Android & Ubuntu Linux

[Guest andavane]

Greetings and thanks for accepting me into this forum :-)

I'm a user who has severe physical restriction in his hands, who has been looking for the right phone for a long time.

I have a team of carers with whom I need to keep in touch. Hence we all have gmail accounts, and I share my calendar with the team.

For a long time I've been maintaining more than 2 sets of contacts ~ one on gmail, and the other on my mobile (it's been a Palm Treo & an old Nokia 5200))

Keeping all the data synched has been a nightmare to say the least.

With the advent of Dropbox we found matters eased up a great deal.

Now I'm looking for an Android phone which will enable me to stay synched in with my Gmail suite & carers too.

I have already tried the HTC Hero, and very sadly had to return it due to the inability of my hands to manage the on-screen keyboard.

If only the software had been written to accept a stylus as well as a finger!

So I guess I'm looking at a QWERTY keyboard phone, preferably like my old Nokia 5200 whose push--pull action makes the phone a bit longer when I want to use, and bring it nearer to my ear, as I have limited reach.

I'm an ex-Windows user who has gone over to Ubuntu Linux.

I'd be grateful for any suggestions.

Regards

andavane

[Guest DougEdey]

If you're looking for one now, try using something like a Dream: http://www.htc.com/www/product/dream/specification.html (I'm unsure if the phone itself may be annoyingly small however)

For onscreen keyboards, if you get a stylus and put a piece of conductive thread from tip to tip (so your skin makes contact with the thread and the thread makes contact with the phone then it will work, same principle as a conductive glove: http://lifehacker.com/5412625/make-any-pai...h-a-touchscreen

That's the only HTC android phone with a keyboard, the other option is the Motorola Droid, they've got a larger, I believe it's nicer, keyboard.

They're both phones you should be able to find relatively easily to have a physical go with.

Good luck!

[Guest andavane]

If you're looking for one now, try using something like a Dream: http://www.htc.com/www/product/dream/specification.html (I'm unsure if the phone itself may be annoyingly small however)

For onscreen keyboards, if you get a stylus and put a piece of conductive thread.... Motorola Droid, they've got a larger, I believe it's nicer, keyboard.

They're both phones you should be able to find relatively easily to have a physical go with.

Good luck!

thanks very much for this most useful reply: I must have missed the "Dream" in my searches!

& I'd never heard about the conductive glove thingie (although I'd wondered about why I couldn't get pointing sticks to react with stuff like laptop touch-pads).

An issue forme as I also have small pointing sticks made for reaching.

I'll continue my searches. atm I'm considering something like sony ericsson W995 so I can listen to song and take pictures for my blog as well. This idea is to give me something to keep me going for quite a while while I watch to see where the Android phones "Go". It's a very hard game, knowing when to buy isn't it? :(

Thanks again for your kind help.

Regards

andavane

PS: I believe the Motorola Droid is the Milestone over here (England)? Nice phone, but the camera has had bad reviews for graininess when photo'd indoors.

[Guest DougEdey]

The issue with newer screen is they're capacitive, which is better for 99.9% of people, except obviously you :( It's also worth you having a look at something like this: http://lifehacker.com/5480040/make-a-diy-t...ne=true&s=i

Maybe that could be somehting which would work for you.

The Droid is the Milestone here, I've got no experience with the camera, my camera phone only gets used rarely.

[Guest andavane]

The issue with newer screen is they're capacitive, which is better for 99.9% of people, except obviously you :( It's also worth you having a look at something like this: http://lifehacker.com/5480040/make-a-diy-t...ne=true&s=i

Maybe that could be somehting which would work for you.

The Droid is the Milestone here, I've got no experience with the camera, my camera phone only gets used rarely.

Making the antisatic stylus looks fun :( although I'm not sure it would last.

Anyway, mate, you've given me a load of things to look at ~ and enough to hold me in for a bit.

I'll report back on what I find.

Take care, and thanks.

Regards,