Lipstick on a fetus

[Ken Young]

   I've really enjoyed playing with my neo1973, and I'm very glad I bought
it.   I've written a little PDA application for it which I hope other
people will eventually have fun with.   But I must say I'm a bit worried
by the implications of the effort that has been put into the new 2007.2
interface.

   I have made perhaps 6 successful phone calls with my neo.
I have *never* been able to use the data service.   I have *never*
successfully received a phone call.   I have *always* had to reboot the
neo after placing a phone call, before I could make a second phone call.
After the reboot, I must run alsactl.  I have an AT&T SIM which
occasionally works, and a known-good T-Mobile SIM which has never worked
once in the neo.   Perhaps a few more hours looking through the Wiki
would allow me to find solutions to all of these problems.   Perhaps
a few well-timed questions on the IRC channel would enlighten me.   I
have not really cared, because the fact that I can occasionally make
a call means my hardware is almost certainly OK, and I had assumed that
the high-level developers would fairly quickly (since the "Mass Market"
version is scheduled for October) fix up the problems with the phone
application.   I'm primarily interested in the neo as a PDA and GPS
device.   But as far as I can tell, the usability of the phone
software has not improved at all in the few weeks I've had the phone
(I've tried several different builds of the code).

   It seems obvious to me that before a cell phone can be released to
the Mass Market, the instructions for using it as a phone must be no
more complicated than 1) Acquire a SIM from a supported carrier
2) Insert SIM 3) Turn on phone 4) Dial phone number.   No ATDT commands.
No trips to the Wiki.   No new friends on IRC.   I'm pretty sure that the
reason my neo does not work this smoothly is not a UI design problem.

   I think a cell phone could be marketed without a pretty UI, and kinetic
scrolling.   I think it could be sold even if the GPS feature is still
not usable.   But it better make phone calls reliably, and I've loaded
the 2007.2 rootfs, and it is no better than 2007.1 in that regard.

   Just my two cents - I hope I'm not sounding like a grouch.   I like
the neo, and appreciate very much the effort that has gone into
developing it.

Ken Young