Edit: It seems kiwix-serve once again supports splitted ZIM. So I may have a workaround for FAT32.
As usual, I once again can’t decide between something.
I am deciding between Ulefone Armor 24 and Motorola G54 5G. I did get to play around with both, and I feel like that just made the decision harder.
I first got the Ulefone. Finally some exciting smartphone, massive battery, thick, heavy, with IR night vision camera, strong light and FM radio that works without earphones as it has integrated antenna, and it has an IR blaster.
I actually like it being that large and heavy (647g - 1.43lbs). It feels like a serious device. I always slap the thickest case I can find on a phone for this reason anyway. (Yes, I was also excited by Energizer P28K and earlier P18K).
I immediately loved it, but unfortunately found it only supports FAT32 for SD card. As I also have Kiwix archives on it, I decided on returning it.
It also had some more minor issues like headphone jack cover getting in the way and a mono speaker that is… present at most, and only supporting 4G.
Then instead I ordered the Motorola, which I still posses. It’s just safely in a box at home, I am not going to return an actually used device.
It does support exFAT, it has great stereo speakers, camera with OIS, supports 5G and has eSIM functionality.
BUT, after finally setting it up, I realized it has no support for 4K video playback. I didn’t even realize I should check for that, just like support for exFAT, as even my 2 prior, cheaper devices supported both.
SW decoder in VLC seems to work with 4K h.264, but HEVC is a no-go. Can’t blame it though, my i5-8365U powered ThinkPad can’t handle 4K HEVC either.
The 3 button navigation also dies when I set minimum width to >= 600dp.
Both support band-locking which I want too.
The Ulefone’s Helio G96 may or may not support 4K. Even info from MediaTek itself is conflicting between 2K and 4K max.
I wanted to test it with a displayed device in that shop, but was told they aren’t allowed to put anything into display pieces, and to just order it again like I did, and then return it possibly.
I don’t know what I could put up with better. 4GB file size limit or no 4K video.
Workaround for the former would be putting .zim files onto internal storage, effectively halving it, and passing Termux backups through split and cat.
Workaround for the latter is… I guess there isn’t. There will always be that functionality loss. Only 4K@30fps H.264 can be passed to VLC. AV1 doesn’t cut it either.
That aside, 5G may be important soon, but for now my carrier only covers a few cities. eSIM is cool, too, as are stereo speakers.
On the other hand, that Ulefone is just something else. A very unconventional smartphone, finally something else than a glass slab with different SoC, and the 3 button navigation doesn’t break at high dp. Actually, it even improves, adding app icons and app tray. I hate gesture navigation.
Also… maybe it sounds important, Ulefone is known to have shipped their phones with irremovable malware in 2017, …and possibly in 2020, also detected by different user.
I did scan the phone with Hypatia, and tried Calculator, FM radio and sound recorder APKs on VirusTotal too. Though I am not sure how much access Hypatia has, I know APK extractors didn’t work for me. I had to use ADB.
I’d get a Fairphone if it had a headphone jack. Or a Pixel if it had one too, as well as a Micro SD card slot, then put Graphene OS on it. Altough my budget is fairly limited, and my previous phone broke, so it’s basically a sub-optimal decision between these 2.
Coming from a Poco X3 Pro, either one feels like a downgrade. X6 Pro would be a powerhouse, one without headphone jack and SD card slot…
I have a Fairphone 4 with LineageOS - it’s a couple years old now but runs great. The headphone jack situation was an issue for me too, but I bought a USB-C -> 3.5mm converter for a few euros which now lives in my headphones case, and honestly, it doesn’t bother me. Don’t let that small point keep you from a good device.
Oh, I did once have a device without headphone jack, only with USB-C. But I don’t want that experience again. Yet another dongle to carry around, shortening the USB port’s lifespan with extra connects and disconnects, and most importantly, not being able to charge the phone or use OTG at once. For example I sometimes used my phone with welle.io to listen to DAB+ radio (or just general scanning around in SDR++), thus the USB port was occupied by RTL-SDR already.
I also gave Bluetooth earbuds a go. Definitely not suitable for FPS gaming, and having yet another battery…
Plus many of these phones have FM radio, which too is a bonus for me as I do use it.
I could give-in to no headphone jack if the device had 2 USB-C ports, like the ASUS ROG phone, except that one actually does have a headphone jack as well. Mmmmmmmm… 3 port smartphone.