3 ms·

One thought: Back in 1997-2000, the Psion 5 was anything but niche; it was the leading paradigm for PDAs aside from the Newton/Palm tablet. (It died out due to

One thought: Back in 1997-2000, the Psion 5 was anything but niche; it was the leading paradigm for PDAs aside from the Newton/Palm tablet. (It died out due to a bad coincidence: Microsoft pre-announced the Windows CE 3 "Jupiter" platform, configured to look like a Psion killer on paper, right as Psion's CEO David Potter became seriously ill. Psion was sold off and left the field; meanwhile, WinCE 3 failed to set the world alight, and Potter survived.) But back then, selling a million PDAs meant you were huge. Integration between featurephone OS and PDA functionality still lay in the future; indeed, the leading platform, Symbian, was a direct descendant of the Psion Series 5's EPOC/32 OS. Today, we've got smartphones everywhere, but they mostly look very similar — small tablets with cameras and multitouch screen UIs. Probably not that many people will prefer a keyboard-driven PDA style of device. But there are so many more smartphone users out there that even a 1% niche market is probably bigger than Psion at their peak. Which is why Gemini is of interest: the Android market has gotten so large that it may now support odd alternative device formats.

Cyberdog 9y ago
But is "mini-tablet with a usable keyboard" really that odd of a device format these days? On Black Friday, I could have picked up something matching that description at a superstore for less than a C-note. It wouldn't have had the Psion lineage or perhaps not the build quality, but at the price point this device is going for, I don't really see the appeal unless that lineage really means that much to you.
- timthorn 9y ago
  Finding a clamshell with a proper keyboard is still hard. This folds up nicely and fits in a jacket pocket.
- stewbrew 9y ago
  What kind of device are you thinking of?
- FullyFunctional 9y ago
  (Disclaimer: I backed this) I think the build quality and keyboard is absolutely key to this device; really if the keyboard isn't awesome, this device is a failure. Thankfully the developers appears to feel the same way. I hope to not be disappointed.
jodrellblank 9y ago
Probably not that many people will prefer a keyboard-driven PDA style of device An iPhone with a bluetooth keyboard doesn't feel like it's keyboard-driven, it feels like a touchscreen GUI device with a second-class accessory only for typing into textboxes. Is Android any different in regards to this "feel of being keyboard driven" - and is the Gemini customised at all around this?
- dm319 9y ago
  I think that is something we'll have to look out for, because you're absolutely right that a phone plus bluetooth keyboard doesn't mean a good computing paradigm. They've said that they've brought in a lot of keyboard shortcuts - for example for accessing the dock applications. It looks like they're recreating the Agenda app too, which was keyboard driven (the best bit was a pop-up month calendar with a press of tab, which folded out to three months then a year with repeated presses, which could be navigated by cursor). On my android phone, a bt keyboard already has some shortcuts - like alt-tab to application switch, and I think the Windows key brings up the homescreen. You can get folders and files on the homescreen/desktop with 3rd party apps.

Cyberdog 9y ago

But is "mini-tablet with a usable keyboard" really that odd of a device format these days? On Black Friday, I could have picked up something matching that description at a superstore for less than a C-note. It wouldn't have had the Psion lineage or perhaps not the build quality, but at the price point this device is going for, I don't really see the appeal unless that lineage really means that much to you.

timthorn 9y ago
Finding a clamshell with a proper keyboard is still hard. This folds up nicely and fits in a jacket pocket.
stewbrew 9y ago
What kind of device are you thinking of?
FullyFunctional 9y ago
(Disclaimer: I backed this) I think the build quality and keyboard is absolutely key to this device; really if the keyboard isn't awesome, this device is a failure. Thankfully the developers appears to feel the same way. I hope to not be disappointed.

jodrellblank 9y ago

Probably not that many people will prefer a keyboard-driven PDA style of device An iPhone with a bluetooth keyboard doesn't feel like it's keyboard-driven, it feels like a touchscreen GUI device with a second-class accessory only for typing into textboxes. Is Android any different in regards to this "feel of being keyboard driven" - and is the Gemini customised at all around this?

dm319 9y ago
I think that is something we'll have to look out for, because you're absolutely right that a phone plus bluetooth keyboard doesn't mean a good computing paradigm. They've said that they've brought in a lot of keyboard shortcuts - for example for accessing the dock applications. It looks like they're recreating the Agenda app too, which was keyboard driven (the best bit was a pop-up month calendar with a press of tab, which folded out to three months then a year with repeated presses, which could be navigated by cursor). On my android phone, a bt keyboard already has some shortcuts - like alt-tab to application switch, and I think the Windows key brings up the homescreen. You can get folders and files on the homescreen/desktop with 3rd party apps.