Teracube 2e: Australian experiennces?

Teracube 2e
#1

Recently had my Motorola Moto C Plus stop working after Vodafone AU switched off
3G: it’s a 4G handset but no workee, no more. What a RRPitA!

Trying to ascertain if a 2e, with a personally installed e/OS/ (because Murena don’t ship
it pre-installed to Aus, and won’t even commit to saying that a 2e will work in Australia)
will do 4g + VoLTE here.

Have seen some postings that suggest some forum users may have a 2e working in
Aus but trying to get a definitve answer before comitting to a purchase.

Any info/pointers welcome.

2 Likes
#2

Should I infer, from the lack of feedback, that Teracube haven’t sold any 2e-s
into Australia, or just that no-one in Aus who has brought one has joined, and/or
is active in, this forum?

1 Like
#3

I’m sure someone from AUS region has a TeraCube, but I can not confirm.

Is there a specific regional carrier (or carriers) you’re inquiring about?

#4

Tried to reply by email but haven’t seen that reply appear in the forum,
so here it is again:

===================

I’m sure someone from AUS region has a TeraCube, but I can not confirm.

Indeed. Neither can I: hence asking on here.

FWIW, I can’t find the thread (either within the TeraCube forums or
elsewhere out on the interweb thing) in which I thought I’d seen
someone talk about using one in Australia.

Surely TeraCube must know if they have shipped one (though hopefully
a few more) to Australia though?

Is there a specific regional carrier (or carriers) you’re inquiring about?

So far, only Vodafone have turned off 3G here, although Telstra (in June)
and Optus (I believe, this year) are slated to do so, after which point
you would need a VoLTE-compatible handset for those three, and I think
they are three that any Australian MVNO piggy-backs onto.

(For some reason this next bit gets renders in BOLD: that wasn’t me!)

FWIW, I thought my Moto C Plus was VoLTE-capable but it seems that
Motorola haven’t baked in all of the required stuff, even though
they happily called it “4G”, so it’s a nice “offline camera” now.

FWIW, I have since found the thread in which I noted Australia was mentioned, vis

although it’s not the best testimony for the 2e as used in Aus.

1 Like
#5

From a quick search of the forum, I’ve found the following posts by users referencing their Australian experiences

redearthman74 was using their phone December 2022 and looking for battery-shipping info - TC support looked into it. Prior to that, in October 2022, they noted that their phone worked fine in Australia but had issues on a trip to USA when their US SIM card fried itself - replaced the bad SIM card and everything was solved. They haven’t signed into the forums in the past year, however.
Order not shipped to Australia yet? - General - Teracube Community (myteracube.com)
Is my SIM2 slot in my Teracube 2e faulty? - Teracube 2e - Teracube Community

extee in October 2020 said they had ordered a TC 2e - they haven’t been on the forum in two years.
Our next big thing - General - Teracube Community (myteracube.com)

stuffa in October 2021 said they’d test the Android 11 version as it was in beta, but hasn’t been on the forum in two years.
Need Android 11 Testers - $25 thank you gift - Teracube 2e - Teracube Community (myteracube.com)

yjchen had issues with disconnecting wireless in January 2021, but hasn’t checked for forums since then - the issue was likely a corrupted cache partition based on following the thread and looking at other people who continued to respond.
Wifi keeps disconnecting - General / Bug reports - Teracube Community (myteracube.com)

So yes, there’s been several users who have noted they’re from Australia, but the most recent verified user has been dormant for almost a year. That doesn’t mean there aren’t active Australian users, simply that they haven’t identified as such using the full word.

1 Like
#6

For me it worked well in Australia on Vodafone
I asked to test android 11, but was not accepted, because I’m in Australia
I stopped using it after a smashed the screen and found that there where no spare parts available
I have since switched to a motorola G10 and later a motorola G54
I found calls all round australia to be OK, NFC was good, and blue tooth worked as expected.
All up the only complain was that it was a little bit sluggish, but very usable. All up I was very happy with it

2 Likes
#7

G’day all!

I am indeed the guy from Australia who reported the dodgy SIM card in the US in October '22 and was looking for battery-hipping info in December '22.

My phone case, which was the original one that came with the phone in February '21, finally shat itself and needed to be replaced. I thought that since I was going to be buying a case, getting a spare battery couldn’t hurt. I did not end up getting the spare battery but I did buy two cases (one green and one charcoal, like the original environmentally-friendly one), since I wanted to get the best out of my freight charge. (My vague recollection was that the freight on the cases was equivalent to the price of a case, so my net cost per case was 1.5 cases, each.)

Sharad was my point of contact for both the SIM card issue and when I followed up the delayed shipping of my cases. He did as good as job as I could ask, although the help with the SIM felt a little Windows-y (answered the question but didn’t help in the moment.)

My Teracube (delivered in Feb’21) has been great. I use it every day and the MicroSD card I use for playable media means I’m using 50/64GB. (I need to do a better job of getting rid of extra crap in my onboard memory - do people defrag their phones?)

I am connected to the Vodafone network in Australia and rarely, if ever, does the phone drop out or get no bars. I have been with Vodafone for over 20 years and found their service i Australia to be as reliable as I need it to be. My Teracube has never seemed to have any problems connecting to the Vodafone mobile network here, and I reuglarly have it connected to the WiFi networks and home and work, with no issues.

My one complaint would be that my camera has become extremely sluggish in the last year. Using it is easy with a double-click of the power button but:
(1) it can take 5-10 seconds for the camera to start (from black screen to viewfinder appearing);
(2) a photo is taken and 2-4 seconds later it will be viewable by touching the circle to the right of the shutter button in the centre of the Camera UI;
(3) viewing that photo can take 5-10 seconds before it appears; and
(4) in the last 4-6 months I’ve been getting a pop-up saying “Camera isn’t responding - close app | wait.”

The fact that I’m only reporting this now demonstrates the care factor (low) I have for taking photos with this phone. Taking screenshots seems only possible by touching the square menu button and then the Screenshot option - I thought Android users could usually hold down the power or a volume button and touch the main menu button to take a screenshot (doesn’t work for me anymore, if it ever did).

I am running Android 11 but I don’t remember when that update came through.

I love my Teracube and tell people about it all the time. Most people are astonished that the dual SIM is standard, along with the biodegradable case and replaceable battery. I look forward to continuing to use it until I really can’t any longer, and when that day comes, I hope i can replace with with a new Teracube!

3 Likes
#8

Thanks to both stuffa and redearthman74 for the replies.

It would appear that I can go ahead and order a Teracube 2e for use here in Australia.

To be honest, it had come down to either the 2e with e/OS/, assuming it was viable here,
or a discounted Pixel 6a with GrapheneOS, as both come in at around AUD 400, but for
me the replacement battery and dual physical SIM had always put the 2e ahead of the
much tighter security of the latter option.

I would also echo redearthman74’s hope that there’s another updated Teracube product
around the corner for when then 2e-s finally run out: but let’s get one first!

Thanks again for the replies

2 Likes
#9

Have now taken delivery of a 2e

Have flashed it, from the command line, to the e-OS stable emerald 1.91.1-s,
by following

https://doc.e.foundation/devices/emerald/install

and made very basic usage of it (Single SIM so far) on the Australian
Vodafone network.

Thanks again to all who provided info.

4 Likes
#10

Glad you are enjoying!

v1.20.0 is shaping up nicely, but VoWiFi isnt fully fixed yet.

1 Like