Daily Snapshot Review 28 March 2008

[Kevin Dean]

My full review can be found at
http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Snapshot_review/2008-03-28 and the list
at http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Category:SnapshotReview

I closed my browser after getting the accurate boot times, but they
were pretty close to the 27 March 2008 times so I got them accurate to
about the second so not too much is lost. :)

Today the X instability rears it's head a bit more frequently than it
did on yesterday's image, failing to start about every other reboot.

I've been poking at suspend/resume just a little bit more and I've
picked up a connection between failed resumes and GSM's failed
registration on the next reboot, but I'm not 100% sure yet that the
resume/GSM connection is there. There is still the possibility of
random GSM instability so I'll do more prodding and deny or confirm my
hunches.

A new "feature" has been added to this image (or at least I noticed it
first today) in that the GPS icon now prompts a selectable power
up/down menu. This menu works, causing the GPS icon to turn green for
on and stay white for off. What this actually does on the default
image, however, I'm not sure. If this merely changes the icon, sends
power to the GPS hardware or if some "bigger" change has happened to
the GPS systems, I'm not sure.

My recommendation today is that users stay with the 27 March 2008
image. There are no signifigant new features and today's images are
slightly less stable than yesterday's.

I have been wrestling with something recently pertaining to these
reviews. I'm happy to say that the Neo is signifigantly more usable in
my daily routine than it was in January when I first got the device.
It now functions (quite stabilly) as my primary phone. It has found a
place in my life as a digial audio player (I haven't owned one
previously). Because I've actually been USING it, I've been finding
annoyances or "Wishlist" items that I'd like to bring up but I'm torn
between these items being too wishlist-like so early in the
development process or if bringing these things up could actually
serve to better the project (For things like inconsistant terminology
"Power up" used next to "Turn on", for example) or if they're just
burdens on the developers and designers at this point.

-Kevin Dean