The F(x)tec Pro1-X is a smartphone with a 6 inch display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 processor, up to 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of storage. But it has a few features that make it very unusual for a smartphone in 2022: the phone has a slide-out keyboard, supports both Android and Ubuntu Touch operating systems, has a microSD card reader and headphone jack, and a repairable design – F(x)tec offers spare batteries and screens.
But while a crowdfunding campaign for the Pro1-X wrapped up in late 2020, the phone has yet to ship. F(x)tec said last year that supply chain issues interfered… and they haven’t really gotten much better since then. But now the company says the manufacturing facility has begun trials of the assembly processor, which means that mass production could begin soon (if no further problems are found). And that means the phones could begin shipping to backers soon.

Crowdfunding has ended, but the phone is up for pre-order from the F(x)tec store for $829 and up, with an estimated ship date of April, 2022. I’d take that estimate with a grain of salt for now though.
In other tech news, Motorola was the third-largest smartphone company in the US last year, Microsoft is making it easier to change the default web browser on Windows 11 (through an optional update that didn’t advertise the change), Vivo is providing a sneak peek at its upcoming foldable phone, the KDE Plasma desktop environment for GNU/Linux distributions will soon support a swipe gesture to access the Overview screen, and now that some reviewers have had their hands on Steam Deck portable game consoles for about a month, there are answers to questions about long(er) term usage.
Here’s a roundup of recent tech news from around the web:
The F(x)tec Pro1-X smartphone has a slide-out keyboard and supports Android or Ubuntu Touch software. After a 2020 crowdfunding campaign it was supposed to ship in March 2021 but supply chain issues delayed it. Now it’s *almost* ready for mass production & could ship soon. https://t.co/k12N84ffJI
— Liliputing (@liliputingnews) March 29, 2022
Motorola took third place in US smartphone sales in 2021, behind Apple and Samsung. Thank Motorola’s budget and mid-range phones… and LG’s withdrawal from the smartphone market. https://t.co/uc7dFhgxWC
— Liliputing (@liliputingnews) March 29, 2022
This Steam Deck FAQ answers a lot of questions that might not have had answers when the first reviews came out a month ago by looking at things like software updates, long-term usage, Windows compatibility, and the latest on game compatibility. https://t.co/LjFytidXpM
— Liliputing (@liliputingnews) March 29, 2022
An optional cumulative update for Windows 11 includes a hidden bonus feature: it’s now easier to change your default web browser with a single setting (you don’t have to change the default for 10 different file types anymore). https://t.co/Bt617uq6bc pic.twitter.com/UsJorZNOvA
— Liliputing (@liliputingnews) March 29, 2022
The Vivo X Fold smartphone with a foldable display launches April 11th, but a 30 second teaser shows leather-like back, quad cameras with Zeiss optics, and the folding mechanism, but not the cover display (revealed by recent leaks). https://t.co/8YTN3t6cWZ
— Liliputing (@liliputingnews) March 29, 2022
Interesting things coming to Plasma. https://t.co/1sv2wolFuz
— KDE Community (@kdecommunity) March 28, 2022
Keep up on the latest headlines by following Liliputing on Twitter and Facebook and follow @LinuxSmartphone on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news on open source mobile phones.
Still the same error, unfortunately.
Well that’s disappointing. I’m hoping it’s a caching issue though, since I just implemented the same fix that was working earlier this week.
If you’re still unable to access the site via RSS tomorrow, can you hit me up via our contact page so we can continue this chat via email without clogging up the comments section of this unrelated article?
https://liliputing.com/contact
I ordered that phone over two years ago and I still have to double check when writing the full name out, F(x)tec Pro1-X, hopefully it’ll get easier when I finally have it in my hand.
I’ll make sure to share my opinions on it once I’ve used it for a couple of weeks, got the Lineage OS, looking forward to trying something a little different 🙂
What’s going on with the site’s RSS feed? My feed reader started failing to parse the feed. When I open it in the browser it says “Verifying that you are not a robot…”. That’s not very helpful for an RSS feed.. That only happens with the feed, not the website itself.
What RSS reader are you using? This is the second report I’ve gotten of this behavior today, although it’s not something I’ve been able to replicate. I’ve tried making a tweak to our cache/security settings that might help resolve the issue, but it would be helpful to know if you’re using the same feed reader as the other person experiencing this issue.
I’m using Miniflux as my RSS reader.
Interesting, that’s the same as the other person reporting this behavior was using. Not sure why the feed stopped working with Miniflux all of a sudden, but can you check and see if it’s working now?
It is working fine now! Thanks!
Interestingly, when I loaded the feed URL in the browser, it was also giving me an error, as I mentioned above. So it wasn’t only that feed reader. Thanks again for fixing it.
Whew! Glad we got that figured out. Thanks for your help in diagnosing the issue!
And it is failing again. I get a 403 in the feed reader..
Thanks for letting me know. I just made another tweak that might bring it back. Let me know what you see if you have a chance?
There’s a typo in the first paragraph, it says up to 8 GB of Ram and then up to 256 GB of Ram. Is this supposed to say 256 of internal memory?
Yep! I just fixed that… Although 256GB of RAM would surely be a stand-out feature for a smartphone 🙂
i need mechanic keyboard, normal mechanic
On a phone? How would that work?
In regards to the Steam Deck…
I just watched a video from ETA Primes youtube channel where he shows off the new release of Emulation Station( or EMUDeck) running inside of SteamOS. You can now flip back and forth between Steam Games and your vintage emulation titles with a couple of clicks and no rebooting.
As far am I’m concerned…this is a must buy.
Best,
Steven B.(Liquid Cool)
I am uncertain if this has been answered thoroughly here before, but it is important to say that the Steam Deck is very much able to run most Windows games and applications without installing Windows. Steam users like myself have been able to run Origin, install retro GOG games, and even run Windows only emulators with flying colors!
Proton very much simplifies the process.