Suggestion: For future Pinephones, please place kill switches outside around the edge

[unix21311]

With the librem phones, the hardware kill switches are placed around the edges of the phone, but with pinephones, it is placed inside the case. It kinda defeats the purpose of placing it inside the phone the switches, as placing the switches inside the phone (behind the back cover) makes it hard to enable certain hardware.

For exmaple if I am getting a call and I have my microphone switched off, I would have to enable it before talking to the person. On the librem phone this can easily be achieved, but on the pinephones I would have to open the back cover and enable it and then I can talk to the person which is inconvenient.

[Dendrocalamus64]

And also the SD card slot. : 3

And what about an inexpensive chorded keyboard. I have a Twiddler 3, but it cost more than the phone. Users are all *nix nerds who disdain apps and want to use the terminal for everything, but thumb typing sucks. With an open-source chorded keyboard, you could make sure the Bluetooth data encryption is actually secure enough to safely use a wireless keyboard.

[ryo]

The main problem I have with the Librem approach is that it's too easy to accidentally switch hardware on and off, while the PinePhone approach is the opposite: it's too hard to purposely switch hardware on and off.
Perhaps a better idea to hide them inside of the cover, but have a little drawer to open and close it without having to remove the cover first, and having the switches just a little bit larger?
I doubt there's really this many people willing to take a bended paperclip or a SIM drawer opener with them at all times, and I doubt anyone is really willing to constantly run to a phone store to bother a clerk there to switch hardware on and off for them each time they're getting a phone call.

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Users are all *nix nerds who disdain apps and want to use the terminal for everything

yup.
That is me since I started using computers for the first time!

[fire219]

If you want the switches more easily accessible, nothing is stopping you from making a hole in the back over (or printing your own back cover with one -- the 3D file for the back cover is openly available)