So I thought the best people to help me answer it would be the folks who've already ponied up the bucks and put their orders in for the Gemini. Why did you choose this device instead of a smartphone + accessory combo?
Thanks in advance!
Years ago I purchased a bleeding edge smartphone. A Galaxy Note 3. It is still in service. It has a removable back with a user replaceable battery. I'm running a 200GB microSDXC card to supplement the onboard 32GB of RAM. I fairly regularly use the USB 3.0 OTG to transfer data on/off the device. I have yet to find anything I want to do with a standard smartphone that it won't do. It is quick, user serviceable (replaced the charge port myself), etc. I have to retire it because it is forever stuck on Android 5.0 as Samsung will not unlock the bootloader. This policy of orphaning phones from updates at 2 years and refusing to release the ownership of updates to the consumer (bootloader) has forever put me off of purchasing any major manufacturers smartphone. I have work related software that requires a non-rooted phone and will soon stop allowing operation Android 5. So, I have to get a new phone. Not because my phone is hardware outdated - it isn't. But because my $800 phone is no longer supported by it's manufacturer.
I have several bluetooth portable keyboards. I even have one that quad-folds and fits in a pocket. Where they all fall down for mobile use is that I only have two hands and cannot run the keyboard with them while holding the device. Where they all fall down for desktop use is that I have to physically setup/assemble them just to type an email. Having owned a Pandora handheld computer, I can securely state that a clam shell keyboard incorporated design is BETTER.
The device I really -want- is the DragonBox Pyra. I have had one on pre-pre-order for over two years. It will be a great device - some day. Hypothetically a person could put 2.2 terabytes of storage into it and still stick it in a pocket (microSDXC + TWO full sized SDXC + two USB 2.0 ports using microSDXC in-port adapters). The battery is meant to be user-changeable. However, it is 1.3" thick, which makes it 'pocketable', but it's going to print badly in a pant pocket. To become my 'phone' it would also need to run my work Android application. For the Pyra, that last bit might someday happen, but that someday is probably 2 Months to a year or more away. I'll be patient for that one, quirks and all.
So, I ran across the Gemini on Indiegogo. It ticks several of the Pyra boxes. Physical keyboard, microSDXC for expansion, though I wish it had more than one. Stock Android will hopefully work for my work applications. What I'm really looking forward to on this one for an OS, though, is Sailfish. The fact that Planet Computers has gone open source on the bootloader for the Gemini should be the biggest news in smartphones. THAT is revolutionary in the world of Android/iOS smartphones. To have a manufacturer hand us the keys and say, "Run whatever OS you want"... finally. A manufacturer that hasn't ingrained and automated obsolescence into their device support. One of my latent fears with the Gemini is actually the battery. None of the user reports have yet to figure out how to remove the one it ships with. User serviceability might not be as good as many of us had hoped for.
I like mechanical keyboards. The interface between human and computer is a real thing that needs to be made as seamlessly as possible. On a good keyboard, I can touch type at nearly the speed of thought. I won't be nearly that fast on the Gemini. But, on-screen keyboards have always been an exercise in frustration. They are far too slow and, by definition, require looking at your fingers. You can never truly touch type on an on-screen keyboard. (The closest to being able to do so is the Samsung Galaxy Note 12.2 - but that is simply that in landscape mode it's on-screen keyboard nearly matches the per-key size of a physical desk keyboard). Frankly, I wish Planet Computers had gone -further- on the keyboard and put in a scissors stabilization type setup akin to the original IBM Thinkpad keyboards. Yes, even if that would have added 3-4 mm of thickness to the end device.
So many of the phone reviewers get the Gemini wrong. They try to categorize it as a wonky phone with a keyboard. That isn't how we're all planning to use it though. What it REALLY is, is a multi-purpose, general-function, portable computer that also has the ability to take a call or two when needed. Clock your time with your 'smartphone'. What percentage of that time is spent actually talking on the phone? For many of us it is nearly zero. I can go months without a single voice call. I can't seem to go 20 minutes without reading and responding to a text or email though.
If you were to place 'current devices that can use mobile phone towers' on a continuum or scale from phone to computer from most phone-like to most computer-like:
Wall phone (do they still make these?)
Any 'normal' smartphone - iPhone or Galaxy series or LG or ... (any of them)
Galaxy Note series (gets one step up for having multi-application split screen multi-tasking)
Gemini 4G on Android
Gemini 4G on Sailfish
Gemini 4G on Debian (not much for voice call support - work in progress)
Pyra 4G on Debian (not much for voice call support - work in progress)
Any manufacturer's Notebook with 4G networking (no voice call support)
The Gemini not just another 'smart' phone. The Gemini is a pocket computer with mobile data and voice capabilities.
So, is that enough reasons to buy a Gemini?