OESF Portables Forum
General Forums => New products and alternatives => Topic started by: Varti on January 25, 2020, 03:34:01 am
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(News shared from the Gemini Planet FB page)
https://www.pine64.org/2019/12/05/december-...k-you-for-2019/ (https://www.pine64.org/2019/12/05/december-update-thank-you-for-2019/)
(scroll down until the Psion keyboard's photo)
The people behind the Pine64 project and the PinePhone device are planning to release an add-on keyboard for the latter, inspired by the Psion Series 5's keyboard, to be connected to the I2C port on the back of the phone.
The final device will share a lot of similarities with the Gemini!
Varti
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If the keyboard also acted as a clip on cover which could be fitted to the back or front for easy carrying, I'd strongly consider it. However, if it was just a mini keyboard then, well, I already have a folding Bluetooth keyboard which fits in a pocket.
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Speaking of "second keyboard" devices, here's the castAway (https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/a-second-screen-for-your-smartphone/) -- not a moving-key keyboard, but an entire miniature ChromiumOS tablet that pairs with your phone over bluetooth/wifi and lets you work on different tasks and continue to use apps while on the phone; it also has a keyboard mode.
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https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/01/the...tphone-for-150/ (https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/01/the-pinephone-starts-shipping-a-linux-powered-smartphone-for-150/)
"Pine64 says that a keyboard case attachment is planned for "sometime in 2020 (https://www.pine64.org/2019/12/05/december-update-thank-you-for-2019/)," and for now, the company is still working on the design. The company says it is "making a keyboard heavily inspired by Psion Series 5 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psion_Series_5) keyboards from the 1990s. We hope to not only replicated [sic] the usability of the Psion Series 5 keyboard but also the tactile feel it is known for. "
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I'm very hyped about the pinephone. I think it was Alexi Pistonrod in the telegram that turned me onto it in the first place. Enough to cancel my preorder of the Librem 5. There is a lot to like about the pinephone, though preliminary videos look just as bad as the librem for current performance. As far as it + the potential upcoming keyboard attachment competing wiht the cosmo, In some ways I can definitely see it being a superior solution, however, the allwinner chipset looks vastly slower than the cosmos P70. I guess you trade off that speed for openness and control to varying degrees.