I use smartfone now!
====================

Readers of this phlog/blog probably  know that I dislike smartphones. I
used the Punks MP01 feature phone from 2017.

But it ceased to  work just few days after the New Year.  So I have had
to find a replacement. 

I have decided  to use something from my "museum"  instead of buying of
something new.  The GSM  networks here  are expected to  run for  a few
years so I probalby  have 2-3 years (if not more)  to properly select a
new one.

I actually  have no working feature  phone in my collection  (there are
some Nokias but no one has working microphone or speaker or both). So I
have had to choose one of my vintage "smartphones".

I decided not to try the OpenMoko devices because they have bad battery
life (1-2 days at maximum). The Nokia  N900 refused to accept any of my
contact lists for some reason. So I have chosen the Palm Centro.

This is a cute tiny device (the  Palm Pixi would be eve cuttier but one
don't work in the GSM network and the second is not able to initiate at
all). It runs the Palm  OS so it is more a PDA that  a phone (this is a
nice bonus  because I have  been a Palm user  for ages). The  screen is
small for my liking  but my eyes are still able to  read it (well, sort
of). The keyboard is tiny but usable.

I was initially unsure if it makes  sense to use it because in the past
someone (Logout, maybe?) told me in the past that it does not work with
the UTF-8 and  thus will have problems with received  messages. This is
true but it only applies to e-mail messages, WWW and (possibly) to some
instant messengers.

All  these services  are almost  unavailable for  the Centro  anyway. I
don't  think  that there  is  still  an  e-mail provider  who  supports
unencrypted communication. The  instant messengers for the  Palm OS are
gone for ages. And the HTTPS now  a sort of mandatory thing for the WWW
(well, the FrogFing is leaping for rescue...).

The SMS  service works and it  supports needed encodings. So  I receive
Czech SMS in with correct letters  and there are no issues (most people
-and companies  - still send SMSs  with use of the  basic ASCII letters
only anyway).  Phone calls work, too.  I don't need anything  else. The
PIM functionality, the  calculator and the camera are  nice bonuses but
none of them is  necesary (I install a load of  Palm applciations but I
don't think I will ever use most of them).

Battery life is  not great because the battery is  probably very old (I
received it with  my second-hand Centro a few years  ago). But it still
can survive at least 4 days of active use.


P.S. I have the Treo 180, too. Should I try to use it, too?