Palma 2 Released

[Wiggo]

Originally Posted by ottischwenk

That's exactly why I bought the Bigme HiBreak b/w - and use it without a SIM card

Have you ever been able to compare the GPS accuracy with a device with a SIM card? I would be interested to know what the differences are (without dead spots)?

[Renate]

I never noticed Bigme before. I like Onyx, but want to keep my eyes open for other manufacturers in case Onyx takes a turn for evil. $99 for a 6" ereader? Oh, 212 DPI. No, thanks. Also the Bigme Hibreak phone (as a phone) loses with none of the band coverage that I would need.

What does a SIM card have to do with GPS accuracy? Ok, Android Location uses every possible source to figure out where it is, but cell towers give very poor accuracy. The intrinsic accuracy of the GPS is much more important. Also, where I hike there is little reception. OTOH, even without a SIM card your device can track cell towers. Whether it does is another question.

I just pulled the SIM card from my phone and rebooted. Wow, my phone can see 5 signals on 3 bands! It actually makes more effort to enumerate them than when it is already connected (with SIM) to a good signal.

Thank you for this learning moment!

[Wiggo]

You'll have to excuse the early time of the post. I didn't really realise that I only had to take the card out of my phone to check it - lol

I also didn't know that it could track cell towers without a card.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by Wiggo

You'll have to excuse the early time of the post.

I didn't know this stuff either. But I like learning stuff.

[Markismus]

Originally Posted by Renate

Huh? Why the fandom of ever newer Android versions? What feature are you pining for that is not in your current Onyx device?

I'd be hard pressed to say how Android 14 is better than Android 10.

It should have ASHA support, which means I can stream to my Oticon hearing aids without an extra gadget.

Originally Posted by Renate

I never noticed Bigme before. I like Onyx, but want to keep my eyes open for other manufacturers in case Onyx takes a turn for evil. $99 for a 6" ereader? Oh, 212 DPI. No, thanks. Also the Bigme Hibreak phone (as a phone) loses with none of the band coverage that I would need.

That's what's interesting about the higher end Bigme Hibreak with a MT Dimensity 900: It will ship with Android 14. (Hopefully also a better band coverage. Other mobiles with that chip (See xda-post) have 5G support.)
As the colors of the current Hibreak were reported to be as washed out as my Hisense A5 pro cc, I also hope that they will put a newer color eInk screen in it.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by Markismus

It should have ASHA support...

ASHA support came in with Android 11

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by Renate

ASHA support came in with Android 11

But is not used by any EInk device manufacturer to my knowledge

[Markismus]

Originally Posted by Renate

ASHA support came in with Android 11

Indeed and we were comparing 10 with 14.
But even in Android 12 a lot of devices still don't support ASHA well enough. My Onyx Boox Note 5 for instance doesn't support it. Has no idea what to do with my aids after pairing with them.
I fear that before the protocol percolates through in all devices, the industry standard will be wholly shifted to BT LE and I will have to hack it in. Still, there is always hope with new versions.

[kandwo]

Originally Posted by Markismus

It should have ASHA support, which means I can stream to my Oticon hearing aids without an extra gadget.


That's what's interesting about the higher end Bigme Hibreak with a MT Dimensity 900: It will ship with Android 14. (Hopefully also a better band coverage. Other mobiles with that chip (See xda-post) have 5G support.)
As the colors of the current Hibreak were reported to be as washed out as my Hisense A5 pro cc, I also hope that they will put a newer color eInk screen in it.

I'm very excited for the higher end Bigme phone. I hope the hardware will be good and it can be rooted. If so, it would replace my A9 as my main phone and reader.

[twowheels]

Originally Posted by Renate

What does a SIM card have to do with GPS accuracy? Ok, Android Location uses every possible source to figure out where it is, but cell towers give very poor accuracy. The intrinsic accuracy of the GPS is much more important. Also, where I hike there is little reception. OTOH, even without a SIM card your device can track cell towers. Whether it does is another question.

It’s called aGPS, the a stands for assisted, and phones most definitely use it. If you ever owned an old standalone car GPS you may remember it taking a long time to find its location, especially if you moved it a long distance between uses (e.g. when I traveled from the US to Spain and had to wait over 15 minutes before I could drive my rental car since I brought my own GPS)

The GPS algorithms need to collect a lot of data to do the math necessary to locate you. The closer their initial guess, the faster that can be done.

Try opening your map app on your phone in the middle of a flight, it won’t be able to locate you if you’ve flown very far.

[Dylrob]

Originally Posted by twowheels

It’s called aGPS, the a stands for assisted, and phones most definitely use it. If you ever owned an old standalone car GPS you may remember it taking a long time to find its location, especially if you moved it a long distance between uses (e.g. when I traveled from the US to Spain and had to wait over 15 minutes before I could drive my rental car since I brought my own GPS)

The GPS algorithms need to collect a lot of data to do the math necessary to locate you. The closer their initial guess, the faster that can be done.

Try opening your map app on your phone in the middle of a flight, it won’t be able to locate you if you’ve flown very far.

I remember on my Windows Mobile phones, which lacked the assisted feature, the GPS could take several minutes to lock on.

[Renate]

So, does anybody actually have a Palma 2?

[Ladyrixx]

Originally Posted by Renate

I write my apps for compatibility. Most of them still work on Android 7 without sacrificing anything. Is there a cabal of satanic software companies that are pushing incompatibility? Even if your wonderful app must use the latest API why not accomodate some lower Android versions?

I had an app called "Codex Reader" on my phone to read FanFic. It literally will not run on Android 13+. Unless I want to jump though hoops doing something with Calibre and FanFicFare, there's really no replacing it. I see those devices using an older version of Android as a feature. I've seriously considered getting a Palma both for a more portable reader than my Kobo Forma, AND so I could go back to using Codex Reader.

(Oh, and I have some programming knowledge. I've tried to update the manifest file for Codex Reader myself, and I cannot get it to a point where it will install on newer Android versions, even after allowing unsigned apps.)

[Renate]

Originally Posted by Ladyrixx

I've tried to update the manifest file for Codex Reader myself, and I cannot get it to a point where it will install on newer Android versions, even after allowing unsigned apps.)

You should just sign it yourself.

[InStim]

Originally Posted by Renate

So, does anybody actually have a Palma 2?

My order arrived today. Syncing books to it now.