posted by
martyb
on Tuesday November 06 2018, @12:43PM
from the nostalgia-ain't-what-it-used-to-be...it's-so-much-more-expensive-now dept.
from the nostalgia-ain't-what-it-used-to-be...it's-so-much-more-expensive-now dept.
Planet Computers, creator of the Gemini PDA, has pulled the covers off its next-generation device – the Cosmo Communicator.
Planet brought the clamshell QWERTY back to the market 17 years after Psion made its last PDA*, and will continue to sell it. But Cosmo is even more ambitious, intending to fully replace your phone.
The lid of the Cosmo features an AMOLED panel for notifications, and below it, a multifunction rocker switch that makes answering or rejecting a phone call easy (it also incorporates a fingerprint sensor). The rear features a 24MP imaging unit.
QWERTY keyboard good, $779 MSRP bad.
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Planet Computers Straps Proper Phone to its next Psion Scion, Cosmo
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(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 06 2018, @01:05PM (1 child)
I have the gemini. It would be nice, if there was any non-community effort being put into the software. Planet has consistently disappointed me at every turn. There are still backers waiting on perks for the gemini to be shipped. Linux support is laughable, although mainline kernel support looks to be just over the horizon (in no way courtesy of planet). Sailfish is nice, but there is no way to flash only sailfish, you have to have an android partition as the default boot...
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday November 06 2018, @08:05PM
I'm not sure if that device is really for me, but it's great to see people trying different things to see if there's a market.
If I travelled for work more often I might want one.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 06 2018, @01:49PM (3 children)
Looks like the Mercury Computer [fandom.com]. I'm certain that all pretty sailor suited soldiers run Linux or BSD instead of an OS from
Redmondthe Dark Kingdom, so if this doesn't support Linux I'll have to keep looking for a Mercury Computer. I've also been looking at getting a battery for my Pi and maybe playing with some 3d printing so I can design an enclosure I could put the battery and a really small keyboard in as a sorta Mercury Computer. This Cosmo device is just sooooo fucking close though! Same form factor and size!(Score: 2) by Unixnut on Tuesday November 06 2018, @03:38PM (1 child)
It reminded me of the old "subnotebook" PC's of the 90s, oh I lusted so much over these two in particular:
http://www.tankraider.com/DOSPALMTOP/ibmpc110.html [tankraider.com]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshiba_Libretto [wikipedia.org]
However they were rare round here. They seemed primarily geared for the Japanese market (in the 90s, all the cool tech was over there). Apparently there was not much demand in Europe for them. The IBM I only ever saw on pictures from Japan, and the Libretto I saw for sale in the UK, but it was rare, and cost far more than I could ever have afforded for a laptop.
Fast forward a good 10 years later, I ended up with the Nokia Tablets/Phones (N810, and N900, Debian based), which were pretty nice, but now abandonware.
Still, the fact the "handheld PC" seems to be making a comeback makes me happy. When I am next looking to replace my phone, I will have a look at the Gemini/Cosmo. Hopefully they won't go the same way as Nokia did.
(Score: 1) by BeaverCleaver on Tuesday November 06 2018, @07:32PM
I still have high hopes for the dragonbox Pyra. Built-in 4G/LTE, nice screen, nice keyboard. It's being developed with heavy community consultation and openness in mind (so it is taking a long time!) and the forums seem positive. Not cheap, but I for one would love a pocket computer to replace my phone.
https://pyra-handheld.com/boards/pages/pyra/ [pyra-handheld.com]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday November 06 2018, @09:06PM
Consider polymer clay [wikipedia.org] - model it by hand, bake it at a balmy 120C-130C.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Insightful) by SomeGuy on Tuesday November 06 2018, @02:28PM (4 children)
Does that mean it plugs in to a PROPER landline instead of some lame cell phone that makes everyone sound like a robot trying to rape my ear, makes me stand outside to get good reception, and still craps out every time an airplane flies over or the wind blows? Yea, I thought not.
You kids have a funny definition of "proper".
[Que the consumertard assholes telling me I'm a backwards Luddite for using a tool that actually WORKS for me.]
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Tuesday November 06 2018, @02:37PM
Does that mean it plugs in to a PROPER landline
Dunno about the U.S, but POTS (and ISDN) are deprecated in the UK and will stop being available in the next few years. Aside from the last mile it's all converted to IP anyway.
My own "landline" is a BS 6312 socket which goes into a battery powered fibre terminator. Not sure if that converts it to IP in my CTR or if it's carried on an independent wavelength back to the exchange.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Immerman on Tuesday November 06 2018, @02:49PM
Oh, get over yourself you Luddite! Progress is all about increasing suffering while decreasing functionality. What do you want, to go back to the dark ages when computers felt blazing fast and could do everything you wanted without any problems?
You probably also don't like the way Windows 10 spies on you and randomly forces you into an hours-long reboot process in order to make useless changes that may or may not erase your data or leave your computer nonfunctional do you? I swear, some people just have no appreciation for the time and effort required to provide the quality of suffering you can get today.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by archfeld on Tuesday November 06 2018, @05:40PM (1 child)
Do you remember when you could hear a pin drop ? and it didn't have to weigh 25 lbs. Back in the dark ages when you could actually tell who was on the other end by the sound of their voice because everyone did not sound like a voice modulator.
"you have chosen the voice of micro$oft retard as your official sound system"
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 06 2018, @11:09PM
I remember, and yes it was nice. However I prefer being able to make calls from nearly any physical location, and often the sound quality is fine. The biggest problem I've found is that some phone mics can't capture proper audio unless it is in the very tiny sweet spot.