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Random thoughts.... [Tech Edition]

93Flareside said:
I tried android auto once on my moto G5. Admittedly, it is an older phone therefore hardware not the best, but AA I found to be unusable with how slow it operated on that phone. I was able to use CarPlay with barely a hiccup on iPhone 5, SE, and now an 8. Movements were fine and the worst was waiting for map data to download on whichever navigation I used.
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That' funny, my old phone WAS a Moto G 5 and I had no real problem with the occasional slowdown...
Need to buy some usb A cables first though...
 
Well... my phone's battery calibration seems to be utterly off, as it has died on me a few times now between an indicated 10-20% battery. I didn't even know this was a thing until now, but according to some random websites a few 0-100 cycles while staying at both extremes should fix that :dunno:

I never really charge the thing to a full 100% or empty it below say 15%, so maybe that's why it happened. First charge to a full 100% (not 99 or sth) already showed there was something off, since it took about an hour until it finally ticked over from 99 to 100% - I still left it charging for another two hours or so and had it play a 10hr nyan cat video at max brightness last night until it shut off from an empty battery (some time in the middle of the night), as supposedly keeping it empty for a few hours also helps. Now slowly creeping back towards 100%, I'm interested to see whether the last % will again take ages or not...

NooDle said:
That' funny, my old phone WAS a Moto G 5 and I had no real problem with the occasional slowdown...
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You'd think the entire processing etc. was happening on the phone with AA/CP, but maybe the uselessness was due to the headunit? automotive types and software usually aren't a great match, so I'd totally expect them to be able to create a horrible user experience despite the fact that the entire content is being delivered from a phone...
May have just been that in that particular case the CP integration was done much better than the AA integration - if that's at all possible.

NooDle said:
Need to buy some usb A cables first though...
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If you don't mind me asking: why? Simply curious... for charging or is it a necessity for CP?
 
eizbaer said:
If you don't mind me asking: why? Simply curious... for charging or is it a necessity for CP?
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I don't have anything capable of charging my phone that has a USB C port, my car included. Everything I own has USB A...
Hadn't even considered carplay, I do have an old cable from my (8 year old) iPad which charges it, perhaps that'll work for CarPlay aswell, must test it sometime.

Car is a 2018 eGolf, so nothing too old, so I should have a decent experience with carplay/android auto.
I do notice my old phone slowing to a crawl as soon as I connect, since it simultaneously starts Android Auto + Waze + Podcast app + Messenger + Whatsapp (for notifications)... so I'm just guessing thats where the slowdown comes from
 
See, I don’t have that slowdown with my iPhone when CarPlay. Podcasts will start playing, Waze will launch, but the worst is waiting for the infotainment to load up, that itself isn’t horrible either, it’s seconds.

This is also with my 2018 Golf GTI.
 
I've used CarPlay in my father's 2018 Skoda a couple of times and it's been flawless IMO. No slowdowns. The only complaint I have with that infotainment system is the volume knob that's unusable because the power symbol turns with the knob. Whenever I drive the car I have to put the knob the right way up and then use the steering wheel buttons for the rest of the trip.

I thought USB-C was mainly a car journalist problem. I follow some on Youtube and some of them make a huge deal whenever a car they're testing has USB-C instead of quote-unquote "normal USB" because they "need a weird cable" or "have to use an adapter" sometimes followed by closeup shot of a clunky C to A adapter dongle sticking out of the center stack.

If you bought a new car, is it really the end of the world to get a new charging cable to go with it? Perhaps a nice braided one that matches the upholstery, even?

USB C has its own issues, but this is not one of them :p
 
If you’re complaint about not having the right USB port, that must mean the car is flawless in every other way and therefore is a good car.
 
Perc said:
The only complaint I have with that infotainment system is the volume knob that's unusable because the power symbol turns with the knob.
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YES! This! Exactly the same in my old Seat! Auch a stupid design decision - I NEVER used that knob. Literally can count the times I touched it in the 4 years i had the car on one hand.
 
Usb C charges faster which is fine, but as we’re spoilt and lazy it’s a hassle getting another cable.

OTOH I just noticed it has wireless charging. Problem solved. Cable moves to car, wireless charging at home. Sorted


Verzonden vanaf mijn iPhone met Tapatalk
 
Wireless charging is great, yes it's less efficient but I have never noticed as it's just so convenient.

My new 12 Pro Max is too tall for my current wireless charger as I suspected, the coils just don't line up. Already taken the charger apart and may 3D print an extension part to change the position of the phone.
 
Meanwhile, here I am waiting for my backordered 12 pro...
 
Perc said:
Meanwhile, here I am waiting for my backordered 12 pro...
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My order said it would be shipped between the 7th-14th so I was very surprised when it shipped at the start of the week. I had to get another case because the case I ordered from Moment was a pre-order and isn't released until the 7th even before shipping it over here from the US.

I actually cancelled my first order with Moment because they dropped the price of the case by $20 in a Cyber Monday deal before it had even been released. In the end they got more money out of me though because I also ordered the gold flare anamorphic lens that had also been dropped by $20. I was going to get the case and then order the lens and mount separately but I don't mind waiting for it all to be shipped in the new year now and I'll save on shipping costs. Win-win.
 
You know you're a power tool geek when you see this picture from the Skoda assembly line and the first thing that comes to mind is "what brand of impact gun is that?"

1607113254850.png
 
They look like Makita production tools, maybe older ones with 3rd party batteries. Apart from the colour I found this PDF that has matching covers on page 30, then on page 34 it shows some older looking tools in holders that have similar batteries.

https://www.makitauk.com/data/lijsten/public/literature/production_tools_2018_srgb.pdf

There's a whole section on the Makita site about production tools, they look pretty damn good and I'd buy one over a consumer/pro tool but I expect they cost a small fortune.

https://www.makitauk.com/products/production-tools

The one one the bench is a screwdriver and looks something like the BFT021FZ, which uses smaller 9.6V batteries with side buttons. Not sure about the one in his hand.
1607125413503.png

https://www.makitauk.com/product/bft021fz

This thing is just weird, has adjustable torque and is programmable over USB, uses normal 18V LXT batteries.

1607125533160.png


https://www.makitauk.com/product/dfl651fz

It's rather expensive. I found a spare parts list too with an exploded diagram. This is the real Makita.

Edit: The screwdriver isn't too bad at £400. The fact that I could just buy these is quite surprising, I think I've bought tools from this site before.
 
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Matt2000 said:
This thing is just weird, has adjustable torque and is programmable over USB, uses normal 18V LXT batteries.
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If you take notice, those show up everywhere in Fotos of automotive Production lines! I think the 90° angle allows both for easier reach into cramped locations as well as better ergonomics (ie holding against the torque is much easier) - the latter may be a core argument, since Auto production is so heavily unionized. Also the programming of certain torque specs sure must be worth quite a bit in terms of possible efficiency gains.

Price is insane, though, holy crap...
 
eizbaer said:
Price is insane, though, holy crap...
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I have a feeling it's a tad more durable than a consumer Ryobi. :p It's going to be used constantly for 8 hours a day, or maybe 2-3 times that if there are several shifts and they share the same tools. I don't think they care what the cost is as long as it lasts.

I would also imagine that an assembly plant has a leasing deal that covers all the tools and batteries with "free" replacements as needed.
 
So yeah, I've started the Ryobi 18V collection, and alongside the drill and hot glue gun one thing that caught my fancy was their new "stick" vacuum, the R18SV7. Looked around for a couple days, found a good deal on Amazon Warehouse (returned unit, described as "like new" with damaged packaging only, with a very decent discount), and pulled the trigger. Today, a package arrived.

Now, I'm not a vacuum professional, but something seemed off about this one:

IMG_0662.1024.jpeg


Annoyingly, this being a Warehouse deal, there wasn't an option to get a replacement shipped right away - only return and get the money back. And by now of course there are no more available Warehouse deals on it anymore, so I'd have to pay full price for a shiny new one. Slightly unhappy.
 
Should we have a thread just for power tools?

 
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