I wonder why everyone in blindland seems to be getting the 15 Pro Max this year. Or rather, anyone who is getting a new phone seems to be getting the Pro Max. I did because people on Reddit said it felt lighter and nicer in their hands than the previous pro max phones. They were right; I've had it for half a day and it doesn't feel uncomfortable at all. I mostly forget I'm holding a new phone until I think about it.
@simon I have absolutely 0 interest in pro Max. It's also the phone that Jerry Rig Everything snapped with minimal effort, and has had the most issues of all the pro's in recent years. Standard 15 Pro is more than adequate for my needs.
@FreakyFwoof Makes sense to me. If you don't want it, you probably don't need it either. Didn't realized the pro max had so many issues. Hopefully mine's ok.
@simon@FreakyFwoof Back when I had a 6Plus, it bent. It actually bent on the sides, to where it would wobble on a table. I think they may use some steal in the band now, but obviously soft aluminum/aluminium wasn't strong enough. Still, kinda don't trust them too big.
@simon I don't think I'd get a max personally, because I like carrying my phone in my pocket, and it might be a wee bit too long for that. I feel like I have to stuff my android media player in my pocket, just to have it pop out when I sit, and that's probably the size of a pro-max.
@simon It's a Samsung galaxy a-53, so technically, it's a phone, but it's not activated. I liked something like that for music as opposed to a tablet, tablets won't fit in my pocket, lol.
@Moopypoo Ahh, yeah, that's going to be about the same size.
For what it's worth, I just got one of these as a media player and it is just as tiny and amazing as it sounds, so if you have the ~$200 and that's all you use the phone for, you should think about it. https://www.unihertz.com/products/jelly-star
@simon Oh, wow! Does it have a micro Sd card slot? I have a 1 tb micro Sd card in mine, because I have too much crap, and can't decide what I want, lol.
@Moopypoo It sure does. The SIM tray has two slots in it--one for a nano SIM, and one that can take either a nano SIM or a micro SD card. That 1TB card should just go in and work. @fireborn has 1TB working in that phone.
@simon@fireborn Call me impatient, impulsive, what you will, lol. But I wound up getting one from amazon. I have some dummy sim cards, but they're trackfone, or something like that, so not verizon or t-mobile, so I guess I need a dummy nano sim that supports verizon or t-mobile, simply so it thinks it has a sim, albeit an inactive one, huh? I don't stream my music, the stuff I like is too rare, lol, plus, I just have too darn much, lol, and I have a mixture of music, podcasts, audio tv shows, radio, etc. And poweramp can play it all in one app.
@Moopypoo@fireborn Well, there's no reason that shouldn't work on this phone as long as it works fine on your Samsung. So give it a try.
You don't need the phone to think it has a SIM card. But Tello is a super cheap option if you want one. I think Red Pocket has $30/year plans on Ebay and you can choose to put it on T-Mobile. People seem to be having problems with using it on AT&T for some reason, which is Red Pocket's other network. But you can also just not have a SIM in it at all.
@simon@fireborn Two more questions, 1 how is the mic on it? I often record stuff with easy voice recorder. Also, it says something about flashing LED lights that flash with sounds and music, can you stop that to save battery? I have no vision, so it's pointless to me.
@Moopypoo@fireborn Mics are proper stereo and surprisingly good, I can make a recording. There's an easily findable setting to turn off the lights. I did this on mine.
@simon@fireborn works great on my samsung, once I directed poweramp which folders were music, which were radio shows, etc. So how about battery life? How's battery life, 2000 mah seems rather little.
@Moopypoo@fireborn The battery life is kind of average from what I can tell. But it's a small screen and a relatively low-powered processor. Bring a power bank and because the battery is so small, it will charge more than once off even the smallest power banks.
@Moopypoo@fireborn Yep, worked great. Exactly as expected. it should be fairly charged when you get it, so just pull it out, hold down the top-right button for a few seconds, and wait. As is the case with most Android things, once it's powered on, pressing the power button will cause the phone to make a sound when the screen locks. So with that info, you can tell whether the phone is powered on and whether it's unlocked. Then you can hold down volume keys and everything should be good from there.
Also note that unlike most Android phones, the Jelly Star has fixed back/home/overview buttons at the bottom. They're touch-sensitive areas of the screen that act independently of the rest of the touchscreen. So touching them once will trigger them, even when Talkback is on.
@simon@fireborn interesting. And maybe since setup (at least the way I do it) is battery intensive, or may be, it might not hurt to plug it in while I work with it. I don’t think working with it while it’s charging will hurt it. I have a desk USB c charger.
@Moopypoo@fireborn Get yourself a USB keyboard and a USB C to A adapter so you can plug that keyboard directly into it to enter your account information etc. Typing on such a small phone takes some adjusting.
@simon@fireborn My micro SD card came, I’m duplicating it now, making it equal to my galaxy one, at least to start. Whether I keep them synced or not, only time will tell. It won’t work for initial setup, but do you know if the talkback braille keyboard will work? I know it will be tiny, but I can’t realistically schlep a wired keyboard everywhere I go just to search for songs, lol.
@Moopypoo@fireborn Yep, braille keyboard works great. you just have to be careful not to press the bottom bar with your right hand because those buttons will still be there even when the Braille keyboard is active (I think).
@Moopypoo@fireborn I think you'll be fine with tiny hands on this phone. I have medium-sized hands but thinner fingers. It works well for me. I wouldn't say it feels super comfortable, but I can definitely type on it.
@simon@fireborn I use nova as my launcher, will that still work? Also, what do you guys use for file managers? I doubt I'll be able to get samsung "my files" on there. I love "my files", because it has the ability to unmount drives right from the my files home, no need to go digging in device care.
@Moopypoo@fireborn I use Nova on mine, and just the regular Files app. I think there is an Android version of Total Commander, but have never used it and don't know for sure.
@fireborn@Moopypoo Yeah normally that's the case, but the way these ones work made me think Unihertz did something special with them. If they can still be disabled that's pretty useful, because it's a small screen and extra space is good.
@fireborn@Moopypoo I missed that setting. Thanks. I'll probably do that because it is a little annoying to accidentally press the home key or something. Also pinging @hmaealdeza and @bmoore123
@simon That's actually more convenient for me because I don't have to double tap the home button, etc., but I can see how it's annoying to accidentally press it sometimes. @fireborn@Moopypoo@bmoore123
@hmaealdeza@simon@fireborn@Moopypoo I am going to try turning it off and see which way I like better. I struggle to do the two finger swipe up to bring up home screen. always end up bringing up recent apps which I want sometimes but not all the time. I am still using the launcher that came with this thing. If any of you changed it what did you change it to and why?
@bmoore123@hmaealdeza@simon@fireborn@Moopypoo I still suggest Hyperion. I also enable the three-button navigation bar rather than using the navigation gestures for home, back, and overview.
@simon@fireborn Two more questions, I think, and I haven't even gotten the durn thing yet, and I have all these questions, lol. But anyway, if I decide not to do any phone plan now, could I always go back and do tello or red pocket in the future? Both of those are available in the US, I take it? Also, an unrelated question, what tts engine do you use?
@Moopypoo@fireborn I still use Eloquence. It doesn't work on some modern Pixel devices but works on everything else. And yes, you can activate it without a plan and just get one whenever you want.
@simon@fireborn Did you get Tello? I don’t foresee doing a lot of mobile data, I mean I could, but right now I don’t foresee it. But, it would be nice to be able to get texts and send texts while on the go. I’m thinking maybe value at $10 a month. I’m still researching, lol. But it does appear tello will work on t-mobile.
@Moopypoo@fireborn I have Tello as my US line, for when I need it. it works pretty well. it uses the T-mobile network with slightly lower priority than actual t-mobile plans. You can go all the way down to $5/month for 100 minutes, unlimited texts and no data. I can't remember if you get incoming calling for free or if it counts toward those minutes. I personally have $7/month for the same plan but with 2 GB data. Every time the system emails me to tell me my plan is going to renew, I go onto the website and renew it early. This causes any unused minutes/data to roll over. Since i'm not in the US every month, this means it can collect and I can use it all when I actually cross the border. I think it also makes for a nice secondary plan / secondary number if you need it. You'd need to order a physical SIM from them since the Jelly Star is not ESim compatible, but that should work fine.
@simon@fireborn I did get a t-mobile sim, since Tello works on their network, wouldn’t it be the same thing? I would probably go with the $7, because you never know, I might need to do newpipe or something when I’m on the go. Newpipe is something iOS will never get, lol.
@Moopypoo@fireborn No, you'd need a separate Sim for tello as it's a different provider that just uses T-Mobile for its service. If you have a T-Mobile SIM you could also do the connect plan for $10 though.
@simon WOW, this looks neat, is it responsive with talkback? I'm very tempted. If nothing else, I'll get it after Christmas. How did you get past the stuff about choosing your carrier? I don't have any intention of activating it, I just intend to use a dummy nano sim
@Moopypoo Talkback ships with the phone and worked as expected. The power button is the top right and the volume up/down keys are on the left. I didn't choose a carrier and you don't need to either. When you get it and set it up, there's a "skip" button on the "connect to mobile network" section. That said, you could get a Tello plan for $6/month or something else similar if you wanted a minimal phone plan on the thing, just in case.
@simon Oh, how does it charge? USB c, micro USB, something else? Also, what about cases and screen protectors, are there such things? This seems kind of special with the size.
@Moopypoo Not sure about screen protectors but it does come inside a case. The charge port is on the side and is USB C. Seems to work as expected too.
I use NPlayer, but mostly for playing files that aren't music. For actual music I just use Spotify. If I wanted to have local music on the device though, I'd still probably use NPlayer.
@simon@Moopypoo I have been out of the modern Android device thing for a while--my last device was a Pixel 5 for work. I've heard some rumors of Eloquence not working on certain newer phones because 32-bit is no longer supported. Does this apply to this phone?
@Moopypoo@tristan It's on the side. There's a slight indentation and within that, there's a hole where you put the SIM tool. You have to put it in very straight, otherwise you'll miss the inside mechanism that ejects the tray.
@simon@tristan Lol, I didn’t realize how to restore from a google backup until I was fighting to download the apps I wanted. I need to remain calm when I’m setting up tech, but I always act like it’s some type of race or something, and it’s not, but that’s hard to think that way when you’re excited, at least for me it is. Right now, I’m in the process of scanning my folders for poweramp, I have so much media, that will take a while.
@Moopypoo@tristan I've never set up an Android phone from a Google backup for some reason. I think when I last tried it, I couldn't get the backup to restore. So I just reinstall and configure everything. In contrast, every new iPhone I've ever owned has been restored from a backup of the one before it, so I have data going back to 2010. I don't know why I treat the two operating systems so differently. Either way, I'm glad you got it working. you can always turn the bottom bar back on and have the trio of buttons there. I don't have much success with the gestures either, so I tend to leave them enabled on all my devices, but I wonder if having such a small one might prompt me to figure them out. Remember also that you can always assign talkback gestures to back and home and such.
You actually can skip the tutorial, I think you swipe up with three fingers and there's a "finish tutorial" option. It will tell you to do this after you're done going through it, but once you know, you know.
@simon@tristan It reminds me of the size of an old flip phone, lol. At least I still have my galaxy with a card in it, so I can still use my favorite exercise playlist while this percolates, this could take all night to scan all my crap.
@Moopypoo@tristan I had the same thought when I looked at it. It's small but thick, so it is really reminiscent of an older phone. The speaker is surprisingly amazing on it. If you haven't tried playing something through it, you should.
@simon@tristan Sheesh, google assistant keeps getting in the way. I used to have my nova set up where I could press the home button from the first page of my home screen, and it would give me my apps list. Now assistant keeps popping up, or trying to. I think I disabled it for now. But any idea how I can get my app list up with a press of the home button from the first page like on my galaxy? I’m such a creature of habit, lol.
@Moopypoo@tristan That's probably because you're pressing the home button. It's touch sensitive and it bypasses Talkback, so it's really easy to accidentally trigger the assistant just by holding your finger there for a moment.
@simon@tristan ah crap, I didn’t think of that, lol. but I’m not removing my proverbial training wheels (physical button setting) and learning to do the gestures until I’m totally set up. I have to take baby steps and learn one thing at a time, :)
@Moopypoo@tristan I think you can turn off the automatic touch buttons in settings as Aaron said. But then you can re-enable the bottom bar in display settings and it will give you buttons you can double-tap instead. This should also allow the Braille keyboard to take up the entire screen as it normally would.
@Moopypoo@tristan I was also thinking this. I compared the size to a Booksense when I was talking to someone I know who had one once upon a time. I think the Booksense is a bit longer but I can't remember for sure. Mine is long gone.
@simon@tristan Where is the option to enable the bottom bar in display settings? I’m not seeing anything to that effect, of course I move at warp speed, which prob doesn’t help, lol.
@fireborn@Moopypoo@tristan It took until after this post to realize that that part of the phone isn't also a screen. So turning off the buttons isn't actually as useful as it sounds. I'll probably keep them turned on. They occasionally get pressed by accident but not very often now.
@tristan@Moopypoo There's also a version of Eloquence floating around that crashes on some--but not all--Android 13 phones, so for a while it caused me to think there were more phones that didn't work properly with it. But reinstalling it from your play store account should work.
@simon@tristan@Moopypoo for right now, the only things I think you can't use eloquence on is the pixel 7 series, and the pixel 8 series. next year though is when I think other manufactures are going to make 64 bit only hardware, so it might not work on my phones next year, but we will see.
@simon Hey, I'm a totally blind person who has always gotten pro max phones and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Not only are the phones comfortable for my average-sized hands, but I am more accurate at touchscreen typing on larger screens due to the letters being bigger.
@simon I might go for a Pro Max next year, mostly because it's about, what, the same size as the Pixel 7 Pro? Which I thought was gonna be, like, obnoxiously huge in my tiny hands, but it fits right in my pocket... Ok maybe that's because I wear pockets that I can hide a body in... but...
@simon I usually try to go for the top end of the spec sheet. I prefer to grow into my tech than grow out of it. If Apple had continued supporting the iPhone 7 I might have kept that. Instead, I replaced the battery in it and it's now a close friend's emergency security device and I got a 14 Pro Max last year. I'll probably buy the top end of whatever comes out when they discontinue support for that model.
@simon I am not getting any kind of IPhone this year. smile. my IPhone 11 is still doing just what I need it too, and my android is my primary, so no need to update the IPhone at this time.
@talon I wanted pro and USB C, and my 13 needs to either go back to rogers for credit or go to my mom to replace an aging 8+. I'm hoping this stays as my ideal phone for a really long time. What do you have?
@talon I'd probably keep that too if I had it. This wasn't a super exciting upgrade. I buy phones outright and finance with affirm, which has lower interest than any card of mine (though sadly it's not 0 anymore). So in 2 years it'll be paid off.
@fireborn@seedy@talon@simon You don't destroy it all the way, but you purge the device before you kill it, so you're not left without a device. Like I nearly was.
@talon@simon I'm still on the 12 mini, I like it, never will upgrade, I've felt the size of those bigger phones and my friend says I'd need "cargo pockets" which I don't have. I'd understand for those who need the bigger screens for magnification, but as a VO user it's not a necessity.
@TomGrant91@talon@simon glad I'm not on my own, I love my 13 mini. I'll upgrade if something utterly awesome comes along that I really want, but for the next few years I'm sticking to this one. It's just the right size for my small hands and Braille Screen Input is a dream.
@TomGrant91@ladymunch@talon I would recommend replacing your battery, selling your 12 mini and getting a 13 mini new in box before they all disappear. Then that can be your phone for the next while. it's a year newer and the battery is supposed to be noticeably better. Apple might not make another mini phone for a while.
@ladymunch@simon@talon Is it true you can just get a new battery? That's what mum said anyway, so I might go and buy one of those, better and probably cheaper than buying a new unlocked 13 mini to put on sim only on vodafone.
@TomGrant91@ladymunch@talon Yes. If your battery capacity is lower than 80% you should definitely have it replaced. If you have Apple Care and your battery is below 80%, Apple will replace it for free. It does seem to be the last mini phone, but Apple never really said as much. They will probably reuse that design for an SE in a year or two. I could see them going for a ~$400 iPhone SE 4 that looks like a 13 mini and just has some build compromises so they can sell it more cheaply. Or, maybe they'll keep using that stupid iPhone 8 design with its stupid battery until the end of recorded time.
@TomGrant91@ladymunch@talon You should buy an Anker magsafe battery for now. They're about $50 if not less. There's a 5000 MAh version and a 10,000 as well. They'll stick to the back of your phone and charge it on the go, at the expense of making the phone a lot heavier of course. But they're pretty compact for what they are.
@simon@TomGrant91@talon Ah ok, I thought I'd heard somewhere that Apple said it was their last one, so I'll keep my ears out in hopes of that noto being the case.
@ladymunch@TomGrant91@talon It's probably the last phone they'll sell with the mini name but they could turn around and just make an iPhone SE that looks like the mini. That's my prediction anyway. I doubt they'll stop making the SE, they need it so that people with less money or people in countries where the iPhone costs more can still get into iOS somehow. But I doubt they'll reuse the iPhone 8 design either. The 2022 SE will probably be good for another year or two, but so will the 13 mini, which has the same chip as the 2022 SE with better features and is actually smaller by a little bit.
@simon@ladymunch@talon Yeah, might just do that. Sorry to correct you, about the design though, that isn't an iPhone 8 design it's more like the iPhone 5 actually. I've owned an 8 and a 5 so I know the difference. My 12 mini is in fact the same type of design as a 5 or even 4S design. It's just missing the home button for obvious reasons.
@TomGrant91@ladymunch@talon The iPhone SE made in 2016 looks like an iPhone 5S, but the ones made in 2020 and 2022 look like an iPhone 8. So we're both right. I owned both phones and gave away the first-gen SE to my neighbour last year.
@talon@simon I just can't see the point to newer. I can easily buy any of the models, but for what? What do the new ones do better? VO isn't faster. They don't run any newer apps, or have new features. I'll need new chargers and accessories. Phones are so boring now.
@bryansmart@talon I agree with you actually. I had pretty flimsy reasons for getting mine but the short version is my 13 needs to not be mine anymore. I'd be so happy if I didn't have to upgrade for another 4-5 years. I don't get people who want new and shiny every year; I just want something that works the way it's always worked.
@bryansmart@talon Well, except that I'm super happy to be upgrading to USB C because I've been in USB C land for years already. I just had to plug all the stuff I use on Android into the iPhone. Easiest transition ever.
@simon I upgraded from a regular size to a max size last year. Treated it as a test, I was actually ready to return and swap it to a regular version. I very much like it. Fits in pockets, has long lasting battery and fits a lot of stuff on the screen.
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