[EskeRahn]

Well, the device is nice looking and feeling. But there are some downsides to it

I'm not quite sure if you here are referring to the Pro1 or the Cosmo mentioned in the post above yours?

But unfortunately this goes for ALL phones/phablets. AND is the inevitable result of compromises. And the best we can do is finding the one least bad for our own particular usage patterns and wishes. As (almost) every wish has impacts on other wishes.

There will always be self contradicting wishes, so a matter of weighing those against each other on each product.

Most of us would want a large screen to look at, and sometimes smaller to be operated with one hand, and even smaller to carry.
We want some substance to hold when using, and a large battery for good stamina, but not so heavy it is tiresome to hold over your head in a sofa/bed or to carry.
We want the fastest CPU possible, and lots of storage and RAM, but we still want long stamina and low price.
Being in here I guess all of us find the space/weight used for a physical keyboard over a surrogate one worth the price. For the majority out there it is not.
We generally want it packed with stuff, and yet to crumble away to near nothing and very light when carrying...
etc

[Spinnp]

It's not the physical stuff but the software side. Still pretty much a wip in terms of user experience. It's usable but there are still plenty of minor fine-tuning you need to do.

If you can deal with the minor inconvenience of needing to download certain apps to aid in giving you a better experience, then get the phone.

I have faith that more updates would come and polish the end user experience but for now, i feel that the end user experience out of the box is kinda lacking.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

It's not the physical stuff but the software side. Still pretty much a wip in terms of user experience. It's usable but there are still plenty of minor fine-tuning you need to do.

If you can deal with the minor inconvenience of needing to download certain apps to aid in giving you a better experience, then get the phone.

I have faith that more updates would come and polish the end user experience but for now, i feel that the end user experience out of the box is kinda lacking.

I suspect that sales will determine how much they will have to invest into improving the experience.

But with two of these Horizontal Sliders, is there enough of a market for both to be viable?

At this point they need to be working on Android 10 support, in addition to providing tweaks specific for the format and app compatibility, with a horizontal device.
Both are promising support for Sailfish and different Linux distributions, how much tweaking will that require?

Just sounds like a lot of software support is needed.... on a very limited budget.

[EskeRahn]

I suspect that sales will determine how much they will have to invest into improving the experience.

But with two of these Horizontal Sliders, is there enough of a market for both to be viable?

At this point they need to be working on Android 10 support, in addition to providing tweaks specific for the format and app compatibility, with a horizontal device.
Both are promising support for Sailfish and different Linux distributions, how much tweaking will that require?

Just sounds like a lot of software support is needed.... on a very limited budget.

Two??? Or are you confusing a clam shell with a slider?

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

Two??? Or are you confusing a clam shell with a slider?

How you get to the keyboard really isn't that big of an issue.... both of these devices will appeal to the same market.

[EskeRahn]

How you get to the keyboard really isn't that big of an issue.... both of these devices will appeal to the same market.

Sorry to tell you, but that is pretty absurd... It is like claiming that the UniHertz Titan appeals to the same market as the BB Priv... Just because both got the keyboard in the wrong direction...

Sure MOST that would like a Cosmo could also accept the Pro1, despite being minor and with lesser keys. But not the other way round. It makes a HUGE difference that Pro1 works like any slap out there closed (similar to what the BB Priv do), but the Cosmo has (to put it politely) highly limited functionality closed.

The market that want a physical keyboard in the right direction is small, and a sub-segment of that market, that 'never' want to use the device as a slab is what the Cosmo is aiming at, also offering larger keys. And NO I'm not bashing the Titan here, I'm just not in the target audience of this ultra portable laptop. For others it might be perfect. Let us have variety...

[JECE]

How you get to the keyboard really isn't that big of an issue.... both of these devices will appeal to the same market.

I don't think that they appeal to the same market. The clamshell device looks like it is only designed to be typed on after laying it on a flat surface!

[Chuck Finley69]

Sorry to tell you, but that is pretty absurd... It is like claiming that the UniHertz Titan appeals to the same market as the BB Priv... Just because both got the keyboard in the wrong direction...

Sure MOST that would like a Cosmo could also accept the Pro1, despite being minor and with lesser keys. But not the other way round. It makes a HUGE difference that Pro1 works like any slap out there closed (similar to what the BB Priv do), but the Cosmo has (to put it politely) highly limited functionality closed.

The market that want a physical keyboard in the right direction is small, and a sub-segment of that market, that 'never' want to use the device as a slab is what the Cosmo is aiming at, also offering larger keys. And NO I'm not bashing the Titan here, I'm just not in the target audience of this ultra portable laptop. For others it might be perfect. Let us have variety...

I don't think that they appeal to the same market. The clamshell device looks like it is only designed to be typed on after laying it on a flat surface!

The market for any type of PKB is so tiny, all forms whether horizontal, vertical, slider or candy bar share and overlap so much due to lack of choice and options.

[EskeRahn]

The market for any type of PKB is so tiny, all forms whether horizontal, vertical, slider or candy bar share and overlap so much due to lack of choice and options.

Oh agree that we are a tiny fractions of dinosaurs. And if either one of them were the only one, it could win over a large fraction of us.

But though I looked at the Cosmo, I never seriously considered funding it, as it -despite the keyboard- were too far away for my usage pattern. Then a pure slab with surrogate keyboards would be closer. Perhaps combined with a loose BT keyboard. And the same goes for the Key½ and the Titan.

The Pro1 is very close to what I have wished for, for many years. I would have preferred it a say 10% smaller in both flat dimensions for one handed operation. On the other hand, my eyesight focusing is not as good any more, so would have been an issue with a decent resolution in a lesser size, unless I had special glasses for it, and that would not be very practical either...

[JECE]

The market for any type of PKB is so tiny, all forms whether horizontal, vertical, slider or candy bar share and overlap so much due to lack of choice and options.

PKB's still dominate the market for laptops. It seems like the Cosmo clamshell device is marketed as a tiny laptop (with extra functions like a phone and camera that you can use anywhere, but with a laptop keyboard that you cannot use anywhere).

All other phones with a PKB are marketed to people (like us) who like to walk around and type at the same time without running into walls. ;-)

[EskeRahn]

On the form factors, does anyone remember the Sharp SX862?

What would be optimal today would be sort of the opposite! The display in the wrong direction and the keyboard in the right direction, as most apps are optimised for the display in the wrong direction.

Or maybe the keyboard swivelling out 90 degrees?