OpenMoko 2007.2 testing
September 13th, 2007 | by Marcin JuszkiewiczToday is second day of my OpenMoko 2007.2 testing. I do it as part of my work for OpenedHand and this gives me possibility to discuss bugs with applications authors before reporting to get some details.
Flashing
I flashed u-boot from 2007.08 snapshot release, self-built kernel 2.6.22.5 and openmoko-devel-image from yesterday (also self-built). Had to connect Neo1973 to other computer as my desktop refused to flash with DFU-util (laptop did not had such problems). I did not had a problem with Neo connected via USB Hub.
System start
Start of phone is nice — first you get full screen OpenMoko logo, then few kernel messages (about 10 lines) and psplash starts so all messages are hidden. When X11 starts there is another full screen OpenMoko logo with text informing that UI is starting. Then OpenMoko-Today2 is started. BTW — to get back to Today you only need to press AUX button.
Today
Today screen gives access to Dialer, Contacts, Messages (not installed as there is no version for OM 2007.2), Calendar (which icon is missing — reported as bug #830). Second tab works as application launcher — with kinematic scrolling, selecting group to display, filtering — useful and nice looking.
3rd tab allow to switch between running applications (also possible with tap-n-hold on titlebar), force close of all (with confirmation) or close selected one (but no confirmation so bug #818 reported). Another problem is that most of icons as shown as default ones — reported as bug #837. Those which are shown properly (”Save screenshot” on screenshot) gets wrong size — bug #838.
Dialer
Next tested application was Dialer. I was able to make few calls from and to phone but did not checked voice quality. There is no history of calls currently — bug #839. I also spotted two other bugs (#814 and #819) but they are solved now.
Contacts
Finally time comes for Contacts application. I did not used it before so it was something new for me (Dialer and Today were first OM 2007.2 apps). Core functionality listed in OpenMoko wiki works.
Entered first contact using “New” button (top right one). Wrote fullname, organization, phone number, emails and pressed ‘!’ button (top left one). Then I switched into list (first tab) and there was no entries. When I added second entry then first one was visible will fullname and second was empty. When I selected first one then fullname from second one appeared. It looks like refresh of list is needed after edit is done. Reported as bug #815.
I had few contacts so it is time to check does filtering works. MokoSearchBar functionality works like it should but there is no information that view is filtered so I posted bug #829. Also widget does not looks so nice so I posted another bug — it was #835.
Like in Dialer there is no history of communication (calls, messages, mails) yet so 3rd tab is useless now — bug #843.
Groups
Last tab is group view. This also needs some work done. There is no way to remove (bug #822) or edit (bug #825) group. Adding new one use requester instead of making it inline like it is in edition of contact (bug #824). And there is a problem when there are too many groups — they overlaps with bottom tabs (bug #821).
During testing of groups I spotted another theme bug — selected checkboxes are not styled like unselected are — bug #823 reported.
Dates
OpenMoko Dates is not yet ready for testing so I will not write about it. According to posts on Chris blog it looks more and more interesting.
23 Responses to “OpenMoko 2007.2 testing”
By Mickey on Sep 13, 2007 | Reply
Excellent work — could you please upload your testing data (read: evolution directory), so that we have some stuff to base on?
By Koen on Sep 13, 2007 | Reply
Since switching to 2007.2 I can’t import my contacts anymore by copying my .evolution dir from my workstation :(
By Tim Broder on Sep 13, 2007 | Reply
Nice, I can’t wait for this phone (unless the google phone comes out first ;)
By Marcin Juszkiewicz on Sep 13, 2007 | Reply
Mickeyl: I do not have testing data - all was fast clicked on phone itself and removed few times during tests. OpenedHand guys know problems already.
By Mickey on Sep 14, 2007 | Reply
Ah, too bad, I’ve always wanted to have a set of boiler-plate data to show off the PIM apps…
By Kevin on Sep 14, 2007 | Reply
What’s with the bold 9?
By Marcin Juszkiewicz on Sep 14, 2007 | Reply
Few hours after writing and over 280 diggs… First time my post is shown on Digg frontpage.
By Greg on Sep 14, 2007 | Reply
Looks good, but one SERIOUS usability detail:
The dial button is MASSIVE and on the right hand side.
SO what?
Imagine holding this device in one hand (generally the right hand for most users) - Every time your thumb reaches over to type a number, it has a chance of hitting the Dial button. Basically, if you leave the dial button where it is, expect a lot of random wrong number calls from OpenMoko users as they accidentally press the dial button half way through dialling a number.
Solution:
Simple, plave the Dial button along the bottom or left hand side of the screen.
Hope that helps
Greg
By fundo81 on Sep 14, 2007 | Reply
Excellent work!!! the UI is very simple and choice of fonts, size and colors is perfect. i wish all the developers all the best.
By Michal on Sep 15, 2007 | Reply
I think the UI designers should read the comments at http://digg.com/linux_unix/Openmoko_Phone_linux_based_New_UI_Screenshots/
I really like the idea of openphone, but I agree with some of the comments in the link above. I.e. colors are not the strongest part of the UI. I hope that this is going to be improved in the next (stable?) snapshots.
Anyway - good luck:)
Michal
By mdt on Sep 19, 2007 | Reply
wonder why the gui stuff is so importand for people in a phase where just a public developer release of the phone exists. much more important are the inside values of openmoko. the excelent integration of the hardware with the kernel, the functionality broken down into daemons (following the unix idea), the excelent choise of open source packages, the build process, … and so on and on. if you look at the gui only today you probably missed the main part of openmoko in my opinion.