@anon36556420 I can’t click on it. I have sideloaded WhatsApp & I just copy & paste the link into WhatsApp & send it to myself. Once the link is WhatsApp, it can trigger WebView. Otherwise, it will be just a dead link.
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Thanks @urszula. This is really helping me understand what adjustments I am going to need to make with the new phone. I can’t begin to express how awesome you have been to reply to all the questions and inquiries.
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Love it. Nothing more disturbing when somebody sent me YouTube links for example “you have to see this and that” . Nope, i don’t have to 
.
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Text-Messaged URLs
The Mudita Kompakt will replace my Sunbeam Wireless F1 Orchid, which I have had for nearly three years.
Like the Kompakt, the Orchid is a minimalist, AOSP-based cellphone that has no browser.
So, when someone text-messages to me…
- A URL to a YouTube Video: I ask the sender what it is, and often he or she will respond, “Never mind. It’s not that important.”
- A Google-Maps URL: I ask the sender what it is, and typically he or she will tell me the name of the location (such as a restaurant), which I then will find as a point-of-interest (POI) in the Orchid’s Navigation app.
- A Human-Readable URL: I ask the sender what it is. If it is something worth my attention, then I type the URL into the browser of my VPN-protected laptop later.
Bottom Line
- I have trained friends and relatives to avoid text-messaging URLs to me.
- I have learned from experience that those URLs do not matter, can be replaced by the name of a location, or – if worth my attention – can be entered into a browser at my leisure.
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for coordinates, there’s what3words and plus codes. but they aren’t well supported on app map apps. what does Mudita support, im not sure?
for external GPS, im not sure the two big brands support either. but it would make sense for the Kompakt to support it in its map app as it gives you a human readable string to input. that would be a nice middle ground perhaps.
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I now enjoy letting the sender of a Google-Maps URL know (a) that my minimalist phone does not handle URLs and (b) that he or she could have simply told me a location’s name and, if necessary, address.
Many people now send URLs in such a willy-nilly fashion that it is no surprise that too many recipients of those URLs, who dumbly trust those URLs, often get their smartphones infected.
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yeah you just fire them off without thinking. thats why I was thinking these human readable coordinates can be a useful use case for the Kompakt. if. you get for example ///enjoy.tens.lungs, if that was supported in the maps app, you’d not only know they’re in Christ Church Meadow, but you’d know where within the park exactly they’re located to meet up with them.
I expect the map app doesn’t support what3words but it would be useful I expect, or as you said, just say your in the Greggs on suchnsuch street 
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And don’t even get me started on QR codes. Let’s just say I might be adding a nice, thick, permanent black marker to my EDC.
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For a lot of people coming from the latest smartphone, there is going to be a bit of an adjustment period. I am so used to just sharing Google Map urls with others via SMS and not even think about it.
But this is a good rewiring and retraining of how I will interact and use technology. I just want to make sure I have my expectations set correctly and not get frustrated too quickly.
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My latest example of how people increasingly EXPECT everyone to have a QR-code-reading cellphone:
- While at a healthcare appointment today, the provider wanted me to watch a video by scanning a QR code. I replied that my flip phone (a Sunbeam Wireless F1 Orchid) did not make this possible. She left the room and brought back a smartphone, which she then used to scan the QR code, thereby launching an instructional video on YouTube.
I will continue to resist people who expect me to use a QR code to go to a URL, for two reasons:
- Unless I can see the translation of a QR code into plain text before doing anything with it, I cannot trust it.
- A URL underlying a QR code can cause navigation to a destination that can capture privacy-invading information about my cellphone and me.
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it kind of hits on a point I made on another thread, the shift to mobile first, or more mobile assumed is not appropriate, it makes assumptions about peoples lifestyles, and about their state of health and the state of their life, and assumes they’re 1. able to use this tech, 2. in a economic ability to use this tech, 3. in an appropriate lifestyle state to use this tech.
its bad assumptions, its bad for your health, its even bad for your personal security
and you point out a really crucial point about QR codes, not only are there security concerns (while there are some things to help with this they are not user friendly or usable), they are also not human readable, they are machine readable. they dont exist at all for human interaction, and therefore are not imo healthy for humans, as they disconnect human interaction in favour for machine interaction, putting a device between you and the world.
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What about going out to eat someplace and there’s nothing on your table except silverware and a big ugly QR code looking at you?
Lady, I would have just ordered online if I wanted to sit here wasting my time lifelessly scrolling through your poorly formatted website. Also, isn’t this part of your job? I waited tables for years. The response when I ask if they have something should never be for me to scan a QR code.
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I’m 100% with you here. My wife and I hate having to pull out our phones to look at a menu. We actually want to keep the phones put away and enjoy our time together, not looking and scrolling a phone.
Sometimes, I leave my phone in my truck just to have an excuse to ask for a physical menu.
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Exactly. It gives me self-checkout vibes. There’s another word for that: it’s called takeout. Getting myself a menu must save them, what, 5 seconds of bringing one to me? I might as well walk over to the tap and pour my own water too. Hell, send me a verification code so that I can gain access to the kitchen and cook my own food.
But seriously, it looks like restaurants are going the ways of Walmart and McDonalds. As little customer interaction as possible. Get in, give us your money, and get out.
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And be sure to include a tip by tapping a pushbutton on a cashier’s display BEFORE the cashier hands you the food or before a server delivers the ordered-at-the-cashier food to your table!
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You know exactly how to trigger me
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This all started with fajitas. Ohhh, the food is still sizzling as its being served.
But they are just charging you double for tacos the chef didn’t bother to finish.
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@The
The ONLY time I found this useful was when I was in Georgia. The Georgian language is a unique and ancient language & the written Georgian language looks like this:
I was glad to get an ENGLISH version of the menu.
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I agree. For accessibility it can be useful, but i think it should be an outlier- not a norm.
Georgia is fascinating and beautiful btw. I’m jealous you got to go
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