Je confirme : 2 jours … après, tout dépend du nombre d’application et de l’utilisation.
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Rant about complaining over cell phone cameras (skip to the next bold text if you don’t care): If you want a good camera, you don’t get it in a $200 phone! A $200 dedicated point-n-shoot camera will also produce marginal results that probably aren’t much better than the ones that come off of the Teracube 2e and the camera doesn’t do anything else!. (Alternative for a cheap camera for specialty photos, if you plan on taking crazy-wide fish-eye photos or extreme close-up macro photos, you can use a Raspberry Pi hobby computer with a camera sensor board and special lenses for not too much money. The resulting photos will not be large, but will be better quality than anything else out there that was produced on equipment that cost less than $1000.)
If you want great photos for “cheap,” go buy a used Sony a6000 mirrorless camera system (costs about $600, used, for the camera body without any lenses)! Let me put this into perspective. The best camera on the market in a cell phone is likely in the OnePlus 9 Pro or the iPhone 12 Pro. The OnePlus has better hardware with current, high end point-n-shoot-sized image sensors from Sony and lenses from Hasselblad. But unless Sony is also providing them with the photo processing software in addition to the camera sensors, OnePlus likely didn’t take full advantage of their hardware. Thus, for around 5 times the price of a Teracube, you can get a phone camera that is, at best, a decent backup camera for the aforementioned Sony a6000, which came out nearly 6 years ago.
Quick aside: Sensor size, sensor brand, sensor tech generation, lenses, and photo processor are the 5 specs to look for in a good digital camera. Sony makes the best sensors that are 35mm and smaller and the best photo processors, followed very closely by Canon and Fuji. Nikon uses Sony’s sensors and their own excellent photo processors that are probably tied with Sony. Canon is not more than a whisker behind the others and produces excellent equipment of their own. Most people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference in the resulting photos, until you start using them in extreme use cases that pushes EVERY camera to their limits.
Another quick aside: The OnePlus 9 Pro beats every other phone on the market in at least 4 of the 5 specs. (Apple just may have the best photo processing software in a phone, ever.) The used Sony a6000 beats the OnePlus on 4 of the 5 specs (it loses by having a sensor that is 5 years older than the OnePlus camera sensors) and beats the iPhone on all 5 of the specs (Apple seems to use the best sensors that are known to be well built and well tested, then builds the best software they can to process the images).
Phone Camera Rant Over, Begin Rant About Teracube 2e
Well, this part is not really a rant.
I love that I can uninstall or disable all of the GApps that I don’t use. This saves my phone a ton of memory, processing power, and battery. The only GApps I left on are the Play Store, Play Services, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Docs, and Drive. I’m getting ready to turn off Google Photos, Google Docs, and Google Drive. Google Maps will probably be turned off soon after that. The installed Phone, Contacts, Calendar, Clock, and SMS apps are all from Google and I use those, but they are simple apps and they aren’t the core of the GApps that cause the most problems. I’ve even turned off the Google Assistant and the core Google search app.
I also love that I can root my phone, load custom ROMS, and do other things to make my phone even more mine, without voiding the long warranty,
I love that, with most GApps disabled, the apps I use run faster and smoother on my phone than they do on friends’ phones that cost 3 times as much.
I love that Teracube is trying to counter the ever pervasive tide of planned obsolescence and toxic electronic waste. I am no tree hugger and I don’t think global warming/climate change is near the problem that some claim. Nor do I believe that most of it is caused by humans–as the sun cycles play a much bigger role than we do. That being said, I also believe it is a sin to be wasteful and that we have a divine duty to take care of what we have on the Earth, both for ourselves and for our descendants.
I hate having to buy a new phone every two years because the perma-battery in my phone died. I love that I can instead, send the battery off to be recycled and buy a new battery.
I love that this phone has two SIM slots. My wife and I travel a lot and when we go overseas, we buy a local prepaid SIM card online before we get there. Having that second SIM slot means that as soon as we land, we have phone and internet without having to fiddle with changing SIM cards in an airport.
I love that the 4000 mAh battery on my Teracube lasts as long as the 5000 mAh battery on my wife’s Motorola. Of course, she’s a heavy GApps user and has a bunch of other apps that are constantly loading ads, so it makes sense. (I try to use/support Open Source as much as possible–it leads to better privacy, no ads, and more efficient use of resources.)
I love that this phone has 64 GB if internal storage with an SD slot that can take a huge card. It makes it so I can put my photos, music, movies, offline maps, and ebooks on the external, taking up about 50GB of space, and the system along with all of my apps take up about 28GB of space inside the phone, leaving plenty of room for anything that may come along–such as pre-downloaded items from Amazon Prime Video, that are generally stored in the phone–for those times I’m traveling and want to watch a movie without internet. (32 GB would be a touch tight for my usage patterns.)
I love that Open Camera from f-Droid runs quickly, can burst-shoot photos, and fixes the worst of the lens and color problems of the camera. It still has lots of noise in low light, but what can you do about that on a small sensor? Answer: not much and everything that you can do involves losing photo information with de-noising your photos. This camera is just fine for taking random photos in good light.
I love that the case is bio-degradable and has little flecks of wheat embedded in it. It’s unique and reminds me of my youth, growing up on my dad’s cattle ranch with several hundred acres of attached farm. (When I was 16, the soil conditions in many of the fields called for a rotation of wheat, so it brings back memories from the summer when I was 16. I spent much of that summer delivering wheat to a neighboring ranch that didn’t have as much crop land and so needed grain and straw for the winter.)
I love that someone in the US finally started making a phone similar to the FairPhone and other European long-term use phones. Thanks for making it. This phone fits me well.
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Such a well written and interesting review! Thank you for posting. I didn’t t know I could turn off many of the Google apps with out effecting stability of the phone. Now I’ve something else to explore on this great device.
If you disable one that causes instability, just re-enable it. At worst, you may lose a few settings in some app or other. At best, you’ve killed off a piece of spying software that was eating data and battery in the background and eating storage by caching the data it gathered spying on you.
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Camera Update
I tried several more camera apps including Silent Camera, ProCam X - Lite and Camera MX with mixed results.
I’ve set Camera MX as my default. It’s HDR does not seem to slow down the system like the native T2e camera app, and Camera MX has easy to read and navigate icons.
HOWEVER, the video on Camera MX does NOT function. For video I’ll continue to use the native T2e app.
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GAps. agreed, thanks. I had no idea I cd turn those off without causing other problems.
But the camera really sucks. I don’t need art quality photos, but I need it to focus in a reasonable time frame and to do the job. Instead, all flash photos are blue, and the focus takes forever (I can only hold my hands still for so long…)
Also, I have had issues w phone calls not releasing after hanging up, and texts going into a loop and resending on their own. The only way to stop that seems to be re-booting, which is not always an option.
I don’t use a lot of bells and whistles. Most of the time, I don’t use most of the google apps (including maps), so I don’t understand why I only get almost a day on the battery (will try that app noted above, since I job includes superlong days and I need a phone that doesn’t need a charge during that time).
Overall, there are good things abt the teracube 2e, and I am grateful for a decent basic phone, but a couple of fixes really need to happen before the next iteration hits.
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If your flash photos are blue, your white balance is off for the particular flash you have. Manufacturing variations in LEDs can cause the standard camera settings to be off. In the camera, choose “More…Pro Mode…White Balance.” Try using “Sunlight,” “Shade,” or “Cloudy” to make the pictures look warmer and less blue.
As for the focus, I don’t know what to tell you. My phone camera focuses almost as fast as my mirrorless camera everywhere except in low light shots. In indoor level lighting, it takes my phone about 2 seconds to gain focus while my dedicated camera focuses almost instantly. Outdoors, it’s hard to notice a difference at all between my phone and my dedicated camera.
As for your phone calls and texts issues, if it’s not issues with the carrier and if your messaging and phone apps are up to date, you may have a case for warranty replacement. First, I would check with the carrier and make sure the network settings and APN’s are all set correctly in the Android settings.
One other thing to check, the current version of the phone app from Google has a setting to look up the caller number through Google Assistant before passing it through. This is being sold as a method to filter Spam while still allowing “Google partner businesses” through. If you have the Google app and the Google Assistant app disabled, try opening the 3 dot menu in your phone app, then choose “Settings…Caller ID & Spam” and then disable these two features: “Filter spam calls” and “Verified Calls.” You should be able to leave “See caller and spam ID” enabled. If those other two are enabled when Google Assistant and the Google App are both disabled, you may get weird things happening. Those two “features” were added to the app in the last two months. As I still get potential spam calls marked as such (not blocked unless I add them to my block list), I see no advantage to adding Google as an intermediary between me and other callers.
Do you have any recommendations on the open source apps alternatives for Google Apps? I hate the preinstalling nature of Android runnned smartphones, and im not sure which would be really needed for the phone to run.
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Hello, after using now the phone for some weeks I have realized that an internal manual (saved on the phone) would be probably very useful. Espacially for understnding which option you have for standard settings, etc. So far i have the feeling, though all Android, all smartphones have a different ‘layout’. Espacially those, who are using maybe longer smartphones, dont switch so often (as me :D) are not familiar with all tiny new functions. E.g. I suddendly could take over control of chromcasting on our TV though i havent set anything up etc. I eventually found how to disable the autmatic connection but it would be nice to have a possibilty to go through a manual to understand what is all there. I know that some smartphone brands offer such manuals pre-installed.
Then I realized that when I want to take of the phone case I sometimes even remove the back side. Maybe a different way to open the backside would be better.
Also the notification light would be nice in different colours based on own settings (e.g. blus for calls, green for sms, red messenger app); but that is just a preference ;).
Aside, I am happy with the phone, it works smoothly and I am still learning.
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There is a small trick to removing the case such that the back cover does not come of with it. You can see it in action in our unboxing video starting at about 0:37.
We will definitely look to bringing that in future hardware revisions. 2e is limited to white color only.
2e user guide is our 1st step in that direction. You can always bookmark it on your desktop. We do understand its not comprehensive - feel free to make suggestions which we can add.
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Received Teracube 2e today. Took less than a week from purchase date to process & ship.
Set up was straightforward. Everything works. Downloaded & installed SW16 update already with no problem. This phone feels solid; it doesn’t look or feel like a cheap phone. Very pleased with Teracube 2e thus far. Thank you!
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I nearly lost my very pricey Galaxy Note 10 today, and it wouldn’t have been the first time at THAT rodeo. So much of what I need on a daily basis is in my phone!
So I’ll be buying a Teracube soon for my everyday phone. The Note can stay home in safety except when I’m likely to be taking pictures, which is where it really shines.
Very psyched at the price point and I’ll be curious to see how I land vis a vis battery life.
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I have had rhe phone for a while and except for a few hicups it is a great phone! I can use it with multiple chargers. I use open camera as suggested a whilw back and camera is pretty good using that app.
I lost my Teracube in June. This was the first time I have lost a phone, ever. In August, what was left of it was found by a guy who was searching for his wallet. He forgot and left his wallet on the roof of his car. He found my phone next to the freeway on-ramp near my house. It seems that I forgot and left my 2e on the roof of my car. It flew off at speeds approaching 75 mph and was quite destroyed. It was completely missing its screen, the battery was gone, the case was missing, the back was gone, and the rest of it was pretty mangled. I was able to recover the SD card and the SD card still works.
Anyway, I thought that there was no way the premium warranty would cover it, but for $59, and a trip to the local UPS store, I got a replacement in good condition. The Teracube is a good phone for using daily and the premium warranty makes it even better.
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I obtained a warranty replacement for my 2e in August after losing it in June and it being found 2 months later next to the freeway in a smashed up condition. Now, for some reason, this phone has a few differences from my first 2e. For example, I wasn’t able to uninstall some the gApps that were uninstallable in my first one (I could easily disable them), and this one does have the camera that turns things blue when using the flash–my first one did have that problem a little, but this one does it quite severely. Also, the case fits just a tiny bit loose length-wise (maybe a resize because of complaints of the case taking the back off also?). Other than that, it’s still a good phone and works quite well. As I’m starting a business, I will be using my 2e as my business phone to keep expenses separate and easy to track. In my business, I don’t need to take indoor photos but I do need NFC and might need 2 SIMs, so it should work just fine.
I’m testing out a Motorola Moto G Power (2020 version) as my personal phone, We’ll see how well each lasts over time.
Immediately visible advantages of the Moto over the 2e include: better support for useful custom gestures (e.g. turning the flashlight and camera on and off are very easy to do on the Moto); better camera; faster cpu; higher resolution display; already can be upgraded to Android 11; works on every network that the 2e can access plus it works on the Verizon network; and, better display refresh rate.
Immediately visible advantages of the 2e over the Moto include: changeable battery; 2 SIM slots + SD slot; near field communication (e.g. tap to pay); case and basic screen protector come with the phone; better premium warranty included with the phone; the Android battery charge limiter is not removed from the battery options; has less uninstallable bloat (really, the Moto G lineup has very little bloat to begin with, but it does have an app or two that should be optional); rooting/installing other ROMs won’t void the warranty (Motorola will give instructions and allow you to modify the ROM or obtain root, but does it in a way that voids the manufacturer’s warranty on your device); and it is ethically sourced as much as possible.
The final verdict will be to see which one dies first.
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Hi there! First post here. I received my brand new Teracube 2e two days ago. So far I’m very impressed with the overall performance of it. Restore from the online backup of my defunct Pixel 3 was straightforward. I tested a good chunk of my 100+ apps without experiencing any hiccup. Tidal, Youtube, Outlook and all of Google apps just work smoothly. Android auto works like a charm in my Kia Optima. Only thing I’m missing so far from my Pixel 3 is the picture quality, but I could get some decent pictures out of Open Camera anyway (but nowhere near those of the Pixel 3). To my surprise, it even
came with Android 11 preinstalled. Nice work Teracube!
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I’ve just ordered a 2e and it’s on its way now. One of the things that was intriguing to me was that you can unlock the bootloader. Teracube has a 2e article on it as well. Had you considered trying out Lineage OS on the 2e?
Thanks for this. I thought it was just me as I also have a problem with the length of time it takes for the camera to focus. Although I don’t take many photos I do find it really annoying to have to wait several seconds for the camera to focus, and then when I finally see what the shot will look like and I adjust my position, I have to wait yet again for the camera to focus. Super frustrating. This should be a priority fix for the next issue.
Hi @jrobiii - the new 2022 units do not support lineage, eOS or any other custom rom yet. Work is in progress. Read more here - [Important Read before flashing] Difference between the new 2022 batch VS 2021 batch of Teracube 2e
The 2e is already a terribly underpowered phones, and I saw that the 2e price is raised another 100 USD. I own a 2e and I admire your effort. I like the sustainability aspect of it. But it would be sustainable as long as spare parts are available to purchase??