u/LtMilo

My Preamble - Skip it if you don't care

I'm very excited for the Communicator. My first phone was a Nokia candy bar, immediately followed by a Blackberry. It's difficult to describe the world that opened up when you went from typing on numbers or using T9 predictive text to using a full keyboard. Both were accurate in ways you've probably never experienced with a touchscreen keyboard - the clicking was tactile, you could feel (without looking) when you'd hit the wrong key and backspace without looking, and you could feel confident 95% of the time that your message was okay to hit send without ever proofreading it. The move from 9 keys to a keyboard turned what could be a chore to type out into a breeze. I used to write personal notes, type out thoughts, email myself paragraphs of text for college papers... you name it.

It's also difficult to describe how frustrating life became for typing once you felt this and had to move to a touchscreen. Every text has at least one mistake to be edited, even with autocorrect. Using proper grammar became much more difficult. The entire typing experience became much less tactile. I hoped, over the years, I would get much better or the tech would get much easier. But predictive touchscreen typing just never cut it for me.

New details from the video

Awesome Stuff:

• Almost everything looks very snappy. I see almost no input lag live. If you want to nitpick, I see Jeff tap messages in the opening visual, and you get just under 20 frames from the moment his thumb touches the screen to messages being opened. Phone call from Telegram jumped in quickly, and answering was snappy.
• Apps we see in action that look great in the form factor: Google Keep, Google Maps, Google Messages, Android Auto, Spotify, Telegram, Gmail (looks like you can get 4 emails on screen vs. 7 on a full smartphone), Windy, WhatsApp call. Given we have stock and third-party apps looking great, I feel a lot more confident about how things will render.
• Homing Bars! Homing bars are the tiny nubs you see on F and J. If you know how to type on a keyboard, you probably feel them all day and don't even think about them. They allow you to get your fingers back into position without looking down, even if you accidentally move your fingers or slip. It looks like they've positioned them on the inside of the key - very thoughtful, given the key's tall shape and the slightly outward-pointing angle of the keys themselves, it means your thumbs will rub up against them as you push inward with the angle of the key. Getting this right feels small, but is essential for when you move your fingers to do something like hit the Clicks key and need to get back to typing quickly.
• Fingerprint sensor is huge. I'm hopeful this means you don't have to be super accurate to use it.
• Android Auto - looks to be connected and showing almost zero lag between phone and screen. The processor looks to be holding up well on multi-screen displays.
• Text Dictation - We see a half-second preview of Jeff dictating in a voice note (I think - it's hard to see from the angle of the screen) - it doesn't looks like he's holding down the prompt key while doing so, and there's a giant red recording indicator on the bottom of the screen.
• Niagara adjustments? The default on Niagara when you pop open an app is to display a reply button. It looks like the box to reply to the top message is open by default? I could be wrong here.

Work to be done?

• They've got a little work to do on spacing out the notification bar, but it sounds like they are on it - apps render a few pixels too high, and the notifications in the bar are spaced oddly in the video.
• The unlock is still a little janky - it looks like Jeff already unlocked the screen, and when he swipes up, you get 1-2 frames of the full app drawer before the message center pops up.

Random details/conspiracy theories

• Apps seem to look better with smaller font - might be annoying if you prefer large text, but it makes sense given the form factor.
• Screen has a slight bit of sheen when held at an angle, but looks to be visible from a pretty decent field of view. When viewed from top down, the screen is clearly visible within the studio.
• The startup graphic is pretty cool (If that's what they go with)
• The battery is exposed, but it looks like there's holes to seal off the battery.
• The prompt key sticks out a bit, while the mute toggle and volume rockers are much more flush to the actual device.
• Jeff always flips the phone over the prompt key/LED notification side. I don't think that's intentional, but I was trying very hard to get a close look at all the sides, and could only get a view of the left side from the videos where he's on conference calls. What are you hiding, Jeff?!?!