesn't have the ability to suppress messages, or even suppress alerts, from unknown numbers.

And that's what I want, y'see, because there's sooooooooooooooooooo much spam/scam coming over the wire now.  Much of it is political, which I can't stand, and as the lists get sold to less and less reputable people it eventually falls into the hands of scammers who have nothing to do with any campaign and are just appealing to people who think they might be donating to something other than a scammer halfway around the world.   And others are trying to appeal to my faith -- help Jesus save the unborn babies!  It's out of control.

So back to Textra I go, with a setting that makes it suppress notifications for messages from numbers not in my contacts.  I really wish it would file them in a spam/unknown folder instead.  Maybe I can find a program that does that.

The real wake up was learning how entrenched I was in the RCS ecosystem.  That's the Google equivalent to iMessage, dontcha know, where they figure out if both ends are on their system and if so, route around carrier SMS/MMS and just go device to device over their servers.  A lot of messages got lost over a few days.  I learned that I had to go to Google's web site and tell it to revoke the RCS registration for my phone number, to make it stop telling other Android users "yes, we'll take all your messages for IG right here on our servers, send 'em right here please."

And so I will always be that guy with the wrong color bubble, because I'm into sovereignty, at a pretty hardcore level.

And it seems we've turned that corner, where we just can't accept text messages from unknown numbers anymore.  Sic transit gloria mundi.

Ya, it is pretty bad out there. I tend to ignore 99% of the messages i get on my phone. And the forced upgrade train, also sucks.

Posts in this thread making me wish I could just Thumbs Up/Like a message without responding. I still think this is a useful social media feature Citadel could use. 

But I know... It isn't gonna happen. Still, a guy can dream. 

My phone isn't configured to "discard" messages from those not in my contacts ... it just doesn't emit a notification unless it's someone I know.

So if it was important, I'll see it eventually.  And if I'm expecting an unsolicited text (such as "your order is ready for pickup") I'll go looking for it.

I realize that doesn't work for everyone.  I'm fortunate enough to be existing in a space where anyone who can legit get on my case for not returning their text message, is already in my contacts.

I just can't say enough bad things about text spammers.  Particularly the ones who pretend to be someone I might vote for or support.  One even pretended to be Erika Kirk.  These scammers are the second lowest form of life on the planet and they need to be raped with a cheese grater and then dumped into a vat of acid.

So, like many Android users, i have a 3rd party launcher. Not fond of the default. Tho to be fair, the one on the pixel seems much better than 'carrier phones'.  Even had it on my android tablet,before i moved to ChromeOS tablets.

Nova.

Was great, simple, etc. Here lately it stopped getting updates. "eh, whatever, it still works, hope its not pulled from the store". Then suddenly a popup appeared "we are going to make a paid version and you get ads if you dont pay".  Next day, in the app drawer, they had a ad down at the bottom.  Eh, whatever, dont have a problem with them making a buck, and even considered giving them couple of dollars to support its future.

Next day, there were 2 ads. one in the middle one at the bottom. People ( me too ) went 'wtf'.  then a day or so later every other row was an ad. and some even were made to look like apps..  Reading other comments, people wont even pay now, they are so pissed at them ( one even said they still got ads AFTER they paid.. ). Great way to burn a brand down. Freaking scam.  

( and ya, i yanked it after the first fake app.. was still looking for an alternative but no, it had to go .. NOW ) 

Sad part is on 2 of my older Xiaomi phones i use for VoIP, music and with my drone, that was the default shipped launcher..   Doh!

And in related mobile news.. 

These days about the only time i use my phone is when im out with the dogs, to take pictures or something. Stopped using it for music, due to battery life mostly, and 'american market phones' rarely have audio jacks, and i still like actual wires at times.  Even back in the office i never did watch videos, or doom scroll, play games, or much of anything really. For me a phone is just a portable media device/camera with the occasional text message and the ability to make an emergency call. If i wanted to watch video, its why i had a tablet.

My mp3 player i got to get around the battery issue with the phone ( and increased storage ..) , worked great in the office. But same issue now i have with the phone, i only use it out in the park or something. The display was impossible to read between sunlight and polarized glasses.  Ran across an e-ink player, which while i wasn't thrilled with the interface, it was usable and more than fixed the visibility problem AND battery life is soooo much better.  ( which is expected.. my e-ink readers, can last weeks of daily use ) and i got my jack back as a bonus.

This last weekend was out at the river, wanted to take pictures of the dogs.  Same damned thing, cant see anything on the phone unless i take off my glasses and hide the phone in my hat or something.

Frustrated.... "Hmm this is pointless, why dont i just do the same thing i did with the mp3 player"     so a color e-ink phone is on its way....  we will see..  ( no pun intended )

Always been a fan of e-ink, so this may be perfect for me. I only wish i had patented the idea back in the 80s when i invented it as a kid. but nooooooooooooooo.. 

Well it came this morning.

So far, its pretty cool. Its not as fast as my pixel, but not slow either. I think it has more to do with the refresh rate, which IS slower, and expected to be, due to the different screen tech and not the actual device speed.   Tho surprisingly i accidentally hit a video when poking around, and it wasn't THAT bad. Not that id watch one as i dont on a phone anyway, but that it worked at all, ink has come a long way.

Inside, its not the best to read, but if i futz with the color/sidelight some more that will improve as the default isn't great but its got options. A couple of my normal apps, needed to just their 'defaults' as they assume OLED.  Installed my preferred music and camera apps, took it outside.  and I CAN READ THE SCREEN IN BROAD DAYLIGHT..... whoohoo! 

le sigh

So about 15 years ago, maybe a little longer, I switched to T-Mobile because I am Teh Cheapz0r and they were the lowest cost option.  Then they got $4B and spectrum from AT&T in the failed buyout and they ended up becoming sleeper awesome.  I was happy for a long time.

Last month I switched to Verizon.  Ever since the Sprint merger, T-Mobile has become unusable.  One-way audio, failed text messages, just utter crap.  Their RCS integration is utter garbage (which is why I switched to Textra and just got rid of RCS entirely).

I got my overall bill lowered by getting both my home fiber internet and mobile from them.  And their lowest-tier plan is more than enough for us.  We're not streaming 4K video on a 5" screen after all.

A week in now, and i like it. No, its not for everyone. Found that some things don't render well, due to people assuming OLED contrast and such.  But you can adjust things app-by-app ( which sort of surprised me, i expected all-or-nothing settings )  and get it better. 

For me, the important things work ( and in DAYLIGHT ) like camera, music, email ( rarely do ) text ( mostly to send an image ).  Battery life is good, even have an active clock on the lock screen. Something you could never do with OLED ( or LCD ).   

Things like a browner, is sort of like looking at the world thru a comic book view, but i wasn't surprised as i have had have color e-ink readers since it became commercially available. But my use case, its would be rare to touch a browser anyway. Of course if you are doom scroller on tiktok or some such nonsense, it wont do well for you at all.

Maps, same sort of thing, they are meant for the OLED contrast, but are usable, and y ou can see it perfectly fine no matter how bright the sunlight is.

Perhaps if i was stuck inside again, id stick with OLED and get the extra resolution/contrast, but even with occasional use indoors, i think its a more than fair trade-off.

I do wish it had an SD slot, like most Chinese phones do, and an actual audio jack, but its got 256G storage, and a simple USBc to audio jack isn't that large.. so not end of world. My pixel and i think most US phones are no different really these days. Cutting back on things like storage, so you want to climb aboard the upgrade treadmill. 

Oh, its got an IR port.. also common with Chinese phones.   Tho, that isn't as important as it used to be.

And..  since its got their own custom launcher Gemini is no where to be found. yay.