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Planet Computers demoed the Cosmo Communicator, a clamshell PDA [Personal Digital Assistant] which can run Android/Linux or GNU/Linux, at CES. It is expected to be on the market by June 2019. The device has a miniature keyboard, essential for a PDA, and many additional features including the ability to operate as a dual-SIM phone. It also features dual displays: a 2-inch AMOLED which is visible when the device is closed and a larger (5.99-inch, 2160×1080) LCD touchscreen LCD panel visible when the device is opened to access the keyboard.
- Size:
- 171.4 x 79.3 x 16mm, 320g
- Software:
- Android 9 Pie; Linux OS dual boot (user choice)
- SoC:
- MediaTek P70 Octa-core SoC @ 2 GHz
- RAM and storage:
- 6 GB of RAM with 128GB of storage; microSD card slot
- Battery:
- 4,220mAh
- External Display:
- 2-inch (570×240) AMOLED
- Display:
- 5.99-inch (2160×1080) LCD
- Connectivity:
- Wifi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.2, NFC
- Ports:
- 2 USB Type-C ports, 3.5mm headphone jack
- External camera:
- 24 MP
- Internal camera:
- 5 MP
- Miscellaneous:
- Dual nano-SIM, eSIM support, fingerprint gestures
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Clamshell PDA Running Android/Linux or GNU/Linux
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We must believe that it is the darkest before the dawn of a beautiful
new world. We will see it when we believe it.
-- Saul Alinsky
(Score: 3, Disagree) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday January 11 2019, @02:44PM (13 children)
That'd be awesome if you have miniature fingers. Not so much otherwise.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1) by shrewdsheep on Friday January 11 2019, @03:04PM (3 children)
I do not see this as useful either. Apart from the finger/hand issue (discussed elsewhere), the form factor does not lend itself to any serious work (lack of a pointing device). When traveling and no serous work is to be done (programming/scientific writing), I use a tablet/Bluetooth keyboard (w/ trackpoint) combo. At some point I would like to install real Linux in a chroot environment under Android but my current device is not powerful enough (5 yrs old).
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Friday January 11 2019, @04:18PM (2 children)
I'm with you. In fact I'm using a tablet w/ folding bluetooth keyboard now. It works fine with lighter tasks like browsing and writing. It's light and portable with good battery life so I take it travelling instead of my powerful laptop.
At the same time I have an old Samsung Stratosphere with slide-out keyboard that I have clung to and rebuilt several times because I hate touchscreen typing. I'd much rather type with my thumbs. When the Gemini came out a couple years ago I was interested because it seemed to be a newer version of what I had. But it was expensive, and I couldn't seem to find a way to get one easily.
This newer Communicator looks interesting, too, but again it's more than I want to pay, and the keyboard doesn't seem big enough to type on, and it's too big to type on with your thumbs.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bob_super on Friday January 11 2019, @05:58PM (1 child)
Every time an email takes more than a paragraph, I sorely miss my sliders with real keyboards (Moto, Samsung, then BB).
Feeling the keys allows you to know you're typing the right letter in a way that no haptic feedback has achieved so far.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday January 11 2019, @07:59PM
About 20 years ago in the dot com days there were startups trying wearable computing. One of the approaches to this challenge of input on-the-go was a split keyboard with the halves on each knee, such that you sat with your hands resting on your knees and typed. Another was a one-handed, chorded keyboard. Have you ever tried those?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 11 2019, @03:05PM
Even so, I'm intrigued by this device. I'm not exactly sure why, but it appeals to me. Big fingers and all.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday January 11 2019, @03:07PM (2 children)
I would assume that if the president cannot read or write that he also does not type.
Trump to college graduates in 2004: 'If there's a concrete wall in front of you, go through it, go over it, go around'
Every performance optimization is a grate wait lifted from my shoulders.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Friday January 11 2019, @04:55PM (1 child)
What I've heard is that he's up to tweet level writing, and may be able to handle 1/2 page of text before giving up.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday January 11 2019, @08:34PM
As long as it has pictures on it.
Every performance optimization is a grate wait lifted from my shoulders.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 11 2019, @04:13PM
Well, not if keyboard is well designed.
The key itself may not be large. It may be even very small. The most important part here is the space between keys. HP 200LX has a very comfortable miniature keyboard because keys have significant spacing. Contrary, GPD Win has much smaller spacing between "hot spots" on keys thus typing on it is much slower. Some older Android devices have even smaller keyboard making typing anything except short SMS just impossible.
I think the biggest problems will come from lack of precise pointing device and a good stylus support. Capacitive stylus is not a good one if you want to precisely touch something on multi-window screen, and most Linux GUI apps are useless without pointing device as there are no keyboard shortcuts for the most popular tasks or they are just counterergonomic.
Imagine this: In Thunderbird's calendar, going from one month to another is [ and ] as I recall. These keys are hidden behind Fn in our PDA, and Fn is usually BIOS-based, not System-based so it's impossible to make it sticky with X settings. Thus, in this PDA you have to hold Fn by one hand and press 7 or 8 with another. Typing € using thumb-type technique is just impossible.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 11 2019, @10:37PM (3 children)
I have the first version, the Gemini PDA. The keyboard is quite useable with my fat fingers, and it is well built. Software support has been very disappointing though.
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Saturday January 12 2019, @01:18AM (2 children)
Is that on the Linux distro? Can't you just recompile it?
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 12 2019, @12:38PM (1 child)
On everything. Android is pretty stable now but had a lot of issues at first that arent all resolved, and when I tried the community-developed version of Sailfish 2.x, it was excellent (but I haven't tried 3 yet, which is supposed to have full support from Jolla). Linux though, is stuck on an old android kernel (3.x), barely worked at all, gets virtually no first class support (all community), and wasn't even available for many months, while it was promised and advertised as a main selling point. Tools for flashing and information weren't available either. The situation is somewhat better now, but that's mainly due to community effort. If you want to install something other than Debian, you're gonna have a tough time of it. The chips they use are older mediatek SoCs, which aren't mainlined or likely to get any attention from the manufacturer. If you are interested in a Linux, Sailfish is probably the best option, but I don't think it is even available as the primary or only OS.
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Saturday January 12 2019, @04:18PM
Damn that really sucks. It looked superficially like the ideal pocket device. I really liked the idea of running pure Linux on such a thing so I'm not liking the fact that's based on Android too. :(
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?