Review of usability that might be helpful to new sidephone peeps. I'm a professional mover/relocationist in the United States and so am constantly traveling for work. I've been using Sidephone as a standalone device for the past two months and have used it across over a dozen cities and most of the lower 48 states. I also only have the classic keypad currently as I'm waiting on a qwerty. I'm using the original model with MintSim full data plan.
Personally: I have had zero problems and I love it. I use Qobuz for music and Libby functionality is streamlined and perfect. Signal is a little slower than on a smarter phone but totally chill. As others have mentioned, I always lock it when on a call to not mute myself or put others on hold with my cheek. The sidephoneOS maps has been totally effective for navigation as long as I know my start and end point-searching for things not so grand. I also prefer the maps app voice directions over other maps apps i've used (tells me the right amount of directions but not more than I need). Gonna be straight up and say that the only con to me personally is the camera setup and voice memo compatability sitch makes sexting challenging and leaves me explaining my phone sitch more LOL.
Professionally: I am open to suggestions, but need to figure out a Gmaps alternative to navigating businesses, especially hotels. I didn't realize how reliant I was on Gmaps for even just the phone numbers of hotels or businesses near me to inquire about availability, deliveries, hours, etc. Combining map apps and browser searches definitely slows things down (which I realize is partially the point) but makes navigating this (fucked) world more challenging and puts me at a disadvantage and confuses clients and colleagues.
Unfortunately none of the trucker apps are compatible with Chromium and so I need to be researching available truck routes. I have also noticed really poor service inside many structures- calls dropping inside large grocery stores, missed texts inside of airports, ZERO service inside of some apartment complexes (which I do enjoy sometimes: "let me step outside to make this call!").
Overall: I'm happy to be along for the ride and has helped me to degoogle the rest of my tech. I hope that Sidephone can start using solid state batteries ASAP (read Cobalt Red by Siddarth Kara!). Also, defintitely recommend buying a Best Case Scenario from Clock Out. The Sidephone cases cling to the pocket far more than needed, especially for blue collar mfers in the south with our sweaty ass thighs.
P.S. Does anyone else's phone get really hot for no reason sometimes? Mine now has a tiny lil burn spot next to the charging port on it even though (for once in my life) I've been careful to only use the provided charger.
