[Om2009] testing Release 3

[Risto H. Kurppa]

Hi!

Thanks for this new release, really happy to see that only a short
time (a week?) after the previous there's already a new release with
bugs fixed. Release early, release often, as they say :)

I wrote some points below to show what's good, what I concider as
bug/problem and points to discuss/wishlist/something. I'm sure some of
it has already been discussed, some of it is just me not knowing how
to use it (which can mean that it's not easy to use or a
manual/something is needed) and so on. I'm happy to receive comments!

+ This actually makes FR a simple, very working phone!! (I actually
got a 10 min call from my mum. In the end I asked and she said there's
a small echo left)
+ ability to turn off PIN check & change pin! (I think it's the first
distro that can do it :)
+ WLAN-tool
+ manual suspend
+ decent resume speed

- some mess sometimes in the top of the screen
- The button to 'go back / go to previous screen' keeps changing: In
the menu there's a 'back' button (different size in different views)
but in the people etc one has to know to press the top bar to go back.
- Empty I/O shows an 'edit' button.. maybe it should be hidden and
instead a text 'no logged events' could be shown?
- keylock missing
¤ Would it be possible to add a SMS button in the 'People' -> contact
view. Now clicking the number calls the user (intuitive? Why clicking
the name nothing happens?). Maybe adding 'dial' and 'SMS' -buttons
there just to make it clear.
- If one by accidentally presses 'Enter in the PIN input view, it just
accepts it and doesn't ask for PIN again.
- wlan scan doesn't have a progress bar telling it's actually doing something
- resume doesn't turn on the screen lights -> one knows it's resumed
only by touching the screen
- GPRS settings: if one by accident clicks 'username', 'APN', or
'password' instead of Connect, one actually has to re-type it because
the 'back' button doesn't work.
- There's nothing (no text/button) telling one should click in the
black area to get to phonebook to select recipient in 'msgs' -> '+' or
'Tele'
- Slow boot time (over 4min with Qi?)
- the alsastatefile (kurppa.fi/freerunner/temp/gsmhandset.state_2009t3
with Right PGA on control.63) is different from the latest 'working
one' (with mic2) at
http://docs.openmoko.org/trac/raw-attachment/ticket/2121/gsmhandset.state.new

¤ How to connect to a hidden WLAN network? How about encryptions?
¤ The numbers in the home view showing missed calls or received
messages could be bigger/colorful/something or even say 'one missed
call' or 'new SMS received'
¤ At some stage I saw the : in the time blinking, then it stopped. I
think it either should blink or not but not keep changing what it does
(without telling me what does it mean :)
¤ Is there a way to enable illume from command line?
¤ Icon that's shown before GSM network registration doesn't tell me
anything. What does it actually represent?
¤ The only place where I was able to find colors was the yellow flash
in the battery icon when recharging. Using colors in other places too
would maybe do it easier to use?
¤ With hundreds of phone numbers it'd be great to be able to type at
least the first letter, or two-three to be able to find the
¤ I got many 'can't init topbar/wlan/...' -messages telling that
something failed (only on the first start)
¤ The date doesn't need the | -bars in the home view:  it's | Sunday,
May 10, 2009 |    -  the bars just make it more difficult to read
¤ Does paroli (already / in the future?) support icons in the menus?
Either so that there would be a icon grid or like now but every line
would have a small icon just to make it easier to use
¤ GPRS settings: Should the password be hidden? (I don't know if
anyone is really interested in GPRS passwords..)
¤ GPRS settings: maybe APN should be 'internet' by default, I think
it's the most common APN?
¤ GPRS settings: I'd recommend reordering the items so that the
connect would be first or last in the list.
¤ I/O really doesn't tell for a normal people that it's actually the call log..
¤ Msgs could be replaced with SMS, if something short has to be used
¤ Tele also doesn't make sense, I'd suggest using 'Dialer'
¤ How do I use the alarm? How do I change the time when to alert?
¤ Maybe also reordering the main menu so that the phone log would not
be the first one?
¤ At some stage my FR just decided not to resume any more
¤ After the 10min call the UI died, I wasn't able to press any
buttons, nothing happened. Then after waiting some minutes it started
running again. Still the top left shows '100' instead of default or
silent..

So overall, concidering that this makes FR work as a simple phone I'm
really happy! Thank you for your work, I really hope that this
encourages the community on working on OM2009 to make it The Best
Distribution for Freerunner :)

r

-- 
| risto h. kurppa
| risto at kurppa dot fi
| http://risto.kurppa.fi