The world is still waiting for the Trump Phone. There’s a T1 on the back with a meaning that, I’m sure, is lost on members of the Trump family. It refers to digital telephony technology.
But there’s something else about that tall “T” bringing something to mind. What could it be?
Oh, yeah. This.
Should I, or shouldn’t I? For a New Year’s project, I’m contemplating replacing the battery in my 5-year-old Google Pixel 4a. As recounted here early last year, I was forced by Google to get a new phone because of a mandatory update that crippled the battery as a safety precaution. The 4a is no longer supported by Google, but it can still do almost everything I want it to do, at least inside the house. Text messaging is available through Device Pairing with my Pixel 8a. Lacking a SIM, the only thing I can’t do with the 4a is use it for phone calls.
I prefer its size and weight to the 8a, and besides using it indoors, I take it with me on walks to listen to downloaded podcasts. The headphone jack means I don’t need to bring a DAC adapter. The only problem is the unpredictable rate the battery drains. If I’m lucky, it lasts a few hours. A new battery is promised to be unaffected by the update.
IFIXIT has a 4a battery replacement kit for not too much money. It isn’t an easy job, but I successfully replaced the trackpad in the Lenovo laptop PC. Although doing that didn’t fix whatever the problem is, I didn’t break anything in the process.
https://www.ifixit.com/products/google-pixel-4a-battery-genuine
Removing the 4a’s OLED screen, without breaking it, appears to be the trickiest step, but it’s worth a try. Having the 4a run throughout the day would make it possible to go easy on the 8a’s battery in the long run.
A bigger project for the New Year will be getting one of my Pioneer LaserDisc players working again. If I’m lucky, belts and lubrication will be all that’s needed, as was the case with my Sony dual cassette deck and 300-disc CD changer.
The price scanner application is down at my supermarket, revealing the system it runs on. The short-lived Windows Embedded CE.
The hardware is also discontinued. Windows Embedded is now an Internet of Things thing, but I’m going to guess the new price checker software runs on Android.
A profile of an interesting Boston semiconductor fabricator, specializing in custom chips.
A tip o’ the Dog Rat toupee to tastewar, for pointing out this video.
The only edition that’s available at the moment is wee bit dear.
Oh boy! Driver updates! I’m very interested in taking these, because it’s a Qualcomm system. I doubt Microsoft considers Snapdragon a semi-experimental platform for Windows 11, but I do. Much more interesting than having another x64 system.
What I was most curious about is the Bluetooth update. Audio/video synch was way off with my Sony SRS-BTX500 Bluetooth speaker. The native Windows driver was almost certainly negotiating the AAC codec. For $6, I bought Bluetooth Goodies’ replacement driver in order to negotiate AptX. It was money well spent.
Before taking the updates I returned Bluetooth to the native Windows driver. Would the update fix the audio sync problem?
Most definitely yes! Is AptX — a Qualcomm specification — being negotiated, or has AAC been fixed? I don’t know, but it seems I will be able to stick with the Windows driver. If anything goes wrong, I’ll flip back to Bluetooth Goodies.
