I see a lot of negativity in the comments. And yeah, this thing probably isn’t something I’m going to get, but at least they are trying something that isn’t a generic rectangle of glass like all the others. I miss the days of fun gadgets.
this post was submitted on 06 Jan 2025
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Fun useful gadgets. A gadget for the sake of a gadget is just another word for "e-waste".
I like the generic rectangle block of glass.
Don't understand why they insist on a physical keyboard.
I don’t mind it, but I also don’t hate that people are trying something new! Maybe it fails, but maybe it’s awesome!
i am personally sick of shiny rectangles. physical keyboards are the buttons on your cars dash instead of the shiny rectangle on your car's dash.
Cars' buttons need to be used while preferably not looking at them, that's a pretty different situation to a smartphone
I wonder who this is made for?
The article calls it a "smartphone sized pocket computer", but that describes smartphones too; they already are pocket computers. And they've had decades of design and development behind them.
So... This device has a tiny touchscreen, and a keyboard, rather than having the whole thing being a touchscreen. So instead it has a modular bottom half... Which... Sounds like it's trying to solve a problem that would've been a problem in like... The 90s, maybe, but has been solved by using... A touchscreen that can change the type of input it is flexibly, like smartphones do.
It can't call, like a smartphone, despite being a smartphone sized device. It has USB A 2.0 sockets and an Ethernet socket... Which makes it once again sound incredibly out-dated, like a device found in a time capsule, because USB C is smaller and faster than USB A 2.0, and can potentially be used for damn near anything. Which includes connecting to the Internet.
Its battery looks very weak. Its CPU looks very weak. It has a tiny amount of RAM, and a tiny amount of storage. It is outclassed by any affordable, midrange smartphone, at nearly the same price too (if you avoid big brand names).
For people who like a concept more than practicality. There’s maybe a handful use cases that this specific device fits in that isn’t covered better by existing tech, but I guarantee if that thing actually gets kickstarted and arrives severely delayed in several years, it’ll show up in a couple YouTube videos with people sort of uncertain what to use it for, and in the vast majority of cases it’ll end up in some drawers after having been used a few hours tops.
My thoughts exactly. I've seen several such devices already, probably the most expensive and over-designed one being the Apple VR, and it's always the same story.
This device has a tiny touchscreen, and a keyboard, rather than having the whole thing being a touchscreen.
That's awesome. I still miss my Blackberry Passport (keyboard and large 1:1 screen).
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Full-size usb, Ethernet and keyboard mean you can use it as a Linux computer, install arbitrary debian packages, run shell scripts, python scripts, and you don't need any dongles. This is the differential factor. You can't do the same on a smartphone, and it's not supposed to be a smartphone. Why would you need a separate sim card when you can simply tether Internet from your phone?
I get that this device isn't for you, but there are people who don't want to write and maintain apps through apps stores and simply want to copy simple scripts into a small device they can have with them. It's a niche market and good for them for trying to fill that niche.
I wonder what they use for charging port if not usb c...
You can do all that with USB C and a touch keyboard. There is no good reason under the sun to make a device that is this dated in concept.
Whatever the market is they're trying to fill, it'll be so extremely niche that this product is already a failure. It's not the first time some kind of ultra niche product from kickstarter failed before launch because except for a small handful even cared.
How do you install utilities like kubectl and azure CLI on Android?
If you get a phone and install PostmarketOS on it, you could also get pretty far on it, couldn't you?
Too bad it's packed full of features I don't care about and lacks ones I do.
These handhelds are cool but I think I'll skip this one.
this would have been really cool 15 years ago
Funny story. LG made something with a similar concept about 10 years ago and it never really took off. The LG G5 was a modular smart phone that was supposed to have a bunch of cool modules, but they never came to fruition.
I had one, but mostly because I loved having a swappable battery. Never had to charge my phone, I would just have a spare battery charging on my desk and I would swap it out before I left the house.
Motorola had a similar phone. It was cool at the time, but just never took off. It was the Moto Z series.
Basically Android is Linux but......in weirdest way if i must say.
Now....we just need to make it modular right....????
3gb RAM? 32gb emmc? This feels a bit like a raspberry pi project. Up the specs at least 6gb to at least no[t look like yet another microdeck with emulators, please... I like the concept, but as is, it leaves plenty to be desired
Netbooks need to come back with modern hardware.
If I need an ultra-portable computer one in a usable form factor would be amazing.
It looks cool and all, but its probably going to have like 400mb of ram and an rp2040 like every other linux handheld device.
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I would really love a return to a concept where you have a tablet that docks into a full size laptop form factor. Even better if the dock can have a graphics card.
Agree. Sometimes I want a tablet, sometimes a laptop but I don't need or want 2 separate devices of that size. I recall quite a few Android projects (Mirabook, Project Linda) that would use a phone with a laptop dock but I'd prefer a phone as a standalone device and a secondary, larger & more powerful, device that can have multiple forms.
yeah I also don't want android.
Was just using that as an example. It would be great to see a Linux device with this capability. I have played around with a few Linux phones and convergence was a feature that received attention so I think there's hope.
really feel framework is perfect for this. Make the screen a tablet. Have the additional graphics and hard drive on the base. Actually the microsoft surface book was basically what I want but with a company that sells it with linux and supports it with their company distro.
Microsoft still make the surface pro
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