Will you use the Pyra as a phone?

Will you use your Pyra instead of your phone?

  • No, never

    Votes: 38 28.1%

  • Sometimes

    Votes: 58 43.0%

  • Yes, always

    Votes: 39 28.9%
  • Total voters
    135

DrHAX said:
That. Worries me. One of the things I looking forward to the pyra was basically a mobile untethered computer which I could use to text my girlfriend ( depending on realse date, wife) however from the sounds if it USA support seems quite low .. this bothers me since I do live in a more rural area where theres tower access but no high speed internet. If the pyra is knee capped in the states.. then the major advantage of the pyra is gone for me, and I'll have trouble justifying the close to 1k usd pricetag .


Sent from my Z665C using Tapatalk
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There's 4G later on that covers everything in USA, if everything works out as planned.
 
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WizardStan said:
Who's your carrier right now? What options in your area would you be comfortable with?
Click to expand...
issue is version has it locked down. I'm running a prepaid phone. I don't think there's any unlocked services which have unlimited data for a device such as the pyra in Isanti Minnesota. Even prepaid wifi devices don't cover here.
 
I would LOVE for the Pyra to replace my phone, but with its current two-handed clamshell design it just isn't suited for telephone calls or streamlined/simplified phone interfaces.  Therefore, like the Pandora, the Pyra will most often stay home and the smartphone will come with me.  It's a very unfortunate redundancy that I would love to see broken some day.

However, as noted in the swivel hinge thread, using something like a swivel hinge so that the screen could close facing up would allow the device to be used as a phone and an optional software layer could easily run on top of the real OS without affecting desktop functionality at all.  But the problems are that (1) according to Pandora devs a swivel hinge or something to the same effect is too complicated and patent-encumbered, (2) the Pyra has a resistive touchscreen, and (3) the screen is not flush with the bezel.  On the other hand, I must note that after trying Android on my Pandora (2) and (3) were not all that bad--even with my Pandora's unresponsive touchscreen (and the Pyra's touchscreen will apparently be of a much higher quality than the Pandora's).
 
I am thinking of getting a Pyra and a old smartphone such as the Nokia E72: it is very cheap, good battery life, decent camera and hardware keyboard. I can connect it via usb or bluetooth to share the connection.
 
God Ginrai said:
Did EvilDragon ever actually confirm that?
Click to expand...
I think he confirmed that it may one day in the future possibly happen. No confirmation that it would that I've seen. I've been bugging him for information about potential upgrade paths for months now but he's probably ignoring me. :p
 
So, apparently the mic is already on the side. If you can deal with the muffled sound, then I guess you can

already put the Pyra to your ear like a phone.
 
yeah it's on the base part of the Pandora


near where it hinges the LCD top piece. I just don't recall any official information released where it will be on the pyra yet.
 
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I plan to get rid of my phone when I get a Pyra, as I won't need one anymore once I have it. I always take my Pandora everywhere, why should I have to carry two things?
 
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benoitb said:
I am thinking of getting a Pyra and a old smartphone such as the Nokia E72: it is very cheap, good battery life, decent camera and hardware keyboard. I can connect it via usb or bluetooth to share the connection.
Click to expand...
I had the pandora paired to an E71 with Joikuspot running as a WLAN-hotspot. Never got bluetooth working. The WLAN hotspot ate through battery pretty fast. Now I am using the N900 as a WLAN hotspot at home, plugged into a charger.

Also, the camera on E72 is better than the E71 iirc, but hardly "decent" when measured by todays phones.

If I get the Pyra, I might want to use it as a wlan hospot. Any idea whether the WIFI chip will be able to handle this?
 
random question. i'm old school and don't use mobile internet/data, but i still would want to make calls or do texts with the Pyra (if/when possible). i currently have Tmobile in the US, and so i think the cell module would work on the bands, but was curious if the 3G/4G equipped Pyra will still do what i want, or if i shouldn't pay the extra money for it because it won't...

[edit] apologies for resurrecting a thread, but this was one of the top relevant ones when i searched tmobile recents...
 
Nobody's written the software yet, but my understanding of its implementation and AT codes suggests getting SMS sending working would be a week's work, and maybe receiving them another couple of weeks. Making and receiving calls I understand less well, and getting bluetooth headsets working could take another chunk of time.

Who knows, perhaps someone with a prototype will be able to check some of this stuff out and code up some scripts to make an experimental call or text? That'd be a nice proof of concept.
 
If its standard AT commands then sending/receiving SMS is a work of seconds. Its just sending the command, NR and message to the device.
But gui tools for that already exist, eg "umtsmon".

The real question is if phonecalls will work.
The last free software project that tried to make a free phone had serious problem making the thing working at all.
My guess is that we more likely get skype before finding out how to do real calls.
 
Elw3 said:
The real question is if phonecalls will work.
The last free software project that tried to make a free phone had serious problem making the thing working at all.
Click to expand...
What is running on the GTA04?
 
I'd ditch my phone if I could use my Pyra to make and receive phone calls. I understand it can be hard to get something like that ti work from scratch but wouldn't it be easier with an android build?
 
Thanks, @hns. That it's exactly what I was trying to find earlier, but failed hard before getting distracted*. I poked around a little and I am not exactly sure what I am looking at with fso-gsmd, or how much help it would be for us, plus I don't have time right now to research everything. If there are other Linux devices with working mobile phone functionality, it doesn't look so bad for us.


* Mostly by the Letux stuff, especially the custom GTA04 page. I came up with a completely stupid idea that could probably get a little attention from the right crowd: a (Star Trek) PADD inspired tablet. There are already a bunch of people making replica props, and some great LCARS style things for Android, such as Expeditus from the LCARS 47 team. Why not combine them to make a functioning, somewhat screen accurate PADD? I would buy one. I don't know how many you would need to sell to consider something like this.
 
is there anyone committed to working on it, eventually? e.g., would @hns be porting the phone-specific software from GTA04?
 
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