diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'articles/2015-09-18_nokia_heir_and_hardware_keyboards.md')
| -rw-r--r-- | articles/2015-09-18_nokia_heir_and_hardware_keyboards.md | 4 |
1 files changed, 2 insertions, 2 deletions
diff --git a/articles/2015-09-18_nokia_heir_and_hardware_keyboards.md b/articles/2015-09-18_nokia_heir_and_hardware_keyboards.md index b5368e6..93e77bd 100644 --- a/articles/2015-09-18_nokia_heir_and_hardware_keyboards.md +++ b/articles/2015-09-18_nokia_heir_and_hardware_keyboards.md @@ -9,11 +9,11 @@ While the _Jolla_ may have much faster hardware, a bigger screen, multipoint tou The first and foremost problem is of course the lack of hardware based user interfaces such as unlock sliders, camera protectors, buttons and of course hardware keyboards. While the latter is at least partially solved by the _TOHKBDv2_ external keyboard I helped fund last year and received two months ago it - like everything else concerning the user interface - is just not as good as what was already available as a complete package back in _2009_. To prevent misunderstandings: I am very grateful for the work _Dirk et. al._ did with [FunkyOtherHalf] to produce a usable external keyboard for the _Jolla_ in a very limited production run of only a few thousand devices. If you view it as what it is - a prototype - it actually exceeds all expections one could have reasonably had. -But sadly this does not change the reality that at least my other half keyboard is not consistently usable in a day to day fashion. The magnet based connection between the keyboard part an the backcover of the _Jolla_ is rather flaky and sometimes requires reconnects during usage. Furthermore some keys, in my case _U_ and _N_, don't work as well as the other keys which frequently disrupts the flow of typing. If you were to disregard these issues, the keyboard itself, especially the layout, would be better than the _N900_'s - sadly only in theory as it's slider mechanism and feel of use in practice is still superior. +But sadly this does not change the reality that at least my other half keyboard is not consistently usable in a day to day fashion. The magnet based connection between the keyboard part an the backcover of the _Jolla_ is rather flaky and sometimes requires reconnects during usage. Furthermore some keys, in my case _U_ and _N_, don't work as well as the other keys which frequently disrupts the flow of typing. If you were to disregard these issues, the keyboard itself, especially the layout, would be better than the _N900_'s - sadly only in theory as its slider mechanism and feel of use in practice is still superior.  -Of course the _Jolla_ has it's strengths: _SailfishOS_ is a pleasure to use[^0] and the faster internals are essential to using it without having to wait on the device every other interaction. Also the replacement of _GTK_ with _Qt's QML_ as the primary _UI_ framework was definitly the right step and being able to execute _Android_ applications is useful for when there is no _SailfishOS_ counterpart. +Of course the _Jolla_ has its strengths: _SailfishOS_ is a pleasure to use[^0] and the faster internals are essential to using it without having to wait on the device every other interaction. Also the replacement of _GTK_ with _Qt's QML_ as the primary _UI_ framework was definitly the right step and being able to execute _Android_ applications is useful for when there is no _SailfishOS_ counterpart. But while slow the _N900_ is superior in other situations such as direct sunlight and precision usage using a stylus. The transreflective background of the display means that one can turn off the backlight completly if the sun is shining bright enough and use it as a source of light whereas the _Jolla_ display is often not readable in bright sunlight. While _SailfishOS_ is more fluid and looks nice, _Hildon_ with all transitions turned off feels quick in a way that an animated UI simply does not. Add to that the various unlock methods such as sliding out the keyboard, sliding back the camera protector or sliding the unlock button and the daily usage of the _N900_ feels more intutive and quicker than any touch based interface I've tried. This problem is increased by the recent _SailfishOS_ UI overhaul that replaces gestures with buttons in various parts of the interface. Many of the nice properties of _Jolla's_ interface such as sliding from the top of the display to lock and sliding up to access the application menu from the lockscreen now have to be patched back into the UI using custom repositories. Admittedly it is great that this is even possible without requiring deep changes to the system such as _jailbreaks_ as in other mobile systems. Furthermore with the right set of patches from the _Warehouse_ it is possible to e.g. enable nearly system wide landscape mode support which is very nice. |