I don't have a great solution but I suspect I do know the cause of this on iPhones, which I'll mention for anyone else curious:
I'd bet that he has a contact saved called Something Hall, and the autocorrect isn't clever enough to realise that he isn't typing the name of that contact and just automatically capitalises the H. (It's not 100% of the time, but it is ridiculously often that it wrongly assumes you're using the name from a contact, in my experience.)
I wish there was a way to turn this off, but afaik there isn't - I've removed or edited a contact's surname for a few words that I type as non-name nouns often enough that it got annoying.
Of course I might be wrong, maybe there are other causes for incorrect capitals.
It probably appears that way most frequently in the text the predictive model was trained on.
The trick about this phone is that because it is full fat Android, everything is possible. But because it is low refresh rate black and white screen with a physical keyboard, everything is also a pain in the ass. Rather than hear a chat message notification and immediately get the urge to pull out my phone and engage, I actually now get slightly annoyed because typing out a proper response with proper grammar is going to be a pain in the ass.
The company is pretty lousy and doesn't communicate well. They have missed every single deadline they've ever set for themselves. The software is glitchy but usable (I have all the same issues mentioned in the article with the autocorrect, refresh settings, fingerprint, etc). All those things are fixable and hopefully do.
The phone itself is very weak hardware and the screen protector and case still haven't shipped. I had my phone in my back pocket and it did not survive that, I got two cracks along the edge and a slight bend. Still works though, but I have switched it to my front pocket.
Android Auto works great in both my vehicles, so maps/navigation are not an issue. Bitwarden works. Duo auth works. Banking apps work. Roon works. Podcasts work. Things that I need, that other dumb phones can't provide.
But the critical thing is, I am trying to avoid using the phone because it is just a pain in the ass to do things on. For this, honestly, I'd pay 10x the list price because it has given me so much of my life back. I actually had a mini crisis when I realized I was bored, with nothing to do in the evenings after work, because I had so much time back. (Don't worry, channeling that time into productive hobbies now).
I would highly highly highly recommend this if you want to spend less time on your phone but need certain functions a smartphone provides.
I've tried a number of different things but nothing stuck. I've had this phone for a few months now and it has really done the trick.
It's a pretty messed up negative feedback loop. If you find yourself in this state, audiobooks are a good alternative.
A trillion dollar industry exists to profit off of gluing eyeballs to screens. Making the device other than what this industry designed it to be is not self-sabotage, it's self-interested!
Read "Supernormal Stimuli" by Barrett for some other examples of this phenomenon.
If I want to splurge with a chocolate or ice cream bar, I take a walk to my corner store and buy just one, and eat it right away. It's extremely cost inefficient compared to if I bought a gallon of ice cream from the store, but that's not what I'm optimizing for here.
Essentially I use my normal phone, but lock specific apps. To unlock those apps I must scan the nfc card I keep in my car. That means getting up and going outside.
That tiny bit of added friction has cut my screentime in half and made me more productive, and less stressed.
There are other devices like it now, for example Bloom.
I dont save my card details to prefill, I don't use nfc payments and I keep a low balance in the transaction account my debit card, in order to be more intentional about my spending.
wait a minute, from behavioral science perspectives, does it work as intended, or does it work against the aim?
My brain has too much agency for its own good. It would not let itself be constrained in its pursuit of scrolling bliss.
THIS...BUYER BEWARE!
Raise your hand if you're one of the first thousand Indiegogo campaign backers and still haven't received your order.
Admittedly, I do have things that are collecting dust ( pinephone being one of the bigger disappointments thus far ), but without HN crowd testing those alternatives, non-HN crowd wouldn't even know firefox existed and now we would likely all be living in IE salt mines.
The author makes great sacrifices to make the phone work in his life. He mentions: - The phone needs to be put in his pocket a certain way or it takes input - The phone loses keypresses when typing quickly - It can only render readable Google maps when set to the slowest setting - The phone forgets your fingerprint and requires pin, which suffers from dropped inputs
The author brings up the point that 2 developers work on the phone. The author doesn't mention, but I think should mention, that this phone WILL have vulnerabilities not found on flagship phones. Anyone security minded is going to be lost here.
Overall, I want a phone like this, but the sacrifices are way too numerous to justify it.
- my bank requires a smartphone
- whatsapp desktop requires a smartphone too
This smartphone could be an alternative: no videos, you can still use third party applications, perfect for reading.
Thank you for sharing!
From the original article: "I feel like the vibration on the phone is a tad aggressive. Not every vibration is, though—Facebook Messenger notifications feel like the right level. ".
It looks like the article author makes the same mistake. Changed the device but kept the notifications on.
I also appreciate the fact that I could use a simpler phone that really fits the original need: staying in contact, instead of doom-scrolling.
Whoever needs you now can call on voice.
Ultimately, technologists with cash to burn buying limited devices doesn’t actually address the big problem. What we really want is for mainstream devices to be less frenetic.
> whatsapp desktop requires a smartphone too
The Telegram desktop app does not require an active smartphone.
Some parts use Telegram by and large.
Also, there are phone-shaped e-readers if that’s your bent; check out the Boox Palma.
Typing on the Palma with a BT keyboard, however, is an absolute joy.
"I really appreciate them including the keyboard here, as the display looks great but is definitely not all that responsive, so typing would be a lot more frustrating without this."
I don't know how much the fast refresh rate mode helps in that regard.
For productivity apps, nothing compared with the Bold 9900. So snappy and minimalistic. The memos, calendar, messaging and the like were great.
As far as BB10 devices go, the Passport had the screen real estate, but the Q10 was way more pocketable. So I found the Passport awkward to deal with when on the move. I still have all of them. Who knows what to do with functional old tech?
The Passport keyboard had an ortholinear shape. Together with the overall form factor, I can see how people may have found it a bit form over function. But I loved it.
Maybe they made good stuff too but that put me off HTC forever.
Quite tempted by the phone, but predominately a physical book reader.
If it's a real device then that's awesome! If it wasn't for Zinwa I'd probably be getting one.