The Phones Show 419 (Review of the Cosmo Communicator)

[@kapilbhardwaj4680]

You are a legend in the smartphone review arena. 🙏

[@bcarr1122]

Steve, thanks so much for your review! You discuss flaws and weaknesses that I'd not seen other reviewers mention.

[@DezFutak]

Great review - I've had my Cosmo since 2019 & can concur 100% with the pluses & minuses you so thoroughly review; as a commandline linux user/code developer , it's been *brilliant*.

[@tammyt.b.1078]

They just keep getting better. eagerly awaiting the Transformer here in the US

[@blacknoir6349]

Brilliant reviewer... Keep going. 👍🏾

[@misophoniq]

VERY helpful review, thank you very much. I was seriously thinking about buying one of these, but the out of phase speakers are a real deal-breaker for me. I have absolute pitch hearing, which might seem unrelated, but out of phase stereo is seriously fucking up my mind, I can literally get headaches from that! Thanks again for mentioning this, since no other video ever told me this.

[@EspositoMark]

That keyboard does look familiar. Thanks for the review.

[@heberthybr]

Reminds me my old HP Jornada... good days when handhelds were a glimpse of the future...

[@shaunigothictv1003]

excellent review

[@HiddenAdept]

"Your out of power by tea time every day!" Most British phone con ever lol

[@AshRaf-to5gu]

Holding back the geek in me from trying to get this as soon as possible.

[@darrenmorin]

It's a niche product for sure, in this day and age, but what a beautiful looking implementation and looks solidly constructed - I'm in agreement that the sound issues would be a show-stopper for many buyers. I'm tempted by this form factor, but I'll stick with a monoslab for now with the Microsoft BT wireless keyboard I picked up a couple of years back for the Lumia 950 XL. 😎 Love the review, as always. PS - Hooray, no more mangled thumbnail image!

[@frequenttraveller1835]

Excellent review. Thanks. I'd so like to have one of these because of how good my Psion 7MX was back in the day. But... Aside from the keyboard, a standard Android phone seems better in every other way. So tough for Planet to compete with the major corporations. And what a tragedy that the speakers are out of phase.

[@audreyelizabeths]

i really enjoy your reviews sir but i have one critique: when you provide the spec sheet, they are kind of hard to read because of the text formatting. perhaps add bullets next time for each category? thank you and great vid as always

[@dkccerbero]

So interesting device. I imagine something like a samsung dex plus this device. So cool! Thanks!

[@petecoventry6858]

I was going to get one of these - sick to death of fighting with a touchscreen!

[@josephbenaiah3260]

I have both the Gemini and Cosmo and apart from the backlit keyboard, I actually find the keyboard on the Gemini more preferable to use. That said the build of the Cosmo is far superior to the Gemini. I don't think that despite all the features of the Cosmo, it could not replace a regular smartphone. But whether using the Gemini or Cosmo, it is a pretty powerful piece of mobile computing to have in the jacket pocket.

[@My_Alchemical_Romance]

Great review, Steve. I would love to see an update on this, now that the astro slide has came out? Im looking to get away from my iphone, I have a Gemni, but it is wifi only, so that wont work as a replacement, not to mention that the Gemini seems to run android incredibly slow, I often wonder if the Cosmo Communicator is any faster than the gemin...? I like the fingerprint access on the cosmo but I relly like the uniquieness of the gemini color flashing scheme. very blackberry esque. I have also considered the unihertz titan as well as titan pocket; Gemini would be the perfect device if it wasn't so dang slow and if it had the backlit keyboard. Too bad we cant buy the upgrade seperately!!

[@sparky191]

Miss my old P5. But the reality was I never used it much. I would always run to a laptop. The OH loves their Chromebook (duet) and uses it instead of a laptop. I think devices like this Cosmo would never replace a phone. As such what's the point. I loved my PDAs. Maybe you could get someone who still uses a PDA like the P5 to talk through their workflow. That would be cool.

[@dsesuk]

Great review. I have one sitting in the checkout now and I'm hovering over the buy button. They currently have 30% off making it £504.84 with VAT which is just about enough to tempt me to move away from my ageing BB KeyOne. I am concerned though that Planet are flogging 'em off to concentrate on their new model, and will they continue to throw resources at this in terms of bugfixes and updates? I don't think Android 11 happened, at least not yet, and I'm not sure I trust that it ever will. But five hundred quid? For that price, I like it a lot. Well, do I push that Pay Now button or not? I'll think about it over a cup of tea...

[@dsesuk]

I took the plunge and bought one in the end, swayed as I was by a heavy discount as they clear their stock to make way for their new model. I find it's pretty good overall, but it has its problems. The front screen is of little use and is illogically laid out, for example new notifications appear at the bottom so if you've had a lot of messages in from different platforms, you have to scroll down to find what the latest ping was all about. The keyboard misses the first character every time the clamshell has been opened. It suffers from keyboard bounce making repeat characters appear when typing, especially if not on a level surface. I had to buy a third party app to handle rotation control correctly as some apps just won't do landscape (I'm looking at you Instagram). The cameras and speakers are dreadful. The backlight on the keyboard remains on permanently when open rather than it being on when the keyboard is used and there's no shortcut key to activate/deactivate it so it has to be done through the settings menu. There are various LED lights whose function isn't obvious and isn't explained - why is one flashing yellow at me as we speak? Also, on mine, the left shift key is unreliable, so I frequently mistype capital letters. Am I annoyed? Not really, there's still a lot to like about this thing, and the keyboard is a boon when I need to do some proper work on the go. I'm glad I didn't fork out when they were £750 or whatever, but at this price point it's not a bad gadget. I charge it every night and it easily gets me through the day for what I use it for.

[@leowhogoestothedojo8523]

Lol best review I’m buying this instead of slide or Gemini, thanks.

[@garvintimmann]

Is there a handheld pc like that on which runs Linux?

[@frankniethardt1813]

I guess the out of phase speakers could be fixed in software, if they really want...

[@stevelitchfield]

Yes, though it would have to be VERY low level in the OS to work with all apps, I think?

[@frankniethardt1813]

@@stevelitchfield custom audio driver I guess...

[@CBitsTech]

Do you still lose the first key press with doze turned off?

[@stevelitchfield]

Yes. Nice try though. It's clearly something occasionally going wrong with waking up the keyboard... Only happens once a day or so, but annoying,

[@Jimmyageek]

Great

[@mrpetit2]

Seeing only the top of your shirt it looks like you have a side job at DHL 🤣

[@nokialunatic]

Steve , your video Thumbnail looks disfigured for this show

[@stevelitchfield]

Not sure what happened there, I'll fix it, thanks.

[@utsandstone]

No carrier support. no battery support. no battery on web.

[@utsandstone]

I have the Android 9 version. It turns out that ATT nor Verizon have the Cosmo on there supported lists. I got the warning recently that my Cosmo will cease working in February of 22 when they take 3G out. I did not know of this when I bought on Indigogo. In fact, I had to talk an ATT supervisor into giving me a Samsung IMEI # so I could have 4G. Even though the phone is capable of LTE the ATT and even Verizon do not support it. It likely will not matter in February. This sucks big time. I am livid. My phone will be useless. Planet Computers has done nothing to certify this phone. They should do the right thing and upgrade it if they plan on putting android 11 in it.

[@utsandstone]

Just imagine how many people that use ATT. 50? 100? Or is it thousands. Phone dead...

[@utsandstone]

Daylater: Searching for answers again I came to ATT support page and it said any phone not capable of HD or VoLTE will not work. The Cosmo is capable looking at the specs. ATT confused the issue by sending the warning to everyone who has ATT. I hope my Cosmo keeps working. Also, the issue of initially getting 3G from ATT: They said they can't guarantee 4G. Why? I still don't know, maybe about my factory EMEI.

[@utsandstone]

I found out the reason the Cosmo is not approved by the carriers - even though it is HD capable - is that Planet Computers does not have the deal to pay the carriers a commission on sales so to hold a better price point. Isn't it enough to pay premium prices for service! I kept calling ATT agents until one said he would opt me out of the free phone deal. I hope he was truthful.

[@squirlmy]

@@utsandstone I'm assuming you are in Great Britain. This phone gets no publicity in the States I'm wondering if it may be a good travelling phone in other parts of the world. I also hope you understand this is about the likes of AT&T (IDK the US carrier has "&". Are you talking about a different brand altogether?) and Verizon squeezing out small players and likely Cosmo could do nothing about paying the commissions without signing into bankruptcy immediately after making such a deal. Be sure you know where you should be directing your anger.

[@utsandstone]

@@squirlmy Well, Most of my other thoughts are still valid but the one about Planet not buying into AT&T and Verizon and not paying a commission to them is crucial. This is tantamount to extortion on the carriers part! But, I have since talked to yet another agent for ATT and he said he would Opt me out of the free phone offer by putting on my account a special code. They had actually sent the cheap phone to me when I talked to the agent. Upon receiving it would activate and my Cosmo SIM would auto deactivate! The code stopped that action. I sent the phone back as instructed a couple weeks ago. So far, my Cosmo still works. I will know for sure in February. Now, this agent said the reason the Cosmo was flagged was it was a foreign originating phone but most phones are! Of course, it was because Planet did not buy in to 'be approved' so to be exempt from the free phone deal. Luckily, I hope, my multiple calls to agents produced results in the nich of time. So, AT&T does have an out for us after all. I hope. The agent said if my Cosmo did get deactivated to call again and ask to have the SIM reactivated and they would do this. Hope..

[@CaptainMarmite]

Lol

[@craftsman2600]

hook me up with one cosmo communicator please, i lost my NOKIA E90, (crying emoji)

[@lav1daloca]

The design is totally flawed. Its a waste that it closes like that. It should close like the nokia e-series keeping the display on top.

[@tams805]

Well, this product isn't being produced anymore, just receiving updates (slowly) which you would know if you watched the video... And the upcoming Astro Slide is exactly what you want.

[@squirlmy]

you're defining "flawed" by your own personal aesthetic, instead of functionality or durability? By all means buy an iPhone. They are made for people like you.

[@stevep641]

Seems pointless in this day and age

[@squirlmy]

but the same could be said about your comment here, no?