I already have a work laptop running Linux, but it doesn’t support GPIO or LoRa without additional dongles/accessories. Working on industrial equipment while occasionally in remote locations, makes this device appealing to me specifically.
I’m also fortunate to have my employer willing to foot the bill, especially when they can also see the utility of this device in our line of work.
If you don’t work in this specific niche, your mileage will obviously vary.
I personally can’t say that I agree, especially in current economic conditions.
Many people do buy the shiny new things regularly, but I would argue that most people can’t afford that luxury and try to get the most life out of what they own.
On a separate note: I can’t speak to Linux phones, digital music gadgets, or AI hardware, but raspberry pis and flipper zeros on the second hand market are absolutely not cheap, and regularly sell for MSRP of new devices.
I’m sorry to hear that you’ve struggled to find regular use of those 20 random things, but that doesn’t mean your experience is representative of most people.
Having a dedicated handheld device with the features of a smartphone, running Linux natively (not just android), and also GPIO and LoRa are what make this especially appealing to me. Everything being open source brings this from “I’ll probably buy this” to “shut up and take my money” for me personally.
Sure, I could probably get accessories to achieve the same thing with my work phone. But if something catastrophic happens and the phone is damaged, I’m having a very bad day. Damaging a $300-400 device sucks, but I can still call my boss and ask him to order a replacement and receive calls from customers at the end of the day.
Of course these specific benefits are unique to me and my line of work. I also thankfully have a boss who trusts my judgment when purchasing new tools and tech, and a budget that can easily accommodate this kind of investment and risk.
I don’t need it… I don’t need it… I don’t need it… I don’t need it…
(M.2/NVMe, LTE and 5G, GPIO)
I don’t…
(Planned support for LoRa, Meshtastic, and FPGAs)
I…
(Everything open source, useful for me at work, employer will pay for)
Sold!
It doesn’t seem to be especially performant for games based on the videos they’ve put out, but a solid handheld with these specific features, and separate from my mission critical work android phone will hopefully be very useful.
Already done!
LoRa is a low power radio communication protocol that is very useful for warehouse and farming equipment, among many other things. I currently use ESP32s for GPIO, LoRa, and Wifi, and occasionally FPGAs for various tasks. But ad-hoc testing and diagnosis can be a pain for these devices, requiring multiple different dongles, power adapters, and converters.
If I can consolidate 75% of that gear into a single, handheld device, it will easily pay for itself in productivity gains.