Author Topic: A PSION-like keyboard for the PinePhone  (Read 4043 times)

Varti

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A PSION-like keyboard for the PinePhone
« on: January 25, 2020, 03:34:01 am »
(News shared from the Gemini Planet FB page)

https://www.pine64.org/2019/12/05/december-...k-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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speculatrix

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A PSION-like keyboard for the PinePhone
« Reply #1 on: January 25, 2020, 03:39:18 am »
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.
Gemini 4G/Wi-Fi owner, formerly zaurus C3100 and 860 owner; also owner of an HTC Doubleshot, a Zaurus-like phone.

Charlie Stross

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A PSION-like keyboard for the PinePhone
« Reply #2 on: January 25, 2020, 05:26:00 am »
Speaking of "second keyboard" devices, here's the castAway -- 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.

greguu

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A PSION-like keyboard for the PinePhone
« Reply #3 on: January 27, 2020, 06:41:22 am »
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/01/the...tphone-for-150/
"Pine64 says that a keyboard case attachment is planned for "sometime in 2020," 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  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. "
Gemini-PDA (Sailfish X and Android) / LG Nexus 5 (Android 11) / Nokia N9 (MeeGo/Harmattan)
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shinkamui

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A PSION-like keyboard for the PinePhone
« Reply #4 on: January 27, 2020, 10:42:13 am »
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.